Injured baby olive thrush, help needed

[Paulmic]

Hi All

I found an injured baby olive thrush in my garden today. She appears to have been bitten by a cat as there is slight blood on the back of her head, wing appears to be slightly bitten but no major blood visable, strange air bubble (air under the skin) on her thigh.

The birds parents have been hanging around and calling out to the young bird who answers. I'm not sure what to do, if I leave her outside the neighbors cats will kill her, should I feed her, will she drink water?

I put her in a cat box (ironic) for the night outside and the parents can go up and feed her.

Any advice would be welcome

Paul

[spirit wings]

sounds like your doing a very good job.. as letting the parent birds feed her is the way to go... if they keep feeding fer from the box for the next week, she should be ready to fly better and be let out... the only problem I can think of is a cat bite can cause infection that can kill the bird from the bite.. usually pretty quick.. sounds like this baby is holding his own though.. a rehabber near you may have antibiotic if it i nots to late to give... if she is eating from her parents it does not sound like she is getting worse for her injuries. what do you think her condition is at this point?

[Paulmic]

Hi Spirit Wings

Thanks for the quick reply and advise. She can still stand and puts up a good fight when I try examine her injuries. I'm really worried about the strange air bubble on her thigh +- 2cm long +- 1 cm high, thin as paper. This could be the start of an infection... I'll see how she is on the morning and if she isn't doing well then I will have to make contact with a rehabber for antibiotics.

Let's hope her parents hang around and come back in the morning.

Paul

[Pidgey]

No, the air bubble is due to some injury of the pneumatic system, probably from a puncture. The bacteria that we'd most be worried about would be Pasteurella multocida, which is pretty typical to get from a predator bite or even just a lick. It's so lethal that many small birds can be dead within 12 hours. The antibiotic of choice would be a combination of Amoxycillin and Clavulanic Acid, often called "Clavamox" or "Augmentin" or any of several other names. However, in a pinch, straight Amoxycillin or any of several other antibiotics will do. Once they start showing symptoms, it's usually all over but the waiting.

Pidgey