[litos]

Hello,

My name is Lit and i'm 29 and i live with my dog in a small house with a big back yard in Israel, not far from Tel Aviv.

last Wenesday my sister's dog was here and she found a pigeon in my back yard and brough it to us in her mouth. the pigeon has no fethers on her back and has no tail, but there is no wond or blood on it. i took it in and gave it water and some bird food. it ate and drank, and i though its just a metter of time until new feathers will grow and my pigeon will fly away, but today i noticed that its leg is wrong - maybe broken...

how can i help this poor pigeon? could a broken leg heal? will new fethers grow? will it be able to fly again? if not - do you think i should take it to the vet so he will put her down? i know that if ill put the pigeon in the yard, Cats, dogs and ravens will finish it in no-time...

please help me out!
Lit.

 

[Pidgey]

Is there any way you can post a picture of the leg?

Pidgey

 

[Pidgey]

It's possible that you have a nestling with a "splayed leg". Take a look at this thread and follow some of the links because they have pictures of the condition:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=15149

Pidgey

 

[Pidgey]

You can go to this webpage and study the skeletal drawings:

http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/skeleton.html

It might help you understand more what's wrong and how better to describe what you're seeing.

Pidgey

 

[Skyeking]

Hello and thank you for helping this needy bird.

Can you show us a picture of the bird and the leg, perhaps we can help determine where the break is? Are there any other injuries?

The pigeon doesn't have to be put down just because it has a broken leg, it can be fixed.

The feathers on the back and tail will grow back in about 8 weeks. It sounds like the bird was attacked by a hawk.

 

[litos]

pictures

Thanks everyone for the fast reply. its 3 am here, but i went outside and took some pics for you. the one of the legs is a bit blury, but its the right leg that is wrong. i hope this will help and you will have practical guidlines for me.

Lit.

 

[Pidgey]

Okay, well, go study those skeletal drawings and then feel both legs, comparing the good one to the bad one and see what you find out. It'd probably be better if you brought him inside.

Pidgey

 

[Pidgey]

You can read this thread, the descriptions therein and look at the pictures of splinting techniques:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?p=108641

Pidgey

 

[litos]

i will.

its on the garden-shed, protected.
i will try to feel more tomorrow, but today i can say for sure that its phalanges (fingers) are not really connected to the Tarsometatarsus bone. especially the back finger, that is just "hanging there".


as for the rest of the bones- ill have to ceck in the mornning.

ps - i allso notice that the droppings are very wet and messy. you can se in the first pic. is that normal? what to do?

 

[Pidgey]

Well, normally I'd say that you'd need to get the bird on some medicines. He kinda' has a look about him that says that he's been sick for awhile. For instance, if you look at the base of the top of his beak, it's not bright white. They often get that way when they're sick with some things (you're safe). We'd kinda' want to keep him very warm, plenty of clean water and get some good food in him. I can't tell you whether he's got worms, coccidiosis, canker, a bacterial infection or what. Given safety, warmth, good food and time, you'd be surprised what they can recover from.

Do you have or can acquire medicines easily?

Pidgey

 

[litos]

well,

i dont know much about pigeons, but i think Israeli wild pigeons's beaks are not white at all... but i could be wrong.

what kind of medication could help? i have some antibiotics i got for my chicken ( its called resprim and is actually 200mg sulphamethoxazole and 40mg trimethoprime) and i have a small seringe.... could that help?

 

[Pidgey]

Yes, but we have to figure out a dosage. The one you've mentioned is in a family of Trimethoprim/Sulfas. It's a very good antibiotic for them. Can you give more details about the exact packaging of the drug--does it say anything on the bottle?

Pidgey

 

[Pidgey]

Okay, got this:

"each 5 mL of Resprim
Suspension contains 40 mg of
trimethoprim and 200 mg of
sulfamethoxazole."

...from here:

http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcmed.nsf/pages/afcrespr/$File/afcrespr.pdf

We'll have you a dose in a few minutes.

Pidgey

 

[litos]

thats it!

that's exectly it. its a new bottle. i have a small seringe that can mesure 0.1ml. please explain also how and where to put it in the pigeon's mouth. im afraid i'd chock it...

(you are great. thank you so much!)

 

[Pidgey]

Do you have any idea what this bird weighs in grams? Got a scale?

Pidgey

 

[litos]

i will check tomorrow

i could check tomorrow in my lab.
can i email you tomorrow?

 

[Pidgey]

The dosage for a Trimethoprim/Sulfamethoxasole blend is 60 milligrams of medicine per kilogram of bird, orally, twice daily. So, you're probably looking at a bird that weighs between 250 and 350 grams.

For a 250 gram bird, you'd be looking at giving him 0.3 milliliters, and for a 350 gram bird, you'd be looking at 0.4 milliliters. Both of those dosages are given twice a day, too. All you need to do is hold his beak open and ooze it in with his head tilted back. You can actually insert the syringe in straight inline with his upper beak and it will go in. You're just trying to make sure that you don't get any in his airway but even that isn't as bad as it sounds--medicines won't cause aspiration pneumonia. He'd be more like to cough some of it out and then you'd have to give him some more.

Pidgey

 

[Pidgey]

Lab? You've got access to equipment? Microscope?

Pidgey

 

[TheSnipes]

Could it be a youngster (the not - white ceres)?

 

[Pidgey]

Sure, just can't be for certain. Given the other damage, it's a guess. Sometimes, it's better to err to the worst case scenario.

Pidgey