Need Urgent Help!!!!

[Braydo25]

Hello there, my name is brandon. Where I live it has snowed 5" in the past 4 days and has been around 20F outside. I found a pigeon on my jobsite that wasnt looking so well and wasnt moving, but i could see it was still breathing. so i decided to take it home and see if it was the extreme cold that was causing it. I have been feeding it h20 and pigeon food that i got lately and have secluded it in a lightly lit room in a kennel that is fairly large size. I have been checking on it every few hours but it doesnt seem to be getting better.

here are some things ive been noticing that it has been doing that doesnt seem right to me. I think it may have pneumonia

1. He opens his mouth to breath whenever he takes a breath in and doesnt seem to breath any other way.

2. He has not been moving much, he can barely move his head when i feed him though a straw and give him water through a syringe.

3. he hasnt gotten up from the same spot and just lays there and stares but he is still breathing.

4. He twitches whenever anything seems to touch him (food water)

5. I have not seen any of his stools and i dont believe he is dropping stools

Im not sure what to do, i really need help on what to do or how to treat him. even knowing whats wrong with him will help. And another bad thing is that there is no bird hospital around where i live or bird sanctuary. i have been searching for a near one online and it is very very far away.

please someone help!!!!

[Pidgey]

Well, I've gotten several that were kind of like that for the first day because they were hit by a car and had gotten badly dehydrated. How much water have you actually gotten into the bird?

Pidgey

[Braydo25]

i dont think ive gotten much into it, it keeps twitching when i try to give it water and does not seem to want it. but now it is not opening and closing its mouth, but it is still breathing.

[Pidgey]

To give you a clue, they'd normally take in about 5 to 8% of their weight per day in water. That'd be about one to two tablespoons of water per day for an average sized pigeon. Since he's breathing like you're describing, it's pretty easy to aspirate (take the water or even food down into the lungs--can be a pretty fast death) one so how are you syringing in the water?

Pidgey

[Braydo25]

i am just putting a small drop by its beak but it still doesnt seem to want the water.

[Pidgey]

Is he laying on his side or rolled upright and laying on his chest? Are his legs tucked under or are they kinda' sticking out at funny angles (like somewhat straight behind)?

Pidgey

[Braydo25]

he is laying on his side and the wing on the side he is laying on is pointed out. and i believe that his legs are tucked under.

[Pidgey]

You might take an old towel and roll it into a donut-like nest. You can put him in the middle to help hold him up and that might make it a lot easier on him. Can he hold his head up at all?

Pidgey

[Braydo25]

yes he holds his head up when i try to give him food, and he does eat the food but in very small bites.

[Pidgey]

Can you count the breaths per minute? They can be fast and shallow or longer and deeper. If you write it down and keep timing them over the next hour, you might see them speeding up. If that's the case, then he's more than likely not going to make it.

Pidgey

[Pidgey]

You mean he takes the food out of your hand in a pecking type way and then works on swallowing it? Well, that's a bit more on the hopeful side of life.

Pidgey

[Braydo25]

no, not out of my hand. i have a very thin straw that i pit very small bits of pigeon feed on and he does move his head towards it and opens his beak, but when he opens his beak, it looks like he can barely open it but still takes very small pieces of food down.

[Pidgey]

What kind of pigeon feed can you put on the end of a straw? Can you post a picture of the bird?

Pidgey

[Braydo25]

yes i can get a picture of the bird on here. and i just counted his breaths over a minute and i counted 26 breaths that were long and shallow.

[Pidgey]

You see, normally we don't try to feed them until we've gotten them rehydrated. How long have you had this bird? Another question is how sharp is the keel? The keel is the equivalent of the sternum in us and is a blade-like bone that runs down the middle of the chest. If it actually feels like a blade that you can literally pinch between the fingers then the bird is emaciated. If there's good muscles running down the sides of it then the bird's in better shape. If you can't really feel the keel at all except a hard line running down the center of an extremely muscular chest then he's in real good shape.

Pidgey