Expert: Abi - 4/12/2009

Question
Saturday night my dog got into the front garden and attacked the roaming
hens. They are ex batts that I've had for 3 months. 2 escaped uninjured and
have never looked better. Margot was limping - took her to the vet yesterday
- ligament damage and badly bruised. She's not moving much but eating and
drinking ok. Mary has been very quiet and hardly moving. All i can see is
about an inch wound that looks dry and relatively superficial on her belly.
She's drinking but hasn't eaten anything despite my efforts to tempt her. She
is also having runny poo. She's in the hen house on the perch. I'm really
worried? Any advice

Answer
Hello Rebecca,

Did you take Mary to the vets too? I think this is worth a try. She may have some internal injuries- is she bruised at all? If there are no obvious bad wounds I doubt it could be an infection so she needs to see a vet, and she needs to eat. Even try her with 'junk food', like cat food or raisins. If she is refusing to eat then grind up your layers pellets or mash, mix it with warm water till it is a liquid and hand feed her with a baby syringe. If you don't have the time to do this I think you need to get her to the vets so they can do what they can with her.

Thanks for your question.