Pigeon tale

[brianko]

Found a pigeon today thrashing about in a parking lot, so I picked him up and brought him home (figured it would just get run over if I left it there). It looks to have two puncture wounds on either side of its breast, under the wings close to the head (we do have hawks around here, or maybe a dog got to it). At any rate, cleaned them the best I could with hydrogen peroxide. Doesn't look like wings are broken -- it will extend them on occasion -- but right now it's simply "roosting" in a box lined with towels. At least it's back on its own feet again.

Following the advice here, I warmed it up first, and then gave it a bit of "pigeon water," which it accepted without a fuss.

So, what next? Any pigeon rescues in the Dallas, TX area? (A cursory Google search didn't turn up anything.) I'm not adverse to bringing it back to health, just not sure what all's involved.

--Brian

[Reti]

So far sounds good all you did.
You can apply some neosporin cream on the wounds and the bird will need some oral antibiotic also, preferable clavamox. We don't know what happened to this poor bird, but anything like cat, dog, hawk wounds can cause fatal infections. Is there any chance you can get hold of clavamox/Augmentin/Amoxicillin? Maybe your local vet can give you some, which I doubt, but it's worth a try.
Keep him hydrated and he will also need to eat. Have you offered him seeds yet? Is he eating?

Thanks you for rescuing this poor bird and please keep us posted on his progress.

Reti

[TAWhatley]

Hi Brian and welcome to Pigeon-Talk! Thank you so much for assisting this needy bird. If you feel you need some assistance (aside from all of us here on Pigeon-Talk), you might try Roger's Wildlife: http://www.rogerswildlife.org/

Terry

[brianko]

Appreciate the responses...after some further cleaning, it turns out things are a bit more serious than I first thought. There is a chunk about the size of a finger missing from one side. The other side doesn't look so bad. I've attached some pics (sorry about the graphic nature).

I've covered everything in Neosporin...unfortunately, no amoxicillin. I may be able to talk my vet out of some, will try tomorrow.

[TAWhatley]

That's some fairly nasty looking wounds. Glad you got the Neosporin going. I can't really tell from the pictures, but it could be that a stitch or two might be needed on this bird to close up the wounds a bit. I think the bird probably does need an antibiotic and probably Clavamox or Baytril. Thank you again for helping, and please do keep us posted.

Terry

[Reti]

Ouch, looks nasty. Any chance you can take him to a vet.

Reti

[Trees Gray]

Here is a list of rehabbers in Texas:


http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contactN.htm#tx

[Pidgey]

At first glance, most of that looks to be somewhat on the surface. In the area of what is actually the base of the neck (the furthest to the right in the last picture and possibly the furthest forward on the bird in the middle picture) there may be enough wound to have put a hole in the "crop". The crop is a section of the esophagus that widens as a temporary holding place for food on its way to the stomachs. If that section gets punctured, ripped or otherwise cut, it can leak out water and food. So, it becomes necessary to watch the bird while it's drinking and see if any droplets come out through the wound or feathers. If that proves to be the case then we've got some work to do.

As to the other wounds, birds heal pretty well on stuff like that. Of course, in a simple wound, if the edges can be brought closer together and held that way at least until a scab forms, it'll heal quicker. Sometimes it's necessary to remove a few feathers around such a spot in order to tape it up close (with the stickiest old cloth medical tape that you can find). Stitches are always better but that's none too easy if you don't have help holding the bird and the right stuff to do it with. You can actually use regular cotton thread and as small of a needle as you can get the thread through but you better have good eyesight and a steady hand. In such a case, you'll want forceps or some other kind of good tweezer to pull the flap of skin away from the body to run a straight sewing needle through rather than trying to push it straight in towards the body to get it through the skin (that's why suture needles are curved).

It is best to get fresh wounds taken care of promptly else the healing process gets longer because of tissue reorganization. This thread shows similar wounds that were a week or so old before the bird was brought to medical attention:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=11512

Sure hope this bird makes it through the night. Good luck!

Pidgey

[Lovebirds]

If you can tell us where in TX you are, we may be able to find a pigeon fancier near you that has some meds on hand. Are you near North Richland Hills by any chance? I guess I read your post to fast and didn't get the "Dallas" part. Sorry. Don't have any info except for the e-mail address, but this guy may be able to help you out. michaelts001@aol.com

[Pidgey]

Incidentally, if you give the bird Amoxicillin, the standard dose by mouth given in a (somewhat newer) formulary for pigeons is 20 to 100 milligrams per kilogram of bird, 1 to 2 times per day. It's likely that your bird is in the 300 gram category so that would mean about 18 milligrams at a whack if we shoot for the middle. Depending on the pill or capsule size, that will more than likely mean some dividing. There are also some forms like a powder that comes in a bottle and you have to add water, shake and then dispense with a syringe down the bird's beak. The pharmacist may add the water and do the shaking, the trick then being to get the right amount in the syringe.

Anyhow, if you can get some, be sure and note medication particulars and hopefully someone on here can help you divide it out one way or another.

Pidgey

[brianko]

I think the bird probably does need an antibiotic and probably Clavamox or Baytril.

Baytril I have (we have other animals), 136mg tabs. How much for this bird?

[feralpigeon]

Originally Posted by brianko

Baytril I have (we have other animals), 136mg tabs. How much for this bird?

Hi Brian, the Resource section here has this thread on Baytril Dosing:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=16368

Different formularies give different dosing amounts, starting at 5mgs and going as high as 20 mgs per kg, twice daily for 7-14 days. If you have a limited amount of Baytril, you may want to take these factors into consideration, but start w/a 'front-loading' dose (i.e.) double to get the meds
delivered.

fp

[jazaroo]

Hi Brianko,

I see your on-line. perhaps waiting for an answer to get this bird started.

Well, a standard dose for a bird in the 300 gram range would be 10 mg BID (twice a day). You can do this a couple of ways, the easiest way, and the way most do it here is to crush the pill add it water/syrup mixture to form a suspension and dose through a 1cc syringe. Shake well before drawing a dose and keep this refrigerated after mixing.

If you do it this way you will want to add the crushed pill to 7 mL of liquid, this will just about give you the same standard mixture you would get from an avian vet of 20mg/mL and give this bird .50cc (1/2 a cc, please use a 1cc syringe, they are the most precise at smaller doses) this will be a dose of 10 mg BID. You will give this for 7-14 days.

The other way, a little trickier, would be to divide the pill into 13 even pieces and give one of these pieces every twelve hours (twice a day). here is a link on how to pop it into the mouth provided by cyro51 http://youtube.com/watch?v=uU1SO0ZJoow , here it shows feeding, this may be useful to you as well, but this method can be used to pop in pills.

I hope this helps for now and good luck with this little guy.

Ron

Sorry Fp, I see you posted while I was typing.

[feralpigeon]

Brian, is the pij self-feeding/watering and have you noticed any signs of water
food trickling, coming out through the wounds?

fp

[brianko]

No external signs of food/water coming from the wounds. Actually, there's already quite a bit of older scar tissue (it's not evident in the pics), so I'm puzzled as to where the new damage came from. Today is out for a trip to the vet/rehabber, so I'll try to get some Baytril going in the meantime.

It's eaten a bit of bird food and bread, and seems much more alert today. It just sits there and watches your every move. I'm a bit surprised it's not more excitable, given the extent of its wounds. Doesn't seem to mind all the prodding and poking I've been doing to clean things up.