- Jul 24, 2007
- 314
- 10
- 154
The orpington attacked by a dog on Fri, Aug 10 is alive and doing well! She had a tearing injury near her tail with an open wound approximately 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I have been washing the wound daily with a dilute betadine solution and applying polysporin. Cookie has been receiving about 50mg of amoxicillin (she weighs less than a pound) daily. I used the contents of a 100 mg capsule divided into 10 doses. I mix the antibiotic with apple juice prior to administration and give her the dose with a 3 cc syringe. She has been isolated in a cage in the basement - its airconditioned and no flies - where she has a mirror for companionship. Her cage is cleaned several times a day to prevent soiling the wound. For the last couple of days I have let Cookie out for an hour or so in the morning and evening with the rest of the flock. I am concerned the other girls will reject her if she does not mingle with them at all until she heals. There is some pecking but nothing too serious as the girls are free range during the day and Cookie has lots of room to escape. I make sure to give them some kind of goodies when Cookie rejoins the flock, watermelon really distracts them from being too curious about her injury. The wound is scabbed over with dried serous fluid, not blood, and looks to be healing well. Some of her missing feathers are beginning to regrow. The attack was 11 days ago and Cookie is healing remarkedly fast. I don't know when she'll be able to rejoin the flock but I think later rather than sooner is better.
