Rehab advice for Fooster (feral) Please!

[Pigeontastic]

Hi all,

My broken wild pigeon Fooster is making some progress but rather slowly.

Fooster has somewhat settled in and is now used to me and wife. He's not afraid of us anymore and really likes the bed we made up for him (wheat & lavender microwaveable heating bag). He likes having his neck rubbed and having his feathers gently tugged at like being preened.

He is bandaged. The vet said his wing probably wasn't broken but couldn't tell without an x-ray. He said not to bandage him. We left him without bandage for a day. His wing was dragging on the ground. The vet, by the way, was visibly impatient about leaving to go to lunch and they don't charge for seeing wild animals.

So, we decided it better to bandage a wounded wing than not bandage a possibly broken one.

He isn't eating all that much (nor drinking, from what we can tell). We used to coax him into eating the first few days by wraping him snug in a towel and bringing him to the edge of a table with food. After calming a bit, and watching us peck at the seeds with our fingers, he'd have at it, but only in small bits at a time. Now he gets agitated more frequently when held and tries escaping instead instead of eating.

The last two days he has been eating small amounts in the mornings. I sucessfully encouraged him to eat this morning by flicking seeds and bread about in his cage. I tried several more times throughout the day but he is unresponsive.

I was only able to get grit today; he hasn't had any yet. I also gave him some lentils as a treat (which I read about on the 'Pet Pigeons' forum) but he ignored them.

His droppings are rather small, green/brown and white; solid matter about corn kernel size and liquid spreading to size of a quarter/euro on flat newspaper. Sometimes (1:4 - 1:5) they're only white and not solid.

From his cage he can see the local flock that hangs out on our balcony. He was interested in them for about a day but has been indifferent.

His cage is also next to my desk and I have left the top off the cage most of the day. He doesn't try to escape whether I'm here or not (but he easily could). He seems overly tame or bored or depressed or something. I could well be overinterpreting his (in)actions but he really is quite apathetic.

We want to let him run around... we think it might make him happier, eat more, etc. He could run around on our patio safely (no predators) with the Salthill Pigeon Flock (he's from the Spanish Arch Flock). We don't know if that's a good idea though.

Anyone have any suggestions about any of the above?

[John_D]

If he can have a small pot of corn, pigeon mix, wild bird food - whatever you currently have him on - in his quarters, and pot of water, he should eat and drink when he needs to. generally, pigeons will eat in the morning and then again any time from afternoon through to a couple of hours before dark. They tend to drink a few sips after eating, primarily, then at odd time in the day.

If it seems that, left to his own devices, he just will not eat, then we can figure how best to ensure he gets food in him. If he is, aside from injury, otherwise healthy then he should eat when hungry enough.

Small, unroasted and unsalted peanuts are often enjoyed as a treat, too. They do tend to have their indvidual likes and dislikes, and this can also depend on what they have been used to recognising as food.

Small brown/green droppings with a dollop of white are fine. If they become consistently runny he may need something to sort his system out.

Often, pigeons do stay fairly quiet in 'captivity'. It does them no harm for a little while. Any bird who is injured can well do with building up his reserves gradually.

Can he have a little exercise indoors first? See if he is up to it.

I see your flocks have their own 'gang names' Just like the ones in Cynthia's city (Cyro51). After a while, we can even figure which family they're part of.

Cheers

John

[Pidgey]

Pigeontastic,

I had some rehabbers bring me a pigeon that had hurt a wing recently. They were working with him every day, trying to help him fly. After six weeks they felt he was losing weight and going downhill. They knew I worked entirely with pigeons and they were more used to songbirds so they brought him over.

I floated a fecal and found a lot of coccidia pointing to the beginnings of full coccidiosis. That would explain some of the things that you're seeing. It's not the only answer--but it's one of the most common things to happen. If you want to research this disease on the internet, you can use the words above as well as "eimeria labbeana".

If that's what he has, you don't need to worry--you can't get it. But you'll need to treat him for it. Testing for it is usually done by a vet--and you can take in a full poop sample, you don't need to take in the entire bird. If you have access to a microscope, you can easily do the test yourself.

There are a few different medicines for treating it, but I don't know what your local vet or pet store will have. Most animals can get species-specific coccidiosis and the same medicine works for a lot of different species. It's mostly just the dose that varies.

Coccidiosis is a disease that you cannot get rid of but you can control. It often arises when the bird is stressed, hurt or has some other disease taking hold--in short, it's opportunistic. I have found that you can have every kind of poop quality there is with coccidiosis, so what you're seeing isn't particularly a symptom. Except when it's REALLY bad and then they might shoot out LOTS of fluid. I haven't seen many that did that, though.

Pidgey

[Feefo]

In my experience a watched rescue seldom eats. It has been great fun to put down a few raw peanuts down and then watch through a crack in the door as they surrender to temptation! As John said, it is best to leave their food and water with them and then watch the poop production which is the best indicator of how much they are eating.

The microwaveable herb bag sounds pleasant, but be wary of scented things for pigeons. The rule of thumb is that if we can smell it avoid it...plug in room freshners, essential oil etc can be toxic.

Cynthia

[Pigeontastic]

Hi Cynthia,

Yeah... I read your reply last week on the Emergency board about aromatherapy etc., but only after I had used the lavender heating pad. I thought it would be okay initially because it's natural lavender and not an extract or essential oil.

He seems to love it, but maybe that's contributing to his apathy... lavender scent certainly contributes to mine...

I'll get him a little hot water bottle today to see if that helps his mood.

Thanks!

Sean

[Pigeontastic]

In fact...

His behavior may well be pretty normal for a wild bird with a bound wing in an open cage on someone's desk.

As my wife just pointed out, though, it's best to rule out any possiblity that we're slowly poisining him.

That's pretty sound reasoning to me.

On a side note, the Gang names are only the beginning... as we get to know the SPF (Salthill Pigeon Flock), the gangstars' are slowly revealing their nicknames to us as well. I'll be posting up that whole story some other time.

[pdpbison]

Hi Pigeontastic,

As Pidgey wisely reminds, Coccidosis or other back-ground illnesses, usually dormant as for symptoms, may advance after an injury or privation, taking advantage of the Bird's reduced immunological status.

Too, as for their eating, when I have not been 'swamped', and have the time to do so, I usually gently and kindly handle my feral convelescents to a degree which allows them to become familiar and comfortable with my hands, and with me, and since they usually are here in my office anyway, in their cages, a few feet from me and from eachother, they tend to accept the situation eeasily and become pretty comfortable.

Each is different of course, in various ways of their personality, but, for those who do not seem to be eating enough, being next to another cage holding a Pigeon who does eat plenty, is a nice encouragement. Or, also, I will (for having got them comfortable with my preening under their chins and so on) 'peck' with them, or peck in their little Seed Bowl, and sometimes this also helps them to wish to walk over and start pecking too. This tends to be when I only have one Bird, which is rare, otherwise, they tend to encourage eachother pretty well to enjoy their eating...

Silly as it may sound to tell of, when wishing to inspire a Bird to eat ( adult Birds I mean, convelescents,) when 'pecking' to invite them to do so also, I will say things like "Mmmm! These are NICE seeds...Ooo! the little 'White' ones are very good...yummy! Mmmmm!" and so on...

Sometimes it works!

Some of course are too shy for these things, or, too wary...but many are not, and will come around nicely enough.

Anyway, too...injurys such as your has suffered will sometimes throw off their appetite, as will some medications sometimes.

Or too, as Pidgey mentions, they might be suffering an opportunistic advance of some erstwhile back-ground illness...which is something for us all to bear in mind when dealing with post-trauma Birds.


Phil
Las Las Vegas

[John_D]

Hi Sean,

keep us updated on intake and 'output'.

If it is possible that basic meds could be needed, I (or Cynthia) can send you Appertex (used for Coccidiosis) and Spartrix (for canker). Little point in ordering them yourself (far more than you'd need) or getting from a vet (as they are non-prescription).

John

[Pigeontastic]

Phil, John -

Thanks for the advice (you too... Pidgey).

Today has been somewhat more promising on the food/poop front.

Fooster ate 3 decent-sized meals today, still hasn't touched his grit, and has made what seem to be healthier droppings. 2 droppings in particular were a bit off: they were runny and mostly white with a bubbly/mucous-like coating.

I've read up on the coccidia and in my amateur opinion, I'd like to hold off for maybe another day before trying to medicate him.

I may be able to find some Appertex as there's a pharmacy in town that carries vet stuff... I'll let you guys know tomorrow a.m. (gmt).

I tried handling him a bit more this afternoon and was surprised when he, roosting right next to me on his heating pad, popped up and began pecking away. I pecked along with him and we made a great old mess for a minute or two.

The next issue is his bandage. His feet are getting caught in it too often and he stumbles occasionally because of it. I started to change his bandage this afternoon but the adhesive gauze was sticking to his feathers. Fooster had little patience with that nonsense and was all a fooster in 0.02 seconds flat. I will procure vet tape if I can before I change the bandage but I still have the problem of getting the old bandage off!

Thanks for all the help...

Sean

[pdpbison]

Hi Sean,

I have been happiest useing 'micropore' tape, available anywhere general medical related sundrys are sold.

I like the 1/2 inch width and a roll costs like 99 Cents. As long as one gently pulls it off in the direction of the Feathers, it comes off very well with no Feather pulling from their being stuck to it, yet it holds very well and is thin and supple. I like to fold over one end of it first, for that end to go on last in a wrap, that way, I can see easily where to grasp it to remove it later, and the little floppy folded-over end is easy to grasp.

Their getting a leg and foot 'up' into and under a bandage, and then jamming the foot 'down' and falling over and so on, has driven me to my wit's ends many times...

I wish I knew what to advise about that one!

Some do not do it, some do it within seconds of one's just having spent a half hour re-doing a very nice Wing Bandage job in yet some 'new' innovative way with the to hope to avoid the leg being brought way Way WAY out of it's normal motions of "up" and then their jamming in there as they fall 'over' of course...and one's having to get the in effect 'disappeared' leg and foot outta there for the fifteenth time in two days...or having to redo some of the bansage to get the leg outta there...sheeeesh..! lol...

Phil
Las Vegas

[Pigeontastic]

Originally Posted by pdpbison

Their getting a leg and foot 'up' into and under a bandage, and then jamming the foot 'down' and falling over and so on, has driven me to my wit's ends many times...

It's tragic and comic. The emotional 'trip' leaves me pained and laughing and guilty and rushing to catch him and get him right again and pained some more and shaking my head all at the same time.

He is the sweatest little creature, though, and I hate to see him so compromised.

I'll try to find micropore tape, but experience has taught me that things like that are a lot harder to come by in Ireland than they are in the US.

Thanks buddy,

Sean