Rescued a pigeon out of the street. Its bleeding. I have no idea what I am doing!??!

[AZWhitefeather]

Originally Posted by Kelly5303

Hello all,
The pigeon stayed in the house over night. It had food and water available to it however, I didn't witness it eat or drink.

It mainly stays in one place but it will move away if aproached. It does not seem to have any balance problems to me. I don't think it can fly, though.

* It does flap its wings while jumping short distances. After flapping its wings it seems to hold the one wing slightly out and upward for a while before getting it back into the same position as the other wing.

** It is no longer bleeding.
The bird doesn't seem or feel feeble, weak, or starved to me.

*** I believe someone asked about the poo and it has pooed several times throughout the night and day. It is yellow liquid with dark solid chunks in it. The dried ones have white in them as well. It looks like pretty regular bird poop to me.
There are no protruding bones but, I do feel that there is something wrong with the wing. I know I probably should have already tried to examine the cone structure, but I don't want to hurt it. Should I try to let it stand and examine? or lay it on its back with someone elses help holding it down? There is a little dried blood on its chest should I try to wipe this off or would it be like picking its scab?

Hi Kelly,
Thanks for posting an update.

* Sounds like he is trying to exercise his wings. If you do feel there is most likely a wing injury, I would suggest keeping him confined to a somewhat small area. This will help to eliminate further injury.

** That's great news. You still need to check things out though.

*** Yellow droppings aren't normal. There could be a few things that will cause this. The white indicates he is consuming some water. Is he consuming enough, that's the question.

Here are a couple things to check:
1) The inside of his mouth. Gently open his beak & take a peek inside. It should be nice & pink with no obstructions.
2) His keel (breast) bone. There should be a sufficient amount of muscle on each side. A 'sharp' keel bone with little muscle is an indication of starvation.
3) Compare the good wing with the bad. Note any differences.

I agree with Kippy. I would not place the pij on his back to examine him. If you need an assistant, that's fine, but I would not recommend placing him on his back.

Cindy

[feralpigeon]

Hi Kelly5303,

A pigeon's head should be/remain higher than the crop. This is to ensure that the bird does not reguritate/aspirate fluid into the air sacs/lungs which could be fatal. Sometimes you might see an experienced vet look at a bird while in a slightly reclined position with the head higher than the throat/crop. For someone relatively inexperienced in bird handling, it would be a relatively easy
thing to lose track of the position of the head and risk aspiration.

And so it becomes one of those "Don't try this at home" kind of things...

Thanks for all that you are doing to help this injured pigeon out.

fp

[mr squeaks]

Any chance of checking gently UNDER the wing(s) and round the chest area to see where the blood might have come from originally??

[pigeonperson]

Kelly,
If this bird is not eating or drinking yet, you have to help. See post number 14 for the way to get food down him. Every minute that passes, he's using up his body fat in place of food and is weakening. In the beginning, use soft, wet dog food. If he's dehydrated, he may throw it up so if you have an eye dropper, first drip water into his mouth anywhere except the center where the tongue is. Look at post number 14. Keep the head in that position for food but for water, raise his head vertically as much as possible.

[AZWhitefeather]

Pigeonperson,
I apologize for not addressing your questions in a more timely manner. Will do so now.

Originally Posted by pigeonperson

Cindy,
1)) How do you stabilize a bird unless you stem bleeding and immobilize the injury to prevent it from continuing to bleed on and off?

I stabilize a bird by following the guidelines provided by our local (& federally licensed) rehabber while attending a training session.
A copy of these guidelines is accessible, in it's entirety, via this link: http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=8822

Nancy does state, in part:
Give the bird a quick, superficial examination. Unless there is a critical situation, e.g., (severe bleeding) all birds should be covered and placed on a heat source* (see below) for at least 20-30 minutes to bring the body temperature back to normal.


2) Do you know what shock is and what happens in a shock condition?

Unfortunately, all to well. My career was in the medical field. Specifically Neurology & Cardiology.


3) Did it dawn on you that the blood pressure was so low, there was no bleeding left to be done? It sure dawned on me but I'm a pigeon rehabilitator so I have to know these things.

No, it didn't. The reason being, the bird was presented to us alive & you were concerned about a bleeding problem.
If the B/P had been so low that there was 'no bleeding left to be done', the bird's system would have shut down immediately & the bird would have expired (died) on the spot. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

With respect to Kelly & her thread, if there are any other questions/comments directed to me personally, with regard to this thread, please send them via my email, AZWhitefeather@aol.com

Thanks,

Cindy