Pigeon Hit by car

[LV426]

Ok so Day 5 after pigeon was hit by car. The pigeon is able to stand on his feet now and sort of shuffles when he walks but he's not flapping helplessly anymore and he's able to stand on his own. He's still drinking water. There's been some minor leakage of water from the area I sealed with the glue around his crop when he drinks but I'm pretty confident that he will be ok. He drinks more water than leaks out so I'm hoping the injury will heal over with time. The muscle tissue exposed has scabbed over. There doesn't seem to be any infection so far. A little minor bleeding from where he cracked the scab when he was trying to walk around but I just apply neosporin and hope that will suffice. So far he's pooped 4 times. I'm feeding him a mash instead of seeds because I figure that will be easier for him to digest since he has a crop injury. There has been minimal food intake but he's still drinking.

I know he's in some pain because he does the ruffled feather thing where he stands all stiff and pulls his head in but that's to be expected when you are hit by a car. I gave him some childrens ibuprofen but not sure if it helped.

I don't think there are any major internal injuries because I would think he would have bled to death by now if there had been. Every day he stays alert and alive is one more day he has to recover and get better. I'm hopeful that he will be ok. My chukar sort of keeps him company during the day and watches him. The pigeon responds to him when he peers at him through the bars and chooks at him. Maybe he won't feel so isolated with another bird around even if it's not his normal kind of bird.

Anyway thanks for everyone's advice. I've spoken with my vet who gave me some cypro for him and gave me some dermaskin bandage things for his breast exposure but I'm not sure if I should put it on now that it's scabbed over.

Anyway we'll keep fingers and wings crossed that he comes out on top.

[LV426]

So I got a picture of the injury although it really doesn't show the entire extent of the injury but you can get the gist of it.

[Jaye]

Pretty nasty - l have seen better - and worse lMHO it appears that the bird can recover from that - providing the crop is still functioning Ok (besides leakage - is he pooping fairly regularly Trying to determine if the food path is still going via the proper channels) At this stage just preventing infection and maintaining nutrition/strength is about the best one can do Also keep an eye out for any subcutaneous (below-skin) fluids which may begin to pool in vicinity of the wound - if so you may need to lance w/a needle and let it drain - BTW how's he breathing - does it seem laboured at all Hey - keep it up you are doing an amazing job !

[Mindy]

Your doing a great job with trying to save him. Crossing wing feathers here to. min

[Jaye]

Heck - a whole quarter-cup's very good ! Any way you can weigh him

[LV426]

Not really. He's feeling better so he tries to fly when I get near him. I don't want him to flap around and tear anything. I don't think I could get him to sit on the scale without trying to fly off. He's eating and pooping though so I think he's good. His crop was full of seeds when I sealed it up anyway so he wasn't completely without food for 5 days and I've had food in his cage that he was nipping at off and on. Now he seems to have more of an appetite and I'm feeding him game bird starter mash with critical care mixed in. I also mixed in pedialyte with his water.

I haven't used the derm askin, it was just given to me in case he kept breaking open the scab but he's done ok so far. I just keep neosporin on it so the skin stays more supple and won't crack. He's been preening his feathers today too which is also another positive sign as I see it. He's not huddled all fluffed in the corner but moving around more on his own.

[Msfreebird]

Originally Posted by LV426

Not really. He's feeling better so he tries to fly when I get near him. I don't want him to flap around and tear anything. I don't think I could get him to sit on the scale without trying to fly off. He's eating and pooping though so I think he's good. His crop was full of seeds when I sealed it up anyway so he wasn't completely without food for 5 days and I've had food in his cage that he was nipping at off and on. Now he seems to have more of an appetite and I'm feeding him game bird starter mash with critical care mixed in. I also mixed in pedialyte with his water.

I haven't used the derm askin, it was just given to me in case he kept breaking open the scab but he's done ok so far. I just keep neosporin on it so the skin stays more supple and won't crack. He's been preening his feathers today too which is also another positive sign as I see it. He's not huddled all fluffed in the corner but moving around more on his own.

Sounds reasonable to me - Good Job! I'm keeping my feathers crossed for him, He was very lucky that you came along

[Jaye]

I agree..don't force the weighing...sounds like things are going pretty well if he's eating and you have the Cipro going now. The Tegaderm (dermaskin, same thing) is good stuff so, yeah, it works well on birds so keep it handy as a backup.

Just keep an eye out for any turn for the worse ~ lethargy, loss of appetite, sleeping a lot, eyes closed a lot, fluffing....

[altgirl35]

that looks awful, how is his wing hanging?? looks like the shoulder may be involved, is that bone i see??
i think he defiantly needs antibiotics, if you can get some from your vet ask him for a little chlorhexidine (nolvasan) and rinse it at least once a day with that, twice a day would be better, but i know he's stressed, dilute it down to robins egg blue, it really speeds up healing and kills bacteria.
your going to have to dose him twice a day anyways with anti biotics.
i missed what your keeping him in, but i would keep him in a cat kennel so you dont have to chase him.
as for weighing, find a small box put it on the scale with a towel then put him in it and cover him with the towel and do the math, unless you can tare the scale, but it needs to be a gram or ounce scale to get an accurate weight on him.
i'm glad he's eating well, thank you for taking such good care of him

[LV426]

His wings are actually fine and there's no bone exposed. I think you are looking at my finger.

As far as I can tell there is no fluid build up and it looks like everything is working ok. He eats and poops. So I figure as long as food goes in and poop comes out that it's pretty much working ok. His crop isn't leaking anymore so I think that wound has at least sealed. He's on antibiotics til next week at least.

He's being kept in a rabbit cage actually on care fresh bedding so I don't have to chase him around much and I can clean up any mess easily without taking him out of the cage too much.

[Mindy]

WOW, Although I haven't seen to many injury's that looks pretty nasty. Just wanted to give you props on doing a great job at taking care of him. Looking at the bird he looks pretty alert which is good. Keep up the good work and can't wait for other pictures during his healing process. min

[Jay3]

Oh the poor thing. That looks awful. I hope you can get him well. That's quite a challenge.

[LV426]

So someone on another forum said that I can get a fungal infection that will kill me. Does anyone know if this is true?

[Jaye]

Originally Posted by LV426

So someone on another forum said that I can get a fungal infection that will kill me. Does anyone know if this is true?

You may wanna nicely suggest that this person do some reading up before making stupid comments like that....

...as mentioned above, just wash up after handling and maybe change whatever clothes may have contacted the pigeon....

typical stuff which I an sure you are doing anyway.....

[LokotaLoft]

Originally Posted by LV426

So someone on another forum said that I can get a fungal infection that will kill me. Does anyone know if this is true?

if that were true many of us would be dead already lol