Warning - graphic pics Dryna update

[Otter]

A week ago Sunday my 7 month old doeling, Dryna, was attacked by a dog. It wasn't your typical chase attack, the dog was trying to eat her and like a wolf, didn't care if she was dead first as long as she was down.

Here are the worst of her wounds as of today (11 days later)
Here is where the dog took a chunk out of her hip. There is quite a bit of muscle missing and some skin. The vet said he couldn't really stitch it because of the placement of it and the amount of damage it needed to drain. It's been draining well and staying very clean.

The red around it is just the way the light caught her red fur, not blood, there's no more bleeding from here.

This is low and between her legs. It has actually done a lot of healing and has closed a lot. This was actually almost pretty bad for her. The vet said the dog's teeth caught on her pelvic bone and that's what kept her from being gutted. What looks like punctures now were actually tears that nearly met. It was clean and draining and stopped draining and was still clean, so I left it for a few days to let it heal. This was a mistake. The skin had been pulled loose from the connective tissue and in the pocket it started to fill with an evil smelling fluid. Today I noticed it and soaked and pulled the scabs off (leaving what looked like punctures) and it drained right out. I washed and rinsed it and squirted penicillin up there. It went in one side and out the other. And I'll be sure to keep it open for a while longer.


Happily, there is still no fever. Her appetite is good and she is moving around a little better every day. It looks like she will always limp, but if we can get through the next week with no bad infection we'll be able to say then that she'll live.

[farmerjohn]

She is sooo very lucky. It is good that there is so a great bunch of people here on the forum that love their animals and have such wonderful knowledge and are willing to share with others or all of us could be at a loss as to what to do in serious illness and injuries. I am so glad she is mending and doing well.

[nehimama]

I'm so glad she's coming along for you. Thanks for the update; I've been wondering about her.

[Minelson]

Oh Otter that looks bad Such a good sign that she is eating and moving around. A good flush is diluted Chlorhexidine. I would keep flushing it, use a needless syringe and flush right into the hole. It's good that it goes in one and out the other. I would do it at least twice a day for a while. Poor baby

[Oat Bucket Farm]

Wow, those are some pretty nasty wounds. I'm glad she continues to heal and is eating well and moving. The poor thing.

[Otter]

Oh, Minelson, you should have seen it at first - as bad as it looks it is and was SO much worse.
And I am very relieved that it is going in one and out the other because it wasn't before. It was just draining individually and then started to scab, I'm SO glad that it drained again. There wasn't much in there but the smell was terrible. I'll pick up some Chlorhexadine from the drug store. I've been rinsing with sea salt and water solution.

[Minelson]

A little goes a long way with the Chlorhexidine. Dilute it to a really pale blue...like a swimming pool.
I can just imagine how awful it looked. I would have totally freaked out!

[farmmom]

Definitely Chlorhexidine like Minelson says diluted way down, just barely blue. Also, you will find it easier to keep it clean if you take a little hair off. If you're afraid of getting hair in the wound when you clip, coat the wound with KY or some similar medical lubricant, then clip. The lube will catch the little bits of hair which can then be rinsed out. We used this technique many times with great success. I hope she continues to heal well. The poor little goat!!

[betsy h.]

I would not use chlorhexidine, for the same reason I will not ever use Fight-Bac again- I would use denatured Iodine. Solution, not scrub or 7%. Mix with hydrogen peroxide 1:1 to make it foam. this will help the wound drain and take all bacteria with it. But that is just me......

While chlorhexidine is a good product, there are some bacteria it does not get.(ex.: pseudomonas) Iodine gets them.

[Backfourty,MI.]

Sounds like she is doing very well considering a;; the damage. Sounds like your doing a wonderful job with her too, keep up the good work! Sounds like she'll be good as new in no time hopefully!

[dosthouhavemilk]

We have used a very dilute Chlorine solution when dealing with bite wounds.
With those bite wounds they need to close up from the inside out, so you need to continue to open it up and drench it. Then put some penn on it afterwards (we've used Today mastitis tubes for ours). We've had to deal with our fair share of dog attacks, over the years, unfortunately. With time and care we took a buck who was never supposed to walk again and healed the hind legs where the tendons had been ripped out. He sired three seasons of kids for us.

[bee]

I'm a come lately to this thread..DID you GET the dog???

Poor thing;eaten alive. Thats even worse than the dogs that "just want to "play" my poultry to death".

[wintrrwolf]

both times Gypsy was attacked by a dog, I used an Iodine tea scrub, and used it as a spray. Both times her wounds healed up nice. A friend of mine in Columbia, mo brought one of her pygmy babies in to the vet clinic and the vet used chlorhexidine dilute to flush and clean the puncture wound, she stayed at the clinic for treatments, it was pretty bad...the goats infection got worse, turned a cottage cheese pus, the baby goat eventually lost her leg. My friend was so mad!

[Minelson]

Farmmom makes a good point to shave the area...it will keep it cleaner and MUCH easier to clean.

[southerngurl]

I'm glad to hear she's still doing well and that y'all are taking such good care of her. Boy I bet she is going to be soooo spoiled now, even worse than before

[wintrrwolf]

Originally Posted by Minelson

Farmmom makes a good point to shave the area...it will keep it cleaner and MUCH easier to clean.

ditto!
You don't have to shave a big area either

[Otter]

Well, I was dreading a set back after having to do so much with her yesterday, she was a little stiff this morning but now seems to be feeling SO much better.

It seems the 2, almost connecting tears between her legs were draining separately with a pocket of nasty between them. But now the pocket has opened and when I flush it goes right on through.
Dryna does NOT approve.
But she is moving so much more freely. She even ran a few steps today. She is bright and alert and doing more walking then before.

It is draining by itself as well. The smell is awful but it's all coming out. WOOT! She has developed a warm spot on the inside of her thigh, there were no bites there, but I'm thinking that there was so much pulling of the skin there may be separation of the tissues there. I will be watching that VERY closely and if it seems like there is fluid there I'll have it drained.

The reason it wasn't shaved at first is it was all so jagged and she had lost so much blood and was shocky that the vet didn't want to do anything more to stress her and it would have been a nasty, fiddly job to shave it without catching the jagged edges of skin. That big one on her hip I think we are past the fear of infection there, but I think that at this point I can shave between her legs and that will help there.

Bee, yes, we DID get the dog. He was a BIG, semi-feral chow mix dumped on our neighbor, who was trying to tame him. He was known for running deer and had killed some chickens and made a couple of tries at other people's livestock closer to his home. It was just a matter of time before he ended up shot. Our neighbor is halfway between regret that she didn't have him put down sooner and regret that she couldn't tame him enough to get him on a chain and save his life. But she has been very good to us through the whole thing. DH buried the dog for her and she paid the vet bill.

Southerngurl, if you had asked before I would have said that she couldn't get more spoiled, but now every time we have to give her a shot or clean her she either gets some of her daily grain or a cookie and now it is a 2 person job to do any of it. I'm trying to hold her still to give her shot and she's breaking her neck trying to twist around and see what other goodies I may have for her. And she can't just stick her head in her dish and eat anymore. No, someone has to be scratching her and loving her up - that's just the way it works now.

[ne prairiemama]

Awww poor thing! I'm so glad she's doing ok.

[Cyngbaeld]

Otter, after you clean the wound, sprinkle medical grade activated charcoal in it. That will clear up the infection and stop the smell.

[victory]

Otter,
It looks like we are in the same boat!! Although your little goat looks much worse than Moon Beam, who is doing famously.
I agree to use the today or tomorrow, or amoximast on the wounds. It worked wonders on Moon Beams wounds. So sorry about the attack, I feel so bad for goaties that have been attacked as they are so traumatized. It breaks my heart, but I know time will heal that wound as well.
It's good to hear your goatie is healing up well!! Keep up the good work!!