Puffy pigeon, wibbly wobbly and limping

[Nevaeh0519]

Hello everyone!


I must say, I've been reading the forum all morning and am so impressed with everyone here!

I found a sick pigeon on my front porch this morning, he is very puffy and keeps falling over. I tried to catch him to put him in a box, but he keeps flying away underneath a car where I can't reach him. I finally decided to put some rehydration solution (thanks to your forum) under the car for him, but I really feel like i need to do more. I've noticed several drops of poop on the porch, all very runny and dark green, I read that that is a sign of starvation. I'd really like to catch him and take him somewhere for help, but have no clue where. I live in Santa Fe, NM btw.

If anyone has any advice, that would be wonderful! Thanks!

[Nevaeh0519]

Hey guys,

I forgot to say a couple important things. Firstly, the bird is tagged with two little tags around each ankle, one yellow and one white. The white has some type on it, "IF 2007 AIR" and the yellow is blank.

Also, under the birds chin, his feathers look a bit ruffled and matted like he may be injured, but i can't be sure.

[Pidgey]

Can you get anyone else to help you catch him?

Pidgey

[Nevaeh0519]

Well, my parents are coming over, so i'm kind of counting on my dad giving me a hand, but I'm not sure what time they're coming.

[Pidgey]

You might wanna' try using a blanket or a coat to throw over him. You wouldn't happen to have a net, wouldja'?

Pidgey

[Lovebirds]

Here is the info on the band that you gave. You can call Gary, but you will need to give him the additional numbers off of the band. If you catch the bird, give him a call.


AIR Albuquerque Invitational R P C
Gary Alexander..............................(505)345-5308
2201 Dietz Farm Rd., N.W. Albuquerque, NM 87107
Garysloft@comcast.net

[Nevaeh0519]

I'll give the blanket thing a try, if I can coax him out from under the car. And thanks for the band info! What does it all mean?

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by Nevaeh0519

Hey guys,

I forgot to say a couple important things. Firstly, the bird is tagged with two little tags around each ankle, one yellow and one white. The white has some type on it, "IF 2007 AIR" and the yellow is blank.

Also, under the birds chin, his feathers look a bit ruffled and matted like he may be injured, but i can't be sure.

IF stands for International Federation of Pigeon Fanciers
2007 is the year the bird was banded.
AIR is for the club Albuquerque Invitational R P C (Racing Pigeon Club)
and then whatever numbers are on the band are unique to this one band only.

[Nevaeh0519]

Originally Posted by Lovebirds

IF stands for International Federation of Pigeon Fanciers
2007 is the year the bird was banded.
AIR is for the club Albuquerque Invitational R P C (Racing Pigeon Club)
and then whatever numbers are on the band are unique to this one band only.

Wonderful, thank you. I'm going to give him a call as soon as I can get the little guy in my custody.

[Nevaeh0519]

Alright, so we've finally caught the little guy. After catching him, I realized that he is covered in grease from being under the car. Any ideas on how I can help him with that? I'm going to put some seed and rehydration solution in the box with him, and see how it goes. I have him in our garage, which is pretty warm, but should I have more than a blanket in the box for him?

[Pidgey]

Well, degreasing one is a real chore and can be pretty stressful for a bird so we probably need to wait until we know this one's out of the woods, if possible. I can't think of any other members in Santa Fe and it's Saturday night so our resources are a bit low this time. I guess if you can get a light over him (droplight, sunlamp) to help keep him warm and so that he can see the food and water, it'd be about all we can do at the moment.

Pidgey

[maryjane]

Thank you for helping this pigeon. I would just let him rest overnight and then you can bathe him when he's feeling better. A little Dawn works wonders on oily feathers, but it does take awhile. If you have a heating pad, that would be great to put in with him, set on low, with a towel over it. When they are ill, they can't produce heat for themselves, and a heat source greatly helps in their recovery.

If he isn't eating the seeds, you can put them one at a time in his beak, or you can soak some high quality dog biscuits until soft and then feed pieces of this to him to get his strength back. Try to leave room in the box so he can scoot off the heating pad if he wants to, though he probably won't want to.

If you don't have a heating pad, you can fill a sock with uncooked rice, and microwave it for a short time until it's warm. Then wrap a towel around it and put that in with him. You just need to reheat it every few hours, and make sure there aren't any really hot spots on it before you put it in with him. Keep us updated.

[Nevaeh0519]

Thank YOU all for your help, you're truly life savers!

So i've got the little guy resting now, on a heating pad with some rehydration solution and seed, like i said before. We'll keep an eye on him tonight and if a couple hours he still hasn't eaten then we'll stick a few seeds down him.

One more thing to note, I'm noticing that his poop is mostly just liquid now, any thoughts on that?

Thanks again guys.

[Pidgey]

Well, it'd be good to describe the liquid some by color, consistency (watery vs. creamy) and that sort of thing. Picture?

Pidgey

[Nevaeh0519]

Hi everyone,

So I just wanted to give a quick update. Our little pigeon seems to be doing better, though he still looks injured under his chin. He is becoming more alert and scaring easier now. He is eating on his own, and his pigeon poopy, which was the consistency of water, but green, has now become a solid toothpaste type consistency, though still green.

I'm hoping he'll recover fully soon. As to the info about the pigeon fancier, he won't return my phone calls. We'll see how that turns out!