# HELP pigeon landed in my rosebush now its paralyzed!:(



## lindsay.16 (Aug 12, 2005)

Yesterday i found a pigeon in my rose bush.. it seemed to have been attacked by a cat. I think its legs are paralyzed because everytime it tryes to fly it cant move its legs.. but its wings are okay. I phoned my local spca and they said they won't take a pigeon.. so i dont know what else to do. I have been feeding it and it has been drinking the water so its not starving. How can i get its legs better? or is there any way i can help the poor pigeon? please respond back asap! 
thanks, lindsay.


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## bklowe (Oct 21, 2003)

Hello Lindsay,
Can your bird move it's legs/feet at all ? Do the feet have any grip ? Any bites/punctures/blood anywhere on the pij ?
If it is eating and drinking make s/he comfortable, use a cardbord box with a towel on the bottom, a small water container and some seed. Keep s/he warm and in a quiet place, checking on s/he every so often. Let us know where you are .... we likely have members near you that can help.
Thanks for looking after this pigeon.


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## lindsay.16 (Aug 12, 2005)

no it can't move its legs/feeet at all.. and what do you mean by grip?.. like holding onto something.. cuz s/he cant do that at all.. and i live in trail british columbia so let me know if there is anyone around here to take care of it because i would hate to see it die  
thanks , lindsay


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Lindsay, 

It would be best for right now to take a towel and roll all the edges inward underneath to make a cupped nest for it to lay in with its feet tucked under it as normal. You can roll a towel in this way leaving the back end of the towel unrolled so that there is a hump at the front end of the pigeon to prop it up and humps on the sides of the pigeon to keep it from rolling. Underneath the back you can fold some toilet paper to use like a diaper. You'll have to change those from time to time as it poops.

You can put a bowl of food in front of it and change it out every few hours for a bowl of water. This will keep him alive and comfortable until we can figure out what else to do. They can bruise a kidney and get paralyzed legs from that because the nerves controlling the legs go through the kidneys. That's something that can take a couple of weeks to heal. There are other possibilities but we'll just have to see.

Are you sure it was mauled by a cat? That usually means that it needs antibiotics pretty quick because cat saliva CAN (doesn't mean that it always does) contain a bacteria (Pasteurella Multocida) that can be absolutely lethal to birds. We usually like to get them on a penicillin antibiotic for that.

You're really in a remote location, that's for sure. Are there any vets in that area at all?

Pidgey


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## lindsay.16 (Aug 12, 2005)

well im not for sure that it was mauled by a cat, but on his/her back left wing.. kinda under it abit there looks like a wound and it not really bloody but some feathers misssing.. so it might have been something else.
thanks for the idea of the blanket im going to go do that right now because right now s/he is in a box with some grass because i didnt know what else to do.
thanks very much, reply back because it helps me ALOT  
-lindsay


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hello and welcome to Pigeons.com

Thank you for helping this bird and making it as comfortable as possible.

Is it eating any seed yet, or just drinking water? Has it pooped at all, and what do the poops look like? Is the bird holding the wing with the wound any differently from the other wing? Is the wound swollen. You can gently wash the area of the wound with clean paper towel and water, just dab gently. Do you have any Neosporin ointment to put on the wound? Sorry about all the questions, but we will help you based on the answers to the questions.

There could be any number of reasons for the bird not moving its legs and we will try to help you figure it out. 

Keep the bird in a warm, quiet, draft free location, in box as mentioned earlier.

Keep us updated and let us know of any other unusual behavior. 

Treesa


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