bad string injury, foot may be lost?

[xxmoxiexx]

so, the string injury was pretty fierce on this guy. he has a few friends just as bad downtown i couldnt catch, and i fear it may be too late for them.
I got the string off, the foot was swollen and yellow. The string just above foot wa soo deep, i decided to take home. I let him fly loose, and when i came in 2 days ago, he was bleeding bad. All the ruckus trying to catch him, with him flying and landing, flying and landing, on the bad foot, started the bleeding bad. I put some blood clogging stuff on it, and compressed it. I wrapped it that night and put him in a box. yesterday, the blood was all over him, he had still bled out.
I unwrapped the foot. The foot is so flimsy, it really is just bone there. I dont know if blood is getting into the foot or not, i'm trying to save the foot, or he'll be unreleasable, right?
What kind of meds, if any, does he need? I braced the leg/foot, so any moving wont be bending it at that point where string was.
what else can i do?

exceeded my phtot storage elswhere, so had to make a quick album (of ONE photo!)
sorry if pic isnt best, my camera SUCKS!
here's link to photo
http://public.fotki.com/xxscribblerxx/pigeons/

[pdpbison]

hi "x",


Tape his Primarys together...have him in a small Cage for a week or two...on soft Towells...Neosporin on the Leg...


Hope for the best...

Foot is not shrivvelled or black, so...it has been getting circulation enough to stay alive, and may mend...he just needs to use it as little as possible for a while...



Phil
l v

[Reti]

I would follow Phil's advice. The foot doesn't look it is bad right now, seems to be getting anough circulation.
He'll be fine in a small cage where he can rest for a couple of weeks.

Reti

[Feefo]

My Cinderella stepped out of a pink foot, so I am giving you a link to the thread as it covers what to do when a pigeon loses its foot.

I gave fluids subQ but you can give them orally. The important thing there is that the lost fluids are replaced.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showth...referrerid=560

Cynthia

[naturegirl]

I hope I never get a string injury bird in as I would be at a loss as to what to do and panic, that foot looks real bad but as everyone has said the foot isn't black. Poor baby my heart goes out to all birds in bad situations and this has to hurt so bad. I am keeping my fingers crossed for him. Thanks for helping this poor bird.

Cindy

[pdpbison]

Stuff like this, I usually massage in some 'Neosporin', and do so again every day for a while.

I do not know if it helps or not, but it might, or some of me thinks it does...

Massaging both sides of the String injury...and the Foot and Toes below the injury area.


They seem to do very well generally with having no infections anyway, from these String injurys, even with no antibiotics, but the Neosporin helps ensure that they would not, while also making for a lubed-medium for massaging the areas between the pads of one's finger tips...


Usually they seem to like the Leg and or Foot and Toes massages too...

I would too, I am sure..!


Lol...


Too, 'Asprin' in apppropriate doses of course, might just be worth considering for these, since in theory it would help the Circulation to succeed better through the constricted area to reach the Foot and Tows and so on...


Phil
l v

[maryjane]

Wow, that poor foot. Never dealt with one that bad, mostly just with toes that either turn black and fall off, or get better. I would go with Neosporin and the tape as Phil says, and hope for the best, try to keep him quiet and contained so he can't run about. With feet injuries that tend to bleed a lot, I have sometimes placed the bird in a tub with a few inches of cornstarch or flour in it, so wherever they walk, the powder covers the ankle and keeps it clotted. This has been in some situations where I couldn't hold the bird constantly or it was a hard wound to wrap. Good luck with this poor fellow.

[xxmoxiexx]

ok Phil, what would the dosing be on the aspirin?
yes, poor guy, i feel bad, i really hope the foot heals!

[Pidgey]

Well, if the foot breaks off then aspirin would be kinda' bad as it's an anti-coagulant. Lemme' see if I can find a past thread...

Pidgey

[Pidgey]

Okay, go read this one, especially the post that this link will take you to:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?p=127227

Pidgey

[pdpbison]

Originally Posted by xxmoxiexx

ok Phil, what would the dosing be on the aspirin?
yes, poor guy, i feel bad, i really hope the foot heals!

Hi "x",


A 'flake' which is the size of a small 'Pin Head'...and must be actual 'Asprin' and nothing else...


Pigey is THE MAN on this matter...


But yes, if there is bleeding, or imminent danger of bleeding, probably the Aspirin would make the bleeding worse, so...bear that in mind...


My thought was that the leg there, so long as he stays off of it as much as possible, being kept in a small Cage with a deep soft Cloth rumpled bottom...with frequent 'Neosporin' massages of the Toes and Foot AND Leg itself...to encourage circulation, and, to encourage the flesh there to ease back 'in' to the deep 'ring' if possible...

If chilly there, a Heating Pad under a little less towell padding, so his Feet are able to be definitely warm, might be good too...since that also will tend to promote an increase in Blood Circulation to the Foot...


Good luck..!


Phil
l v

[Pidgey]

I suppose the best way to try and get the local inflammation down would be to use the Preparation H (it's a hydrocortisone cream, actually) on the swollen part. That's really what you'd be using the aspirin for, anyhow, so local treatment would probably make more sense for this presentation. It'll probably be a miracle if he doesn't lose the foot and it's certainly possible that he could break it off just like happened to jazaroo with that one bird. He could bleed out real quick in that circumstance. If he's going to keep the foot then the trick is going to be making sure that he doesn't have a chance to put much pressure on it for the next several weeks.

Pidgey

[pigeonperson]

Whenever I encounter this where there is a possibility of the foot prematurely falling off and causing the bird to bleed out is to use a SAM Splint. This is a metal but maleable splint that can be cut to size and used to firmly hold the bone in place while the foot either heals or dries up and falls off. One would form the splint by attaching one end to one side of the leg above the wound, draw it under the foot and attaching the other end to the other side of the leg also above the wound. There can be no slack or the splint would be useless.
One place to buy it is here. It's the one on top of the page.

http://www.rescue-essentials.com/ser...al+SAM+Splints

[xxmoxiexx]

PP, is that made for people? Do you cut it to size?
Is there something else you use as a splint in a pinch, if you dont have that right then and need something ASAP, cant wait for shipping, etc.?

[Ferdabrds]

Hello pigeonperson,

Thanks for linking to Rescue Essentials, which I helped start and still maintain an affiliation.

First, for avian applications, a SAM finger splint is MUCH cheaper and should be adequate unless you're using it on a flamingo. Or stork. Or heron. You get the idea. We were giving them away for free up until a couple days ago, and if xxmoxiexx wants one, I'll get it sent: just PM me your address and I'll get it taken care of. You can cut them to size, but I've seen the aluminum get a bit ragged doing that (not a good thing), so ya gotta use a real sharp tool and cut carefully.

Second... a question: I have some occasional visitors here (we're in a very rural areal with high desert pinon forest transitioning into a riparian environment - LOTS -o-birds!) that I've identified as ring-necked pigeons. They forage on the ground around the sunflower seed feeder, but I can't tell if they're actually eating the seed or ar simply attracted by all the other birds. Anyone?