# Dog attack surgery?



## bigfoot3910 (Jan 26, 2014)

We had a pair of dogs break into the run yesterday evening and grab a buff Orpington. She seemed okay once the neighbor jumped the fence to rescue her but today we found she had a gaping wound on her chest. I cut the feathers back the best I could and tried to sew it shut since we don't seem to have a vet with poultry experience around here. I packed it with neosporin and we're gonna separate her from the rest. Anyone have any other suggestions?






pix is after the first stitch to try and get it closed. Ended up putting 5 I think.

Remarkable bird, seemed to know we were trying to help and was trying her best to be calm.


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## Jim (Sep 26, 2012)

Good job cleaning up the feathers. I was thinking it was underneath, this is more typical of what I have seen from a dog attack. I bet she will heal up well. 


Jim


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## bigfoot3910 (Jan 26, 2014)

It is underneath. She's on her back here, calm as a chicken can be


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## Jim (Sep 26, 2012)

Ok, now I see it. 


Jim


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## powderhogg01 (Jun 4, 2013)

good job fixin her up.. i have dealt with this once before, I opted to break the hens kneck then and there and she was much more mangled then your hen.. i then grabbed the dog and dragged both to the owner.. she was less then pleased to learn she just purchased one hen, kindly slaughtered by her "friendly" lab. I have not had any issues since...


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## bigfoot3910 (Jan 26, 2014)

I ended up finding a vet to help out. Tear was MUCH bigger than I was seeing. I'll post another pix later but would guess she ended up with ...I'll guess 30-40 stitches. I know I spent way too much for a chicken, but these are pets.


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## bigfoot3910 (Jan 26, 2014)

Best I can count, 28 stitches, not all visible here. Not eating yet but taking meds and drinking water. If she doesn't start eating tomorrow, oh WAIT, my wife just got her to start eating! Yea!!.


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## bigfoot3910 (Jan 26, 2014)

Yeah, I know, she wasn't thrilled about posing for the pix


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## nj2wv (Aug 27, 2013)

Good to see she is fixed up.


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## Jim (Sep 26, 2012)

So glad when some of our birds end up in such loving homes. . She's a trooper!


Jim


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## bobrut (Sep 9, 2014)

Any idea who the dogs belong too? If so, give them the bill--


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## bigfoot3910 (Jan 26, 2014)

Update, Buffy is recovering well and getting a bit of an attitude. Will drink water when 'necessary' but prefers to have moisture in the form of fresh fruit  She should be getting the stitches out next week. Not really sure when we will introduce her back to the others. Pretty sure she's had about enough of being in here with the cats though.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You can try giving her a buddy to help smooth her way back in to the flock. If there is a bird you remember her hanging with more than others that would be a good choice.

Yep, some cats can cause just a bit of stress when it comes to chickens.


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## COchix (Sep 13, 2014)

Hi, new to this site, just wanted to suggest Granulex, it is a antibiotic cream, great stuff also keeps the flies off. Good luck and glad she is doing better.


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## COchix (Sep 13, 2014)

Sorry should have not hit reply so soon. Just like Robin said, give her a buddy or two while she is away from the flock. This makes integration back into the flock a little easier. Just went through this after we had a hen get pecked above the eye and was being picked on. She is blind out if the eye, but the pecking at her stopped once we isolated her. We have a second coop in our enclosed run so we made it a hospital. Long story short, if you have a couple birds with her then when she goes back to the flock, the others will have multiple birds to deal with integrating and not just one. The attention is spread out so the others don't focus on one bird. This seemed to work better than isolating one bird and trying to integrate. Make sure the rest of the flock can see the others so they are familiar with her up front.


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## roosteroo8 (Sep 14, 2014)

COchix said:


> Sorry should have not hit reply so soon. Just like Robin said, give her a buddy or two while she is away from the flock. This makes integration back into the flock a little easier. Just went through this after we had a hen get pecked above the eye and was being picked on. She is blind out if the eye, but the pecking at her stopped once we isolated her. We have a second coop in our enclosed run so we made it a hospital. Long story short, if you have a couple birds with her then when she goes back to the flock, the others will have multiple birds to deal with integrating and not just one. The attention is spread out so the others don't focus on one bird. This seemed to work better than isolating one bird and trying to integrate. Make sure the rest of the flock can see the others so they are familiar with her up front.


Glad you got her fixed up. I hope your chickens don't get attacked again, that would be bad.


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## bigfoot3910 (Jan 26, 2014)

I like the idea of giving her some friends to visit while she's recovering. The vet said she still needs a couple of weeks. I'll start with her "sister" since they always hung out together. In a couple of days I'll add her favorite EE to the visits. I'll wait til last on the Australorps since they are fairly bossy 


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