Injured Dove - Chicago

[allison]

Hi everyone. I'm new here and am glad to find this website. My situation is that I found a dove that is injured. It was sitting in a very busy street on Chicago's south side yesterday afternoon. When I approached it and walked past it, it didn't fly away so I knew something was wrong. I had peanuts in my car from feeding squirrels and lured it close enough to me to pick up. She/he looks like it's left wing is in disarray. The feathers are splayed upward in the back near the tip, and on his/her breast there is an injury of some kind because the feathers are sticking up as if there's a ball or tumor under there. The bird seems very sensitive about this specific area, but I did get a chance to look at it for a moment. The skin is pinkish, and something that looks like cartilage is sticking out. Maybe the bird flew into something that pierced it's breast and disrupted it's wing movement?

The dove doesn't seem to be hyperventilating or about to have any kind of emotional breakdown that I'm handling it. It is eating cracked corn and wild bird seed (that's all I had at home) but not drinking water. I have put some water on the tip of my finger and dropped some on it's beak to show it what it is, with no interest. Every once in a while its eyes close like it's in pain, but otherwise it's very alert and calm. I was very worried that with the 4th of July fireworks, that some jerky kids would think it was funny to blow up this beautiful animal. Now I'm kind of stuck not knowing what to do. I found a dying pigeon that had been attacked by another bird and it's beak and neck were twisted last October. I was able to take that bird to a wildlife hospital in Des Plaines where they put it down. But as far as rehabilitating an injured dove, I'm lost. I think this bird is going to live if it gets the proper care, because it doesn't seem like it's in duress. Any ideas or help would be appreciated!

(I'm located near the Southwest Suburbs of Summit, Bedford Park, Oak Park, Oak Lawn, Burbank etc. if that helps)

[Skyeking]

Hello and welcome to pigeons.com

Thank you for helping this needy bird.


Are you sure the bird is not drinking? Usually if they are not drinking they are definitely not eating. Please make sure that he is well hydrated first before you allow him to eat more.

I am not familiar with doves, however, I am with pigeon injuries, if the bird has been injured and muscle or tissue is popping out, I would seek out a rehabber or avian vet that is pigeon and dove friendly as soon as you can.

I have a bird who's tummy was ripped open by a hawk, everything was still neatly together, but tissue and muscle was trying to fall out, hardly any blood at all. I gently washed it all out and used colloidal silver for ifection, dabbed it dry and took him to my rehabber for stitches.

Here is a link to resources:

http:///www.pigeons.com/prd.htm

Did you wash out all areas that are open and use an antibacterial? I would be very gentle when cleaning and dab dry gently.

Treesa

[TAWhatley]

Hi Allison,

Welcome to Pigeon-Talk and thank you so much for helping this injured bird. Is it a ringneck dove (domestic) or a wild dove?

It may have a torn crop that has or is healing poorly or perhaps abscessed.
The dove may also have a bad case of canker, and that is possibly what you are seeing. Can you post some pictures of the bird's injuries?

I'm not really familiar with your area, but you might check http://www.pigeons.com/prd.htm to see if there is a rehabber or a vet near you that could help.

The wild bird seed and water is great, but I'd stop feeding the cracked corn as it may irritate whatever is already going on internally .. the pieces are jagged and sharp.

Pictures would be really helpful if you can provide them.

Thanks again for helping the bird and please keep us posted.

Terry

[allison]

Hi Terry,
I'm sorry, I don't have a digital camera handy. It is defintitely a ringneck dove as it look exactly like this: http://www.dovepage.com/species/dome...gneckdove.html

The bird is actually doing some "maintenance" of its wounds right now by craning its neck around and adjusting its wounded wing, and by putting its head down and picking at the area in question on its chest. I only briefly saw the chest injury because the bird started freaking out and I didn't want to upset it. I can only describe is a very boney/cartilage looking area, like "grizzle" on a cooked steak or something. It doesn't look bloody or oozey. I know this doesn't help describe it and I'm sorry. Right now it's all puffed out and just looking at me like, "Now what?" I don't know what to tell it. I have a big yard but I have three rescue dogs that would love nothing more than to eat the dove, so for right now, it's in small dog crate in my house with newspaper and containers for seed and water.

Thanks,
Allison

[allison]

No, I haven't tried washing it out at all. The bird gets very upset when I get anywhere near this area. I don't want to make it hurt its wings even more trying to get away from me. Plus, it doesn't look like any skin injury I've ever seen on an animal or human. It's very dry and bone-like. I'm really unsure about doing anything to this area on its chest. I would like to find a vet or rehabber with experience in this sort of thing (but being a holiday, I'm out of luck).

[Pidgey]

Allison,

Don't know if you can catch them today but here's a list of avian vets in the Chicago area:

http://www.gccbc.org/Links/Vets.htm

Pidgey

[Pidgey]

This list is from www.doveline.com but it's pretty tough to find it though the links. That's one of those sites that you can't seem to reference a specific page--you always get the home page in the browser url line.

Illinois, Northeast

Illinois, Northeast region (Chicago Heights)..... 708-758-2761

Dwight Uhter (Vice-President), Paws Critter Crossing
pawscrittercrossing_uhters@hotmail.com
Illinois, Northeast region (Des Plaines)..... 847-299-5018

Willowbrook Wildlife Center
willowbrook@dupageforest.com
Wildlife Species: Only native wildlife is accepted for treatment. Non-native wildlife species,
such as house sparrows, pigeons and starlings, are not accepted for treatment
Comments: open 7 days a week 9-5; our help-line offers advice for injured and orphaned
animals in any area as well as nuisance animal and natural history information
Illinois, Northeast region, DuPage County (Keeneyville)..... 630-351-3563

Cheryl Roge, DVM, Best Friends Animal Hospital
cheryl1203@msn.com
Wildlife Species: We treat all wildlife species (except skunks/bats).
Raise neonates, repair, rehabilitate, and release adult wildlife
Illinois, Northeast region, Kane County (Elburn)..... 630-365-3800

Kay Johnson (Director), The Fox Valley Wildlife Center
FVWildlife@aol.com
Wildlife Species: injured or orphaned wild mammals and birds
Illinois, Northeast region, Lake County (Barrington)..... 847-602-0628

Dawn Keller (Director), Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation
dawn@flintcreekwildlife.org
WildlifeSpecies: All birds, mammals including white tailed deer, excluding
skunks, bats, raccoons
Illinois, Northeast region, Lake County..... 847-540-5995

Kristi Day (owner/director), Day2Day Wildlife Home
misnu2nit@aol.com
Wildlife Species: we accept all creatures, 4-legged, winged, or furred
Illinois, Northeast region, Lasalle County (Earlville)..... 815-246-9985

Jan Smith (owner), Wildlife of North America
wildwolf@mc.net
Wildlife Species: squirrel, fox, coyote, woodchuck, 13-line ground squirrels, chipmunks, song birds
Comments: also do exotic rescue
Illinois, Northeast region (St. Charles)..... 630-377-1895

Vicki Geise, Kan Area Rehab and Education of Wildlife (K.A.R.E.)

[allison]

Thanks, I will definitely call around tomorrow and find somewhere to take it. One more sidenote, the dove's poop is very green and watery, and it has some yellow discoloration by it's butt feathers. I saw in earlier discussions that the color and consistancy of the poop is sometimes an indication of what may be going on with the bird.

[Pidgey]

Here's a webpage with a few more rehabber listings in Illinois:

http://www.wildlifecare.org/listillinois.html

Best of luck,

Pidgey