# Dove appeared sickly



## lchandra79 (May 17, 2009)

Hi,

As we came back 3 days ago from our 2 weeks vacation, we were very happy to find out that our feral rescue mourning dove 'kevin' is still alive. He's about 5 months old. That's the good news. The bad news, he appears rather weak, and is standing lower than usual. He still stepped up, eats and poop. He even flies from time to time. but he just seems less active, he fluffs and sleeps more. I try to keep him warm, and just hold him more. He lost lots of tail feather. apparently there was an 'accident' when our roomate was trying to clean his cage during our absence, he lost most of his tail feathers, and some of his back feather too. sigh... anyway he's alive now. and he seems to get chirpier slowly this past few days. He used to coo a lot more and liking to dip himself in water, now he's very quiet and just make a low vibrating sounds. 

So I'm getting 'angels help' multivitamin supplement, infrared heating pad for bird, and humidifyer. which should come by next week. I'm not sure what's wrong with him. His eyes are still bright, and his poop looks healthy and normal.

We hand raised this feral dove, so I'm very attached to it :-/. Also, I'm thinking of buying another dove for his friend. I'm going to check out this eared dove from the breeder. but I'm afraid this might stress him out since I'm not sure if he knows he's a bird.

any advice?

Thank you

- Levy


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

You need to take him to the vet now. Sick birds don't just miraculously get better without treatment. Every day a bird spends sick is equal to a week for a human. Birds don't show illness until they can no longer pretend... so I would say, based on that, you have one really sick bird.


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

As Charis mentioned, best to seek a vet's advice.
Last year my darling dove Yodi, appeared to be sick, even though I treated him with antibiotics he only was getting worse and it took me three months and a couple of thousands to get him well again. I know now I shouldn't have waited that long to get him professional help. He needed injectable antibiotics and constant monitoring.
Since he is an indoor birds, he most likely doesn't have any of the usual diseases like canker, coccidia, worms etc. 
BTW, have you ever dewormed him or treated him for coccidia? Maybe you should try that right away and if you don't see any improvement in a day or two try to find an avian vet.
Doves are so delicate.

Reti


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## lchandra79 (May 17, 2009)

Got Kevin to the vet on saturday. She told me that He's molting. that's why he appears weak. The vet gave him oral vitamins. Now he looks ugly with no tails, but very healthy and perky again. I think the roommate didn't leave the light on in the room in our absence even during daytime. perhaps that's why. or perhaps he just missed us. It's trully hard to find a good sitter. Thank you for your help.


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