# Chicken is hurt :-(



## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

Hi guys! 

I haven't been here in awhile. I posted in March when I thought one of my doves was plucking feathers from the other one. As it turned out, they weren't plucking each other. The one dove (Chicken) had parasite (canker). He was given a course of antibiotics and retested negative and all was good.

Now, four months later, Chicken fell off his perch and hurt his wing. We took him to the animal ER yesterday and an x-ray revealed he broke his wing because he has either an infection or a tumor/neoplasia. His liver is enlarged. We are guessing he must be an old bird.

As you may or may not know, both my doves were adopted and no one knows how old they are. The other dove, Persnickety, is in perfect health. We can only guess Chicken might be having issues because he is probably older than we know.

Anyway, I don't know what is next for Chicken. His wing is in a sling for now and we have an appointment with his regular vet next Wednesday. He can't fly obviously, so we are keeping him in a separate laundry basket so he doesn't try to jump up and down the perches in the regular cage and hurt himself.

When I let Persnickety out of the cage, she flies into the laundry basket to keep Chicken company, and then goes back to her cage when she wants to nap.

He's on anti inflammatories right now to keep his pain level low. He's eating and drinking normally and trying to fly, so I guess that's a good sign! 
Anyway, please send your little dove prayers to my Chicken.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

What a sweet bird.

Sorry to hear of the injuryl.

I would find a holisitic and work on cleaning the liver. You can start by using milk thistle.


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## Shadowringneck23 (Jul 5, 2012)

*Liver Problems*

Liver problems can be caused by a lot of things, and unfortunately you do not know the age of the bird. Chicken looks beautiful, even with a sling! It's nice that Persnickety is keeping him company is such terrible times!


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

Thanks for the advice! I will definitely get some milk thistle. We did change their diet to a more holistic diet. We were feeding them Kaytee Supreme Dove Mix and they tended to just pick out their favorite seeds, then poop in the dish so we'd have to change it (who says these guys aren't smart). So now we are feeding them Lafeber's Pellet Berries which has more of the nutrition in a natural form, and they seem to love them.


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

Thanks guys. I appreciate the good thoughts! These are my first two pet doves (and first pet birds ever, actually). I was unsure when we initially adopted them how I felt about them, but I really love having doves so much my husband and I started talking about adding another. 

We did increase their calcium and their diet to something that seems more balanced and natural. But, I am concerned to hear that the wing fracture was "pathologic", meaning there is an underlying cause or disease that caused the break (not just from trauma). That along with the enlarged liver led me to believe he might be getting old. 

Whatever it is, I'm going to do whatever I can do make him comfortable. And I agree, it's so nice of Persnickety to visit him!


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

*Update on Chicken*

Good evening friends-of-Doves...

So, my Chicken had a new bandage put on today and was given antibiotics, calcium supplements and anti-inflammatories. He also has a tumor under his left wing so I don't know if that's related to the break. Unless they do biopsies on Chicken we aren't going to know exactly what it is (benign? cancer?), so right now, we are just hoping his wing heals.

The doctors were talking about amputating his wing if it doesn't heal (because that would mean he's got bigger issues). They even used the "E" word, but I don't want to think of that 

We have another appointment in two weeks. In the meantime, Chicken is stuck on the runway.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

oh, Im praying for little chicken.. you have done a wonderful thing to help him..


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

Thank you 'spirit wings' for the prayers.

I'm wondering if anyone else has dealt with a broken wing before? And what did you do to make your dove comfortable? I feel so bad giving him his medication. I know he must be uncomfortable during the process. But I'm sure he feels better when he gets the pain killer.


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## Howard Nye (Oct 14, 2009)

*Broken Wing & Enlarged Liver*

Hi LuaMoon,

All three of my pigeons were found with broken wings. Two had healed quite a bit before they were found, so we just gave them pain killers. Bird-Bird's wing was recently broken, so in addition to pain killers my vet gave him a wing-wrap and told me to keep him in a confined space while it healed. So it sounds like you're doing everything we did. My birds all did feel much better after getting their pain killers, and they all did get more used to the process and less stressed by it. One I do to reduce stress while medicating is to keep the bird's eyes covered with a piece of cloth - having their eyes covered really does seem to calm them down a lot.

One of my pigeons, Philly, also had a bout with an enlarged liver as a result of having a parasite. We gave him a stronger de-wormer than the first time around; I think that it was either Moxydectin Plus or some mix of other de-wormers that we used to cover the same things as Moxydectin Plus. This cured him 100% - he not only returned to normal in a few weeks, but felt better and stronger than he ever had before. I'm going to contact my vet to ask what exactly we used. One thing you should be careful about, though, is NOT to use Panacur / Fenbendazole - that was what our vet initially prescribed for the parasites, and taking it made Philly VERY sick (I've heard it can be fatal). 

Best,
Howard


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## Howard Nye (Oct 14, 2009)

*De-Wormers that Resolved Liver Issue for Philly*

Hi LuaMoon,

I just talked to my vet, and the stronger de-wormers that we used to resolve Philly's enlarged liver issue were a combination of Ivermectin and Praziquantel (I think that we would have used Moxydectin Plus, but we live in Canada and it was easier and faster to use Ivermectin and Praziquantel, which I think between them had the same range of coverage as Moxydectin Plus).

As I said, that totally resolved the liver issue. If it hadn't, our next line of defense was going to be empiric antibiotic treatment, in case the enlargement was being caused by infection (although once the stronger de-wormers worked, we didn't have to do that). Like Shadowringneck23, my vet and others on pigeon-talk forum told me that liver enlargement could be caused by many different things, some of them quite common like parasites and infections. 

I very much hope that Chicken feels better soon!


P.S.
I thought I should mention that my birds are all pigeons / rock doves. (As far as I know the health issues with enlarged livers, toxicity of Panacur, and desirability of Moxydectin Plus / Ivermectin & Praziquantel as stronger wormers are the same or similar for rock and non-rock doves, but your vet and others on this forum would know better than I).


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## whytwings (Feb 12, 2011)

What a little cutie 

Best wishes for a very speedy recovery !!


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## Dove Lady (Apr 15, 2011)

I know the wing is an issue, as is that lump.  .. but I havn't seen it so I can't comment really...
BUT ...as for livers...A poorly liver needs extra care.. we can all agree... so if there are issues watch the amount of corn in the feed. Too much corn can cause fatty livers that will have a hard time functioning (as well as healing). Increase any green veg if you can (Mine hate veg) (DON'T feed spinach, as it binds with calcium and can cause calcium depleation in healing animals) ... ease up on calcium suppliments (you'd be surprised to hear that there is an "overdose" level for calcium. It can cause bone to grow quickly....bone that grows too fast is actually very brittle) 
As for Milk Thistle it could interact with drugs for fungal infections,and bacterial infections. Since milk thistle may lower blood sugar, use caution that a birds blood sugar doesn’t fall too low. (look for lethargy or puffyness) it can also cause runny poops.

Vitamin A will help quite a bit.... as well as red/orange veggies. 
Hope that helps


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

*Thank you...*

Thanks for the information. My birds really seem to love arugula. Is that safe? They also were eating tiny bits of apple. I was thinking about strawberries, too?

I just have to wait and see. Chicken's arm, I think I mentioned, was re-bandaged by his regular doctor, so it's not hanging down like that. He's on his meds and we're going to take him back in about 2 weeks for another xray and see how he is doing. He is full of energy and eating a lot. He keeps trying to fly and almost did a back flip (since he only as one wing). Poor guy! But I'm trying to keep him as still as possible. We'll see what the vet says in about 2 weeks!


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

BTW Chicken DID have a parasite in March, so I wonder if that's why his liver was enlarged? Also, perhaps he wasn't getting enough calcium because of the "seed picking" they were doing before. He loves his LaFeber's pellets so thank goodness!

I'll keep you all posted and thanks so much for sharing your experiences.


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

Hello...I thought I'd just share a pic of Chicken with his new bandage and a pic of Persnickety sitting on a plant that I took the other day.


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## Dove Lady (Apr 15, 2011)

Sorry it took a while to reply! I've been SO busy! strawberries should be fine... cranberry is very good for livers too... you can get powdered cranberry in the vitamin dept of a drugstore. Get capsules.. open them and dust it on his food (1/2 capsule every 2 days)

Also shredded carrot works well. You can even add the juice from a watermelon into his regular water (about 1/4 melon water) Just squish it up and drain the juice in to a cup.

Hope that helps.. let me know how your sweety is doing!


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

Thank you "Dove Lady"! What a great idea with the cranberry capsules. They have been eating dried cranberry, but if I don't chop it up small enough, it gets left in the dish.

I am taking Chicken to the Vet's tomorrow for another xray, etc. Let's hope he's all healed up after that!! fingers crossed. I'll be back tomorrow night to let you guys know.


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