Injured dove, need a little assistance - Photo attached

[AZWhitefeather]

Hi folks,
Kim (KIPPY) just rescued a beautiful little dove.
She brought him over for me to take a look at. He has quite a gash in his wing (picture below) of unknown origin. Fresh blood so assuming the incident occured recently.

I cleaned the wound with diluted betadine, applied Nolvasan ointment & attempted to wrap the wing in the event it's broken, dislocated, etc.

I'm sure he needs to be on an antibiotic, but not sure which one.
Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Cindy

[Keys & Eyegone]

I know nothing about meds but I hear from everyone that Bytril is the best. That is what Chance is on and it works like a charm (I'm sure you know this).
Good luck with the dove. It looks like a sweety.
Hilary Dawn

[TAWhatley]

Good job Kim and Cindy .. poor little Mourning Dove ..

The treatment thus far sounds fine .. as to antibiotic .. Clavamox or Baytril if no Clavamox available. If Nancy E. is available, I think it would be good for her to have a look and see what she thinks in case we are missing something.

Terry

[KIPPY]

The morning dove is perched on its seed dish right now and I do have a heating pad in there. Cindy did a good job with the wing rap, he is able to walk around fine.
The only thing that bothers me is if I take the morning dove to a rehabber, I can't get the dove back. If the dove is non-releasable it will be put down.

[AZWhitefeather]

as to antibiotic .. Clavamox or Baytril if no Clavamox available.
Thanks Terry.
I did send some Baytril with Kim.

Question:
Since a dove is smaller than a pigeon, How much Baytril should be administered?

Cindy

[cyro51]

Hi Cindy,

What sort of baytril do you use? You should weigh the dove and calculate the dosage according to its weight.


Cynthia

[Victor]

An ointment called Furacin might help. Furacin is indicated in bacterial skin infections including pyodermas, infected dermatoses and infections of cuts, wounds, burns and ulcers due to susceptible organisms. This is a medicine that was dispensed to us by a vet when our bird was shot last year.I wish the best to you and your injured pigeon.~Victor

[KIPPY]

The little guy seems to be doing fine. His droppings look good. Took the dove to see Cindy yesterday and the wound looks like it is healing good.
The problem is keeping the the wrap on the wing.
What was the wing wrap link?

[Lin Hansen]

Hi Kim,

Is this the link you are talking about? It is the "Duck Police" one. Click on "Pigeon Resources", then click on "Fixing a Broken Wing."
http://www.duckpolice.org/

Hope this helps,
Linda

[Eileen]

Don't feel bad about not being able to keep the wrap on - it's not you.
Mourning doves are almost impossible to wrap. their bodies are weirdly shaped;they have really short legs & a stumpy body. They always seem to get them off at our center. Just keep the bird in a small enclosure (don't use a bird cage, once they feel better your bird will probably & suddenly "wild up" and can break its feathers in a cage). Cage rest (and a round of antibiotics) is the most important thing - keep the bird quiet.

Hands down, mourning doves are the toughest birds I've ever seen. They can overcome just about anything, and pretty quickly. At our rehab center, we ALWAYS give mourning doves a chance, because they almost always make it if their injury is caught in time.

The one thing that I saw do them in, all summer, was West Nile Virus. It was horrible to watch; in a two week period we would get 1-2 in a day. They would present with severe torticollis, emaciated, could not eat on own, foul smelling runny feces. We would syringe feed them, but even if we got them to maintain their weight, they wouldn't last more than 3-5 days (one lasted a week). It was like chronic wasting, and after a few days their body temperature would start to run cold (in the middle of summer), then go into crop stasis.

That aside, there hasn't been anything else that has stopped a mourning dove in my center from being released.

Good luck with your little one!

[KIPPY]

The little guy seems to be doing fine. I think it may have been the 5 or 6th try but the wing got wrapped and stayed wrapped. It has been wrapped about 10 days now. Not sure how long it should stay wrapped. I heard any where from 1 to 6 weeks.
So how do I determine 1 to 6 weeks?
He is in a carrier no bars at the moment. I was thinking about moving him to a cage. I feel for the guy he has got to be bored out of his mind.

[TAWhatley]

Hi Kim,

Well done on the dove wrap! Personally, I think six weeks is way too long for most breaks in birds. Still, my vet almost always says 4-6 weeks, and still, I almost always "undo" things at about the three week mark depending on what I thought about the break in the first place to see what's going on. In almost all cases, the break has healed as well as it's going to in the three week time frame. Hopefully a rehabber with more experience will be along to offer his/her opinion(s) about this.

I have a duck right now with a bad break at the hip .. she came in on Dec. 15 and was treated by my vet who said as always 4-6 weeks. I took the wrap off yesterday and felt the area of the break .. it's very calcified and solid and by today she is able to put her leg/foot down and put a little weight on it. I think if you go too long with the splint/wrap then you make yourself a big problem with muscle atrophy and possibly the break really hardening into a less than desirable end position.

I don't mean to encourage anyone to disregard the advice of their vet but do mean to encourage you to use your own head and observe what's going on with your little patients. My vet knows I do this, and I think he must purposely almost double the treatment time cuz he does know me. Yes, I have been wrong a time or two and have gotten my wrist slapped for it.

Terry

[Eileen]

I agree with Terry; I too have always used a three week mark. Birds heal much faster than mammals, many vets are used to mammal-time.
Sometimes I also take the wrap off about halfway through and do physical therapy so the joints don't get stiff - I just gently stretch the wing out a could of times (gently, nothing drastic) - just to keep them moving. Trouble is then you have to rewrap, and as you found out, can be challenging with a mourning dove.

That's my two cents. I'd also advise against putting the bird in a birdcage - bored as it may be, wild birds do better in darker places with limited visual. If the bird is in a cage, it will more than likely get too nervous and could injure himself.

[KIPPY]

I will leave the wrap on for 3 weeks. What about the bird cage? I have him in a carrier right now. When can I put him in a bird cage?
This guy is in my laundry room. I put him/carrier outside on the weekends but bring him in at night. My opinion it's cold out and I felt bad for him. If also feel for this guy being stuck in the laundry room. I'm not sure what to do with him.

[TerriB]

Boredom is stress brought on by stimulus deprivation and varies with the individual. Is the dove showing signs of boredom, such as repetitive or obsessive behavior (feather picking, banging his cup on the bars)? It could be that a quiet area with minimal stimulation is not stressful for this bird. Maybe the quiet and calm is relaxing. In a more active area, he might become nervous, trying to deal with everything happening around him. When he is outside, the carrier is more protective. In a cage, he might feel more exposed to danger.

The important thing is keeping him quiet so his injury will heal. You might try playing soft music in his area, since this would provide a comfortable level of background noise without being intrusive. You take such awesome care of your animals - this is one lucky dove!