Baby Wood pigeon

[PidgePidge]

Hi everyone,
Rather ironically, I was just sitting on my couch browsing the discussion forum on here, when our 'pet' woodpigeon flew into our backyard. Then his/her baby joined her. We have seen two babies with the bird in the last two to three days. They are fully fledged and eating on their own, but don't have their bands grown in yet, and are smaller than the adults. As I was watching them, the neighbor cat surprised us all by darting out from a bush and snagging the baby. Strictly on instinct I flew out the door and yelled like a crazy woman chasing the cat. The cat dropped the dove, but she was flopping around. I picked her and brought her inside. I can't feel any broken bones in her wings, so I'm hoping she's mostly just in shock, but she also has a small puncture wound on one wing. it is very superficial and not bleeding, but definitely compromised the skin. I have put her in a box and am just getting her warm for now.
My main question is that: she has a growth on her head. At first I thought she'd gotten a bit of wood lodged in her head when the cat had her, but on closer inspection its a solid, featerless mass. It's small--probably like if she had a small pencil eraser stuck to her head. It is pale and rough. Does anyone know what this is, and is it dangerous?
Otherwise, I will post again later. This all happened literally less than 10 minutes ago, so I want to leave her alone for a while, but I will post again later when I've taken another look at her.
Thanks,
Jill

[John_D]

Hi Jill,

problem with cat attacks is that even a relatively small wound can be a problem. We would always recommend an antibiotic - pref. Synulox - just in case, and maybe gently wash the wound with a little saline solution.

As for the 'eraser', it is possibe - but obviously can't say for sure - that the woodie could have a lump like our "Flakey" had a while back. The avian vet said it was kind of like an acne pimple in his case, and squeezed pus from it. She prescribed an antibiotic for any infection.

John

[Birdmom4ever]

Thank goodness you were there to save the baby from the cat! I don't know about the growth on her head-perhaps an injury that has since healed? But she definitely needs antibiotics because of the cat puncture. As you probably know from this forum, cat saliva can carry bacteria fatal to pigeons. Your little one needs Clavamox (U.K.) or Augmentin (U.S.) as soon as possible.

[PidgePidge]

Thanks a million for your replies. Will I need to go to a vet to get the antibiotic? If so, I won't be able to get it until Monday as it's Saturday night here. As my entire family except me is in medicine, we always have meds around, and I have Amoxycillin and Biaxin in pill form--would it be possible to dissolve a bit in water and use that for now (would calculate the dosage of course)? I know it sounds risky but if that's my only option? And how long do I keep her on the meds? I will definitely give it to her orally as I have no syringes and am not sure I'd feel comfortable administering a shot to her anyway. Finally, is it advisable to apply a topical antibiotic cream? Seems I remember reading somewhere on here that the oil in it is dangerous for their feathers...
Thanks a lot,
Jill
PS and as for the head growth--it doesn't look irritated at all, and it doesn't feel hot at all, so I guess I'll just assume it's either a scar or an abcess that the antibiotics will take care of. Finally, if she is going to need long-term care, John I may be back to needing your help on this one. I am moving house in two weeks--why do these little guys always show up at awkward times!? But of course I don't know yet where we're at with that...

[PidgePidge]

Ah! After I just wrote that I was digging around in my medicine box, and I have Augmentin! It is, of course, human form so an 875 mg pill, but what do you guys think about dissolving some of it in water? Unless I can get it OTC at Pets-at-Home, which I could do tomorrow.... But if this cat bacteria is as vicious as it sounds, will she be okay overnight?

[Trees Gray]

Hi Jill,

Thank you for your quick action taken to help the youngster.

You have gotten already some great advice about the treatment of thecat bite, from John & Birdmom4ever, that is priority 1.

The hard dried (eraser) bump could be many things. You can use Thuja oil to put on it topically, be very careful not to get in eyes or nostrils. This will dry a number of lesions, such as warts, polips, flued rentention, tumors of the skin, Pox, & blemishes. This is a homeopathic product from health food store. thuja also comes in tiny tablets to be given orally for internal use.

[PidgePidge]

Thanks Treesa for the tip,
I just checked on her and she looks okay, laying down though.
And I tell you what, if you're used to rock dove turds... Wow... I am impressed! Well, let's just say that her bowels are clearly working fine...

[John_D]

Hi Jill,

Guess "BirdMom" could tell you the Augmentin dose for a bird, matter of splitting the tablet. Antibiotics are generally 10-day course when we give Synulox (Clavamox).

I'll be heading up to Norfolk next Friday, so if you need the little Woodie to have a temporary home, then just let me know.

John

[cyro51]

Hi Jill,

Synulox is Amoxycillin and clavulanic acid, so I think the amoxycillin would be best.

My standard dose for pigeons is 12.5 mg of Synulox twice a day.

helen has recommended crushing a tablet of synulox and agitating in water to produce a solution that can be fed by syringe to a pigeon.

I would rather seek someone else's approval (Reti?) but wondered if a 500 mg capsule of amoxycillin was mixed with 5 ml water, you would have 100mg per ml of water. Would it be safe to dose a pigeon with 0.15 ml of that solution twice a day?

Cynthia

[PidgePidge]

Thanks for letting me know about Friday John! And Cynthia, I will wait till we hear from someone else, but no problem to do the Amoxycillin. They are the twist-apart-full-of-medicine-pebbles kind so it should be easier and give a better result for dissolving than the Augmentin tabs anyway. Will wait before I proceed though... She is on her feet and looking alert.

[PidgePidge]

Ugh you guys. I just got the bird out to do a proper inspection. She has three very superficial wounds on her wing for which I will put her on antibiotics once I get more advice on dosage.

But then there was some sort of thing on her foot. It was dark and at first I thought it was encrusted feces. But it is really hard, and I noticed that it seems to be looped around the back of her foot. I wasn't sure what it was, but I ran it under warm water for a minute, and then managed to cut a bit of it off with scissors. When it opened it stank, I mean I'm not easily fussed but it was really disgusting, and I couldn't tell what was in it. It's not puss, but I wasn't sure enough that it wasn't some sort of growth that I stopped cutting. The only way I can think to describe it is like a really dark walnut that is on her foot, yet on the inside is sort of... organic material. But I do think that it is stuck to her foot by being wrapped around the back. I don't know how else to describe it, but frankly it's quite gross. I'm wondering if, in conjunction with the growth on her head, if maybe there's something wrong with this bird? I have never handled a wood pigeon before, but she smells bad. Not like infection though, at least I don't think. Maybe it is their normal odor. But she looks otherwise healthy, some normal mites. Any guesses on what the foot thing may be?

[pdpbison]

Hi PidgePidge,


Maybe do see about visiting an experienced Avian Vet next week if you can...

The odd foot-thing and or both it and the head 'bump' might be some order of localized staff or other...for which of course the systemic antibiotics for answering the Cat punctures would help...but might be good to obtain a more definite evaluation.

Can you post some close up images for us to access from here?

Good luck..!

Phil
Las Vegas

[PidgePidge]

Okay, I couldn't stand not getting another look at her foot, so I just looked at her again, and it IS a foot infection. Perhaps that explains the smell too. It looks like it's on the up side of healing, but definitely still infected. Hopefully the antibiotics will take care of that too. Ugh, it's not pleasant. Blech. And the bump on her head seems to be separating a bit, and it looks more like a scab, although I don't know why it grew out in a tubular shape. But the skin around it looks fine.

I'll have to wait till Monday regardless re: a vet, so I'll see how she is by then. I'm afraid I don't have a digital camera to photograph her injuries. I could try to take one with my boyfriend's camera-phone, but the quality may not be so good. I've had her out twice tonight and it's late, so I think I'll leave her be until tomorrow, but I'll see what I can do then!

[PidgePidge]

Also, this is probably for John and Cynthia but perhaps if anyone else knows anything about Pigeon Recovery? I didn't know they existed but just stumbled across their website. http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~picas/pigrec/ Just wondering as I haven't heard of them before and they're based in London so they could be useful!
Thanks!

[PidgePidge]

The more that I think about it, Pigeon Recovery is you guys, isn't it? Ha ha, small world