please help!

[TAWhatley]

If a vet is needed, I can ask on another list I'm on that has a member in Israel. I don't think our member, Hilary, is or will be able to assist with this, but I could be wrong. Hilary has been extremely ill for years now and has pretty much given up any and all internet contact. The other person I know does know Hilary and how to get in touch with her, so let me know.

Terry

[litos]

i have some experience with avain vetenerians - since i had a sick chicken senario not so long ago. most of the vets i went to deal mostly with cats and dogs ane where confused when i steped in with a chicken. the only place that was helpfull was the Animal hospital (there is only one in Israel - but its 2 minitus from where i work) - but that was very expensive for me, and i really cant aford it again right now. i allso have acess to medication and lab equipment (and gental hands), so with your kind help i think we'll be ok... of course that if i see that things arent getting better in a while, ill try to find a vet (i know some people in the Vet-school, so i can take it there, maybe for free...)

i know pigeons are strong and i hope that with good care this bird will make it trough. i gave it the antibiotics today and it was much faster and easier!

thanks for caring. its a great help (to both of us)! i couldnt find any practical help on the net! i think that i should prepare a web page in hebrew to how to treat a wonded wild pigeon. thare is absolotly nothing on the net, and i could translate some of the posts in this forum to Hebrew and add a link to here... do you think that would be ok ?

[TAWhatley]

Originally Posted by litos

thanks for caring. its a great help (to both of us)! i couldnt find any practical help on the net! i think that i should prepare a web page in hebrew to how to treat a wonded wild pigeon. thare is absolotly nothing on the net, and i could translate some of the posts in this forum to Hebrew and add a link to here... do you think that would be ok ?

We're happy to help in whatever way we may be able to. I will ask the owners of the Pigeon-Talk site if they would like you to undertake the Hebrew translation of some of our material. Either I or they will let you know, and thank you so much for the offer.

Please do keep us posted on what's happening with your rescued bird.

Terry

[Pidgey]

You might want to take a poop sample and run a fecal float. Read this thread for instructions:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=10561

Pidgey

[litos]

Today was the 2nd day on antibiotics. i am now a pro, and i think the pigeon is getting more coperative as well. he looks a bit better i think, the poop is a bit more solid than what was going on last week. i will run the fecal float tomorrow at my lab, and will post the pictures here for your examination.

i will allso try to feel the bones again tomorrow, cause i'm sure somthing is broken there.

i have 2 more questions:
1# for how long can i / should i keep the pigeon on the antibiotics?
2# do you think he can't fly because he lost his tail and some back feathers?

[Pidgey]

You can keep him on that one for a few weeks, actually. I've used it for up to a month on birds with really bad oviduct and abdominal infections.

They can fly without tail feathers but he doesn't need to be doing that until his landing gear's better.

Pidgey

[Grimaldy]

He is also missing feathers on his back and the photo seems to show some sort of an abrasion. A possible victim of a predator? Puncture holes?

[Pidgey]

Yeah, he either got his back and tail scraped off in a really weird air accident (something like that) or something got a hold of him and stripped off a bunch of feathers before he got away. It happens. In the second case, he's probably got claw holes punched in him that we can't see but his back is relatively unscathed.

Pidgey

[litos]

i can see them! but they look very small and looking good: close wounds, dry, not red, no blood signs at all! - it must have happened a while before we found him...

[litos]

hi hi - i did it. found some interesting things and took some nice pics.
please take a look:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/small-things/
and say what you think (here or there).

do you think the pigeon is very sick? the poop became very green (could this be because of the antibiotics?), and still very wet.

what should i do next?

[Pidgey]

Well, I don't see any of the usual suspects in the pictures (Coccidial Oocysts; worm eggs). You don't see bacteria much in fecal floats, that's more for a smear. On that link that I gave you to my microscope thread, there's also a link down the way a bit to Vonda's finchaviary page that tells more about smears. You might try running one of those. Crop swabs are nice for seeing trichomonads (Trichomoniasis; Canker). You probably need to give him some time on the Resprim and see how it goes.

Pidgey

[litos]

i will do a smear as well. i'm not sure i was looking at the right level. its all a very interesting experience for me, since i usually deal with plant tissues... anyways - people in my Lab were quite supprised at the sight of bird poop... and i promised them we are soon to find out what we see in this poop... So do you think the round things i took picture of are not oocytes? what are they? and do you know what the other needle like thingi is?

[Pidgey]

Don't know on the needle thing but it's an artifact not to worry about. No, the other things aren't oocysts or worm eggs either. Both oocysts and worm eggs have definite shapes with stuff inside that has a very particular look about it and those didn't have that. I always think of deviled eggs as seen from above but you might not be acquainted with that dish.

Pidgey

[litos]

Hi Pidgey, i did the smear test but i forgot to put the pictures on my disk-on-key, so i will upload them only tomorrow. i found quite a few unicells that looked to me a little like Paramecium... you'll see it tomorrow, i hope its nothing too bad.

the other important thing is that i think i may have found the broken bone. theres a swalown area on the Tarsosmetatarsus bone, just below the Calcaneal ridge, but it could allso be the ridge itself...anyway - it looks different from the other leg. i will try to take a good picture for as soon as my camera is back from Jerusalem (i forgot it at my sister's place on the weekend, and i'm hopeless without it...), and hopefully you will be able to guide me about that.

[Pidgey]

Well, then, I guess you can fixate the tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus with the wide tape (multiple layers) and some popsickle sticks (like a wooden tongue depressor).

Pidgey