A pigeon without a leg and with an injured wing :(

[Cydonian]

I am really lucky to have found this forum and I hope I will find some (very needed) help here.

So, today I found a pigeon in one of the biggest streets here in Belgrade (yes, Belgrade, Serbia, that's where the pigeon and I live ). It was lying on the pavement with an injured wing. I presently took him to a vet where I saw that it's leg was completely squashed
Neither the vet nor I could figure out what could have caused a squashed leg and a scratched wing, it doesn't really look like a cat attack, but it's the best guess we had since the rest of the body is as good as new. I know that he could get an infection from cat's saliva so should I treat him even if I'm not sure or should I leave it?

Next thing, we just returned from the operation, his foot was amputated (there was absolutely no way of saving it) but apparently his wing was also broken despite the injury seeming like nothing more than a scratch

My vet is not so concerned about the leg (I'm not yet sure how much of it was cut off, if the pigeon will even have a stum on which to stand) but he is concerned about the wing.

Since I'm ready to do absolutely anything to nurture the pigeon to health, I will really need some advice and some help.
The pigeon is in shock, I mean, he is completely calm with me from the first moment (and considering that he is a feral pigeon living in Belgrade, that is very unhealthy) though he does react to other people, gets scared and fidgety. What should I do when/if he comes out of the shock? For now he is completely bandaged for his wing and I'm worried about his trying to get out of bandages. Also, about feeding and drinking, since he cannot stand, should I hold him? I also have some trouble finding a proper lying position for him, I am constantly worried about him being in pain should I put him on his stomach or on the side?

Well, this is all actually me just being optimistic. The real question is, is there a chance of his recovery or rehabilitation that I can work on or hope for. How should I handle this poor creature? For now, he doesn't seem to be in pain which is good enough for me to try and nurture him, but is there any hope and what is the best course of action to take?

Do help, because, here, treating feral pigeons this injured is considered nothing short of foolish and the only reason the vet treated him at all is that he's a family friend :/

Any tip you can give me will help enormously and do have in mind that I've never had a bird and know very little of them, especially their psychology

Thanks
Jovana

[Margarret]

Jovana,

You have come to the right place. Welcome to Pigeon Talk and thank you so much for rescuing this pigeon and getting him to some medical treatment.

First of all you need to keep him warm. Put him in a box with a heating pad on low and some soft towels for him to sit on. They sit with their legs folded under them even while sleeping. You may have to hand feed him, but he might eat by himself if you put a small dish of seed in with him. You may have to offer him water by hand. You can put a towel in your lap and sit him on it and offer him water in a cup. I would start with water as he might be dehydrated after being injured and in surgery. If he doesn't want to drink, dip your finger in the water and dab it along side his beak. It might get him started.

There will be others along to help you with getting your bird back to health. There is every hope that he will recover from his injuries. If he is able to fly, he will do fine with just one foot and can go back to the wild. If he can't fly after he heals, then he can have a good life just the same. They are very affectionate and calm birds and make wonderful pets. Many of our members have handicapped birds.

Best wishes, and keep asking questions. We will help you to do what you need to do to help him get well.

Margaret

[TheSnipes]

Hi Jovana, it's really nice that you came to that pigeons rescue and that you founod a vet willing to help him.

I know that a comfortable lying position for sick or injured bird is, roll up a small towel and curl the rolled towel into a ring. Set the bird into the ring. This will keep the pressure off the stump and put him in a position he can comfortably rest in, and also feed and drink from.

You will probably have to hold his seed dish and water dish for him or keep it close enough where he can reach it, and keep an eye out to make sure he is eating/drinking. That is very important to his recovery, obviously.

There are lots of one-legged birds out there, he will do fine. And he probably wont' pick at his wrapping too much, if he does start really picking at it I would take it as a sign that he feels much better.

There are people on here who have dealt with similar injuries who might have more specific help for you.

Good luck with your new pet pidge, have you thought of a name for it yet? We love to see pictures too..if you can get some.

[Pidgey]

Well, let's give him a chance, shall we?

For assessment purposes, go here and study the skeletal drawings and use the bone names to describe at what point you think the vet actually amputated the leg:

http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/skeleton.html

Can you post a picture of the bird?

Pidgey

[Cydonian]

Thank you all so much
It really means a lot to me to hear from people who love pigeons and understand my wish to help.

I thought I might call him Steva (or for english speakers - Steve) though I'm not as yes sure of it's gender. Let it be HE for now

So, Steve is still under the influence of enaestetic nd is sleeping. I think it is very good to leave him to rest after what must have been the most horrible day in his life.

As for the pictures, I will take some tomorrow because I don't want to disturb him with strong light (it is already night here) but I don't think you'll be able to see anything (apart from how handsome he is) since he's all covered in bandages.

Thank you for the feeding tip and especially thanks to TheSnipes for telling me about the rolled up towel, I'll do that as soon as he wakes up ^_^

I'm also in the process of acquiring a new, bigger box because that will be his home for a while, until the bandages are removed.

Now, the amputation, looking at this sketch I'm very sure that Tarsometatarsus is the bone removed (with the foot, obviously). How bad is that?

I just hope he will be able to fly again, but, even if he doesn't, he will have a warm and loving home :-)

[Pidgey]

The Tarsometatarsus is the equivalent in us of the section of the foot between our toes and the actual heel. Functionally with birds, it's a little bit different because it's part of the overall length of the leg. That means that the leg will be significantly shorter and, therefore, more difficult to use in tandem with the other leg. Either the bird will learn to hop on one leg or he'll learn to deal with using it. That remains to be seen (a month or two down the road) so we'll just let it heal and cross that bridge when the time comes. There are possibilities that we can explore when we see how well he copes with that.

For the wing, if there is any description that you can make or that your vet can help you with about which bones were affected and how that determination was made, we can advise you further on treatment and rehabilitation possibilities.

Pidgey

[Charis]

Hi Jovana,
Thank you for rescuing this poor little bird so in need of help. Thank you to your vet too. As we so well know, many veterinarians wouldn't take the time to treat a pigeon.
I have a one footed pigeon that does very well. He does have a stump but really doesn't use it. I hope that with some time, Steve will be able to fly. Do you know if he is an adult or what we call a squeaker?
Let us know how Steve is doing. At this forum there will be someone available 24 hours a day to answer questions and give you advise if needed. In fact, there won't be a stortage of advise. LOL

[Cydonian]

Some news, Steve woke up finally, but he is completely unresponsive. I tried to give him water, I even tried to wet the tip of his beak, but he didn't react. Then I tried with some bread crumbs, but as expected, that didn't work either. He's still in complete shock poor thing, but he has to drink, right? I hope he'll snap out of it.

Tell me, if you know, is it better to put him somewhere where he will be completely alone, because, right now he is in the living room in the warmest place, but that's where we spend most of our time (my mother and I) and although we try to be as quiet as possible, we're still very active. or is it maybe good for him to know we're here, after all, he has been living in a very noisy city so I might be overly concerned.

After the operation the vet said that both his (wing)bones were broken but which ones, I don't know. When I found him, it was the lower part (the one closer to the tip) that was bloody and scratched, so I doubt that it's the Radius/Ulna pair, rather, it seemed to me to be Carpometacarpus.

I've put him in the towel ring, which definitely seems like the right thing to do, and I see, he's asleep again. The little I could notice about him is that his left (remaining) leg is very strong, so hopefully he will be alright with it and will learn to use it well.

As for the age, I've read here the criteria and he's definitely adult, though it seemed to me, and was confirmed by the vet that he is quite young. As I said, apart from the injurries he is really a very beautiful bird, quite a perfect example of a pigeon, which gave me hope in the first place that he might be strong enough to get through all this.

And as completely medically irrelevant fact, i would still like to point out that he has beautiful white eyes with just a bit of orange around the edge

Thank you for the support! I'll let you know if we achieve some progress

[TheSnipes]

I think quiet would be best, but so is warmth. A good solution is a heating pad, set on low, underneath his bedding/papers/box.

Hopefully he is just sleepy and will come around after a bit more napping. It is important that he get some fluids but if he's going to pull through, he'll know when to drink, as long as he can get at the water. Which means, you have to keep trying to help him.

[Pidgey]

He should be drinking somewhere in the neighborhood of approximately 15 to 30 milliliters of water per day. They can get away without that for awhile, of course, as some of them can get really good at internal water conservation. However, when they get dehydrated, they will often get pretty sleepy which can degenerate to a coma. How much water do you think he's gotten down since you got him?

Pidgey

[Cydonian]

None! I found him somewhere around noon today (it is now 21h here) and the operation was schedualed for 15h and I was advised not to give him any food or water because of it. After the operation he has been sleeping the whole time until now. I've fixed a cup of water between the towel and the boxwall so that he can reach it without a problem, but I don't think it's working. I'll try again manually

[TheSnipes]

if you can dip his beak deep enough into the water - not far enough to get any in his nostrils, but just shy of that point - he might realize his thirst and start sucking it up.

[Pidgey]

Just out of curiosity, what did they use for a "General Anaesthetic"? Here, we'd use Isoflurane (Trade name: Forane) and they'd come out of it relatively quickly. However, in many other places, there isn't the availability of that stuff and so other compounds are used, some of which do take substantial time to recover from.

Pidgey

[Cydonian]

I really don't know. I should call the vet tomorrow so I will ask. I just know that he got two shots of whatever it was because one shot wasn't enough. It does seem to me that he's still a bit dazed from it. My mother informed me that she saw him with his beak over the cup (he is awake now) but she didn't see him actually drink so I filled the cup a bit more to make it easier for him. I don't really want to move him around too much, after all, he is very injured, but if I don't see him drinking before I go to bed, I will have to try and make him because after I will be taking the cup out, I don't intend to risk him drowning or something

[Pidgey]

Pretty much all of the "Generals" that are given in parenteral form (a shot) do tend to lay the patient pretty low. In such cases, you're not really considered "out of the woods" (out of danger) until a day or two after your surgery. This sounds like that could be the problem. As such, it's sometimes quite dangerous to try and administer water at this point. Let it go for another day. The reason is that it can be pretty easy for the bird to "aspirate" water into the lungs and air sacs when they're that groggy, often causing pneumonia to set it.

Pidgey