[RnASFCA]

Hello fellow pigeon lovers,
My wife and I found an injured wild pigeon near a road yesterday. We are located in San Francisco, California. The pigeon seems to have an injured leg and an injured wing, as it can only hobble with difficulty and doesn't fly. We were able to scoop it up easily and put it in a cardboard box padded with some long grass that we found.

Since we got it home we put it in a medium sized open top cardboard box with paper bedding that we use for our rodents in the bottom. We gave it a small dish of water and a a dish with some food, and it has been eating and drinking with no problems. We don't have any bird seed yet, but since they are omnivores we gave it a mix of hulled hemp seed, dried mealworms, and hamster food (contains mainly seeds and whole dried grains, with a little processed food pellets).

We want to take it somewhere so a vet can diagnose what's wrong with it. We would prefer a place that will examine it for free or low cost, as it's a wild animal in need of help. Preferably a place with experience treating pigeons. We found a website, pigeonrescue.org that claims to provide veterinary care and fostering services for pigeons here in San Francisco, but they don't have any contact info listed and the site instructed us to ask here. We would love to help care for it either until it gets healthy or even long term if it will not be able to return to the wild, but we need to make sure we know what is wrong with it and how to help.

If anyone could advise us where to take it to get it examined medically, we would be grateful. If necessary we can pay some money, but regular vets are very expensive here and unlikely to care for a wild pigeon. We don't want it to get euthanized, as we brought it home with the intention of saving it's life. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give!

 

[Marina B]

Are you on Facebook or have a friend that's on there? If so, please join the Palomacy Help Group for Pigeon and Dove rescue. You will get response, someone will give advice regarding a rescue centre closeby. Sounds as if he was probably hit by a car.

 

[RnASFCA]

Are you on Facebook or have a friend that's on there? If so, please join the Palomacy Help Group for Pigeon and Dove rescue. You will get response, someone will give advice regarding a rescue centre closeby. Sounds as if he was probably hit by a car.

OK thank you for the advice! we will join and make a post. Fortunately he or she seems to be eating and drinking plenty in the meantime. Do you know if these type of injuries are something they can heal from?

 

[Marina B]

From what I've read online, recovery depends on where the break in the wing is located. It also needs to be splinted asap as the bones heal quite quick. If you find a rescue centre, take him for treatment. But ask them you will let the bird heal at your home. If it turns out the wing can't be fixed, they might put him down. Sounds as if you are already attached to him. They can have a good life in captivity even if they can't fly anymore.

 

[cwebster]

Great vets in your area are at Veterinary Center for Birds, in Oakley. They can help get you in touch with Palomacy too. They are not cheap but are the best and hopefully Palomacy can adopt the bird.

 

[RnASFCA]

Great vets in your area are at Veterinary Center for Birds, in Oakley. They can help get you in touch with Palomacy too. They are not cheap but are the best and hopefully Palomacy can adopt the bird.

Thank you. We don't have a car, so Oakley is pretty difficult to get to, but I am going to check with a family member and see if we can get a ride. I will see if they have a website I can find. We wouldn't mind taking care of him, but we want to make sure any medical issues get properly treated so he can have the best chance at returning as close to normal as possible. We already got a small bag of bird seed mix for pigeons and red pigeon grit since they were pretty cheap.

 

[RnASFCA]

From what I've read online, recovery depends on where the break in the wing is located. It also needs to be splinted asap as the bones heal quite quick. If you find a rescue centre, take him for treatment. But ask them you will let the bird heal at your home. If it turns out the wing can't be fixed, they might put him down. Sounds as if you are already attached to him. They can have a good life in captivity even if they can't fly anymore.

We are actually thinking he might not have a broken wing now. He is able to stretch his wings out fully and flap them, but he doesn't fly so it's hard to tell. We got a recommendation for a place to get him evaluated, but it will likely take a couple more days to find a ride out there. I wouldn't mind if he is not able to fly again, he would still be fun to have around. I am concerned about his broken foot/leg though. If he can't walk around or fly I'm wondering what kind of quality of life he will have and if it might be more human to put him down.

Maybe someone knowledgeable about pigeons can tell me if a broken leg would stop him from flying, or if his inability to fly is indicative of a broken wing. I'm also curious if any other medical conditions could prevent him from flying

 

[cwebster]

Our beloved Phoebe was a feral with a very broken wing. The vet stitched her back together. She could fly a little but was notreleasable. She was our sweetie for eight wonderful years. Please ask Palomacy if they can help. Pigeons heal very quickly and very well.

 

[RnASFCA]

He or she seems to be recovering quickly actually. He was unable to walk when we first found him and used his wings to push himself around, now he is walking pretty good. He also flaps his wings real hard throughout the day like he wants to fly.

I got in touch with palomacy, they told me I could take him to wild rescue or have the bird vet in Oakley look at him and try to rehabilitate or keep him. We are going to take him to the vet Thursday. If he ends up unable to return to the wild, he will be a welcome addition to our family, as we have already become fond of him. But if he is able to make a full recovery we want him to be able to return to a normal life in the wild. We will find out soon

 

[cwebster]

Thank you for helping him! Our rescued beloved Phoebe was wonderful and changed our lives for the better. At Medical Center for Birds in Oakley, Drs Speer, Dr Olson and others fantastic and helped us several times with Phoebe. Please tell them hi from Phoebes mom!