[Thaily]

Hi everyone, new user. I'm from the Netherlands.

I have lifelong experience with birds, including some pigeons, but now I have 2 with the same issue and my local vet/rescue are a little too quick to euthanize regular city pigeons, I feel. So I'm asking for some advice.

I picked them up separately in 2 different cities. 1 on one day, the second on the next day. The dark one still has some little tufts of baby feathers, the lighter one appears to adult. They both have 1 wing that they're letting hang down and neither can fly. The dark one can't fly at all, the light one only up to my knee. They can both flap the wing, they stretch and preen the wings. I can't see any injuries, but the wings seem warm and swollen. Sometimes they let the wing hang, sometimes they can keep them a bit tucked up.

They're already on anti-inflammatories/painkillers, I need to check the dose of antibiotics with my vet on Monday before I start giving those.

Questions:
- I'm wondering how to treat inevitable parasites; I have some ivermectin. They're both walking about and eating, are they strong enough for ivermectin yet?
- Should I gently bandage the wings into place to give them some rest or allow them to stretch? They spend most of the day just relaxing, but they get a bit wound up (naturally) when I medicate them twice a day.

 

[Trimo]

It could be broken then you should gently tie the wings up or Sometimes birds can have an injury in their wings that will bruise and some of the bruises can lead to permanent damage can't remember why but this happened to one of my birds he was hit by a motorbike so we looked after him and eventually he got better but there was damage in husband wing caused by the bruises so he could only fly a few metres eventually we gave him to a native animal rescue they told us that when the bruise are bad in the wings there is nothing you can do except home it does not cause to much bleeding which is probably what the swelling is if you restrict movement by tieing the wing up it may stop them from causing more damage but if they struggle why you are doing it it could cause it to bleed more and you have to be careful not to put any pressure on the bruise of the swelled areas or it may bust capillaries and cause more bruising

If only the wings are injured and there are no other signs of injury to the head or body they should be healthy enough for parasite treatment unless they are unusually skinny or look like they have not been eating enough

 

[Jay3]

Hi everyone, new user. I'm from the Netherlands.

I have lifelong experience with birds, including some pigeons, but now I have 2 with the same issue and my local vet/rescue are a little too quick to euthanize regular city pigeons, I feel. So I'm asking for some advice.

I picked them up separately in 2 different cities. 1 on one day, the second on the next day. The dark one still has some little tufts of baby feathers, the lighter one appears to adult. They both have 1 wing that they're letting hang down and neither can fly. The dark one can't fly at all, the light one only up to my knee. They can both flap the wing, they stretch and preen the wings. I can't see any injuries, but the wings seem warm and swollen. Sometimes they let the wing hang, sometimes they can keep them a bit tucked up.

They're already on anti-inflammatories/painkillers, I need to check the dose of antibiotics with my vet on Monday before I start giving those.

What would you be giving the antibiotics for? If the wings are broken, then they would need wrapping in order to try to heal them in the correct position for healing. Birds bones heal quickly, so if broken and not wrapped right away, then they would probably heal incorrectly. If they are able to pull them up into place on their own, then probably just injured and not broken. Can you feel along each wing, and see if they feel the same as far as the bones go? If not broken then they probably just need rest. Often injured wings will never heal totally well for releasing the bird.

Questions:
- I'm wondering how to treat inevitable parasites; I have some ivermectin. They're both walking about and eating, are they strong enough for ivermectin yet?

If they are eating/drinking well and seem strong, then Ivermectin should be okay.

- Should I gently bandage the wings into place to give them some rest or allow them to stretch? They spend most of the day just relaxing, but they get a bit wound up (naturally) when I medicate them twice a day.

I would just give them rest and only bandage the wing if broken. Can you not get a rehabber maybe to check them out and give their opinion? Just don't leave the birds there. Make it clear that you just want an opinion of whether broken or not.

 

[Thaily]

Technically I need a license to rehab anything, even the most common of pigeons, so I could get into trouble if I contact a rehab for advice. I've been with this vet's office for a long time, so they're willing to help, but getting them to actually look at the pigeons would cost me, and I'm already in a tight spot after my cat died of cancer earlier this month :/

 

[Jay3]

Well if not broken then I wouldn't wrap them. Most places don't care if you have feral pigeons, as they don't care about them. Only native wild birds would you need a license for. I wouldn't let them fly for now. I would make them rest them.

What are you wanting to give meds for?

 

[Thaily]

Yeah well, it's against the law here and too many people here have nothing better to do than to make life more difficult for the well-intentioned.

The vet gave me anti-inflammatories/painkillers and antibiotics, Ivermectin is against parasites including mites, they are both very skinny.

 

[Jay3]

But what are the antibiotics for? Are the birds sick?
I know what anti-inflammatories /painkillers are, and I know what Ivermectin is. What I am trying to understand is what the antibiotics are for. What are the antibiotics?

Around here, a vet won't give antibiotics without first checking the animal or bird. Against the law. But why did the vet not also give the dosage at the same time?
Can you tell me what the antibiotics are?