Injured pigeon

[jenn1234]

My cat injured a wild pigeon. The wound is pretty big underneath the right wing. I put it in the box with some water. I cleaned the wound with hydrogen peroxide. What should I do next? I am near Dallas.

[Pidgey]

Well, we need to get the bird on an antibiotic because cats carry a bacteria in their mouths that can be pretty lethal to birds when it goes systemic. The antibiotic would be something like Amoxicillin or Clavamox (a combination of Amoxicillin and Clavulanic Acid). You wouldn't happen to have any of that laying around, would you?

Pidgey

[Pidgey]

And can you post a picture of the bird and the wound? It's also possible that there's a reason that your cat was able to catch the bird, so can you check him to see if he's particularly thin?

Pidgey

[jenn1234]

I do not have the Amoxicillin or Clavamox laying around. I have some skin topical spray(Genta Spray) for my dogs. I will take it to my vet tomorrow morning.

[Pidgey]

Hard for me to imagine a vet being open tomorrow (Sunday), but more power to you if they are. I have to tell you that they may opt for euthanasia for this dove. Frankly, it looks like a wound that he can survive even though it looks pretty nasty. After looking at it, he really needs antibiotics fairly quickly so we're going to have to see how that goes. If he makes it, it's going to be at least a week and probably longer before enough skin or scarring has occurred for him to be ready to go back to the wild. We'll certainly try to give it the old college try. In theory, only a licensed rehabber should be handling this particular species, though. It's a gray area. Can you send me a picture of the bird with his wing down? Normally, one of these guys would be pretty excitable but I expect he's in a bit of shock.

Pidgey

[Pidgey]

I don't think most of y'all oughta' click on the link to see the picture full size, as it's a bit gory. It looks worse than it is, but it's a dove we're talking about and probably the biggest danger is the shock and probable Pasteurella multocida infection that could go systemic.



Pidgey

[Pidgey]

Incidentally, it looks like a somewhat young dove that's still working on getting a full complement of feathers under the wings, just not sure. You might have a look at what it looks like under the other wing to see if you can see any actual skin. There's a lot more skin still somewhat intact under the wounded side than it looks. You can tell by the small feather shafts that are sticking out here and there in all that wetness. There are also some little white, blotchy-looking splotches that are really just wet, downy-type feathers.

Pidgey

[Pidgey]

The dove as seen from above:



Pidgey

[jenn1234]

Do you know of any rehabber in the Dallas area? Thanks

[TAWhatley]

Originally Posted by jenn1234

Do you know of any rehabber in the Dallas area? Thanks

Not right in your back yard but there is Rogers Wildlife in Hutchins, TX. http://www.rogerswildlife.org/ It's not too terribly far from you. If you call them, they may know of a center or a person closer to you.

Terry

[Pidgey]

I don't personally. You can check on this one, but it's more of a pigeon resource deal:

http://www.pigeon-life.net/prd.htm

Terry might know how to find rehabbers in your area, or even know some.

Pidgey

[Pidgey]

Oh, I see Terry showed up while I was typing!

Pidgey

[TAWhatley]

Jenn,

Thank you so much for assisting this Mourning Dove! Now that I've seen the pictures, especially the large wound, I really think you need to seek a rehabber or a vet pretty quickly in order to get the necessary meds started. I'm not doubting your sincerity or your ability to tend to the bird .. it's just going to be hard without the meds ASAP.

Here's a link that may lead to someone closer than Rogers: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild...&county=Dallas

Terry

[jenn1234]

Terry and Yul,

Thank you so much for your assistance. I am terribly sorry that it is my cat(that I rescued recently) caused the injuries to this poor dove and I have no med laying around to help him. I've contacted the Hutchins org. by email and will rush the bird to them tomorrow. I just hope he could make it..

[TAWhatley]

Originally Posted by jenn1234

Terry and Yul,

Thank you so much for your assistance. I am terribly sorry that it is my cat(that I rescued recently) caused the injuries to this poor dove and I have no med laying around to help him. I've contacted the Hutchins org. by email and will rush the bird to them tomorrow. I just hope he could make it..

Jenn,

Cats do what cats do .. not much you can do to stop that aside from keeping the cat inside. You're doing everything you can at this point to help the little Mourning Dove, and we are all grateful to you for that. Rogers Wildlife has a very fine reputation from everything I have ever heard about them, so I hope this is true and that they can help you with the dove.

Please do let us know how this all ends up, and thank you again for all your efforts on behalf of the bird.

Terry