Drunk Pigeon

[BillC]

This all started about 8 days ago. My feral does not actually drink, but if I were ignorant I would say it was drunk. The bird is 8 months old. It does not attempt to fly from me when I go to touch him as he used to do. When I put him on my lap it will jump to the ground and run away instead. He tumbles when he runs. When cornered his heads bobs back and he looks at me like he was drunk. He also reacts this way with the other birds, actually it's like he's afraid of them and he doesn't even recognize his mate. At first he appeared weak and wobbled when he walked or tried to stand still, so I isolated him from the others. He wouldn't eat. I put him on 10% baytril with water and I had to manually feed him. I gave him baby bird formula at first. He's now eating on his own and drinking water. He appears to be recovering but I'm not so sure. He runs faster now, grunts when I go to pick him up. He actually tried to fly today but landed on the floor and just ran. I live in Miami Florida. I have my birds in an aviary in my backyard. Does anyone have an idea what this condition might be. Could he have been bitten by a bad mosquito?

[Lin Hansen]

Hi Bill,

I am just another member here, w/ not too much actual experience caring for sick birds, but I see none of the moderators are on at this time, so I thought I would try to help. Here is a link to a thread that I found through the "search" option which discusses a bird which has very similar symptoms. I believe this bird turned out to have PMV. Here it is:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=5574)

I am sure others w/ much more experience will be along shortly to give good advice, but in the meantime, you can check this link out and if you wish to get more information while you are waiting, you can utilize the search option at the top of the page.

Good luck,
Linda

[AZWhitefeather]

Hi Bill,
I would isolate the little one once again. His symptoms may be consistent with PMV. This is certainly not to say he has PMV but I would isolate & observe him for any other unusual symptoms, e.g., walking in circles and/or backwards, turning his head upside down.
Do his droppings appear normal?

Please keep us updated on how your little one is doing.

Cindy

[Feefo]

Hi Bill,

Whatever it is it is important to isolate him, keep him warm and quiet and complete the course of Baytril.

PMV is a strong possibility but it would not necessarily be my first guess for a captive pigeon unless you have had him for a short time, there have been pigeons added to the aviary recently, there are visiting pigeons that could have pooped in the aviary or pigeons that live in the aviary have been free flying.

There are other causes of unexplained "drunkeness" which could be the result of bacterial infections affecting the brain or the ear .

Keep an eye on you other pigeons and pull any that start to show symptoms of illness in immediately.

Can you describe the symptoms and the poops precisely?

If you have other pigeons you should enquire about diagnostic tests.

Cynthia

[BillC]

Thanks for your replies. The bird is definately getting better. Today I took him out to the aviary and put him on the ground. He flew to his nesting box and began to do his little dance. I re-introduced his mate to him and he began wooing her with his fancy dance, however he kept losing his balance,but he got up again and danced and made his dance song to his mate. I've re-isolated him and I will continue the baytril. He never walked backwards or in circles, his head never went upside down. His poop was kind of watery, but I think thats because I administered the baytril directly into his stomach and was giving him baby bird formula since he didn't eat on his own. Todays actions are a 90% improvement compared to where he was a week ago. None of the other birds are sick. I have 12 birds and only three are not related that I rescued when they were about 2 to 3 weeks old last spring. The rest were born in the aviary including this one. I will visit the site suggested and see what I can learn. I started the batril treatment in the drinking water of the other birds just in case. Will keep you posted. Thanks again. Bill C.

[AZWhitefeather]

The bird is definately getting better.
I'm so glad to hear that.

Today I took him out to the aviary and put him on the ground. He flew to his nesting box and began to do his little dance. I re-introduced his mate to him and he began wooing her with his fancy dance, however he kept losing his balance
I would suggest keeping him in isolation until you can figure out what is causing his problems.

Please keep us updated.

Cindy

[BillC]

The more I read about PMV the more I think that is what he's got. I think though I caught it in the beginning stages and began treatment immediately and that's why he's recovering so well.

Can I administer the baytril directly to him instead of putting it in his water ? I have the 10% baytril. I'm using 4cc to one gallon of water mixture. The birds outside in the aviary I'm now giving them 8cc to one gallon of water as a preventative.

[Feefo]

Hi Bill,

I am so glad that he is feeling better.

Baytril doesn't touch PMV as it is caused by a virus. However, if there is a bacterial infection that could be secondary to PMV it would help with that.

If, in addition to the nervous symptoms the poops are a solid worm shape in a puddle of liquid, then it is very likely to be PMV because then what you are seeing is something that affects both the nervous symptoms and the kidneys.

Cynthia

[SmithFamilyLoft]

Hello Bill,

You may end up being very lucky, which I hope you are. You broke one of the biggest rules when it comes to bio-security. You had/have a very sick bird with an unknown ailment, and you did not remove it from your colony.

The other little pet pieve of mine, is throwing an antibotic at an ailment without knowing what the problem was. The problem is, everyone is doing it. Which is one of the reasons that some goverments require there use to administed by the medical community.

I just felt compelled to throw that out there. I hope your bird is doing better. Are any of your other birds showing any signs of sickness ?

[AZWhitefeather]

At first he appeared weak and wobbled when he walked or tried to stand still, so I isolated him from the others
Actually Warren, according to Bill's original post, he did isolate his ill suspected bird.
Apparently he began to show signs of improvement, therefore re-introduced him into the aviary.
What we really need to stress is that when we find a pigeon, whether it be in an aviary, loft or feral, it needs to be isolated while we try to sort out what the underlying problem is, treat accordingly & make sure he has been given a 'clean' bill of health before re-introducing him to other birds.

Isolating also gives us the opportunity to observe him without the interference of other birds.

* * *
How is your little patient doing today Bill?

Cindy

[Feefo]

I agree about the use of antibiotics Warren, but once someone starts a pigeon on antibiotics it is important to finish the course so that bacteria don't develop a resistance to it.

I think that the food industry was the main culprit in the indiscriminate use of antibiotics as they tended to administer them routinely to all their stock. But that is just what I heard.

Cynthia

[BillC]

Very interesting about the anti-biotics, but when the vet is closed on the beginning of the weekend and you are on your own taking action to save the bird is better than no action. My personal feeling is that had I not done so the pidge would've been in the big aviary in the sky. Thank God (yes I did say God) none of my other birds are sick and everyday he's doing better. However, I will continue to keep him isolated for the next few weeks. My re-introduction of his mate to him even for a very short while was intended to let her know that her mate is still around. As we know with pigeons it's out of sight out of mind and I really don't want to split up the pair. Re-introducing him to the aviary even for about 2 minutes was my way of testing him to see if real progress was being made. He eyed his nesting box and flew straight up inside of it. That made me feel real good that I made a difference in it's little life and will continue to do so until he fully recovers. I want to thank everyone on this site for your input. Our experiences together for such a good cause you couldn't get at a medical school. Thanks pigeons.com

[AZWhitefeather]

Thank God (yes I did say God) none of my other birds are sick and everyday he's doing better.
It's great to hear your other birds are showing no signs of being ill & that your little patient continues to improve.

Please keep us updated on how things are coming along.

Cindy

[Feefo]

Hi Bill,

Even for PMV a lot of our members recommend starting a course of Baytril immediately to hit secondary infections before they start. In this case I don't think it did any harm and it sounds as if it might have done good.

In the same situation I would probably have done the same. But it is a gamble that could involve stopping one antibiotic to start another when the real cause of the problem is found, which isn't the best thing to do.

Cynthia

[JGregg]

Hi Bill,

Here is a link to a website that has specifics on how PMV1 is transmitted and its incubation in pigeons.

http://www.epah.net/birds/Paramyxovirus.html