Puppy gnawed on my chicken's butt

[Staceybullock]

I've cleaned/disinfected the area, and separated her to a safe place with food and water and quiet. Beyond that, what else should I do?

 

[Staceybullock]

Amazingly, after cleaning, and hydrogen peroxide, she's drinking pedialyte and eating food. My fingers are crossed ~ but it not exactly sure she'll come through this.

 

[Hobbits Mommie]

Following. @aart @Wyorp Rock @DobieLover

 

[Shadrach]

Poor hen.
There isn't much more you can do.
Check carefully for any puncture wounds.
I wouldn't use any more hydrogen peroxide for cleaning. See if you can get hold of some Chlorhexidine for future cleaning. You need to leave it in contact with the skin for say 20 seconds to properly kill bacteria. You can buy it as a spray.
As long as she's eating and drinking then the chances are she will survive.
Make her a bed with some towels on the bottom.
For her, rest, food and hydration is important.
A vitamin supplement would be good, something like Nutri Drench.
If she was my hen I would give her one quarter of a junior aspirin in the morning with food and the same again at night, just to take the edge of the pain off for three or four days.
If you can find it and afford it a better painkiller is Metacam. You may need to have a vet prescription for it.
After this it's just a matter of keeping an eye out for infection, keeping her clean and keeping her comfortable.

 

[getaclue]

Slather some plain (no pain reliever) triple antibiotic ointment on it a few times a day. It should be fine, given time.

 

[Shadrach]

I meant to mention you should make sure she poops.
It is possible she has internal injuries caused by the pressure of your puppies jaws.
You should be prepared for this possibility.

 

[Staceybullock]

She seems like she's OK. She's eating and drinking...not really up and around, but I have a towel draped over her back side ~ I've got the chicken cam on and she's been active for about the last 2.5 to 3 hours...I'm trying to stay away from her so she doesn't get stressed out. She has pooped since the attack, but I can't see in the cage she's in to see if she's pooped since I put her up. I'll look for the clorahexadine (sp) ~ any one want to guess how long she'll have to be kept separately? Most of the feathers along her back and butt are gone...

 

[Staceybullock]

As it turns out ~ I did use Chlorhexidine on her prior to the Peroxide. I had some antiseptic wash from walgreens, I mixed it with warm water and squirted it all over her raw skin and rear end.

 

[ValerieJ]

I like Vetericyn for wounds because I can spray it on and don't need to touch the wound so much. She needs to be healed before putting her back with the other hens, but not necessarily all feathered again. I would definitely spray any exposed area with Blue Kote before reintegrating her. The other chickens will be attracted to anything red and will peck at her, but blue Kote turns her skin a blue/purple color and it has healing properties as well. The timing depends on how fast she heals and how bad the wounds are. Could be a couple weeks, could be more. Good luck! So sorry this happened to your girl.

 

[Shadrach]

any one want to guess how long she'll have to be kept separately?

This young chap, 24 hours clean confinement. A weasel took a bite or two. A couple of relatively minor puncture wounds which I got to quickly, cleaned and disinfected.

This one I was much more cautious with due to not wanting the stitches ripped out and she was confined for a couple of weeks.

In general I've found the quicker they can rejoin the flock the happier they are and the faster they recover. For your hen, providing there are no puncture wounds you're looking at around ten days. If you have roosters then maybe more given the roosters feet during mating.