# Silence is not golden, Pij's life threatening ordeal



## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

Yesterday morning I noticed Pij wasn't as 'vocal' as usual & he wasn't real interested in playing our game of 'hand tag' but showed no signs of actually being ill. He walked about the top of his cage while I cleaned the AZ room & went back in his cage without any problems.

Chuck & I set off to drop off our taxes & do a couple other things while he was in town. When we returned home Chuck went to fetch a couple things he was going to take to his truck & I went to check on the birds. 

I noticed Pij had a bit of droppings stuck to his under feathers, which was very unusual for him, so I picked him up to clean him off & all of a sudden my blouse was sprayed with water. I had no idea what had happened then looked at Pij & water was dripping from his mouth. 

I quickly put him back in his cage & called our vet. She was booked solid however recommended an associate who is very versed in avian care. Called them & they said bring Pij right over.

The dr. suggested Pij was either crop bound or had sour crop. He started to check his crop very gently at which point Pij shook his head & water went everywhere, on me, the dr, the table. As the dr. took off his glasses to clean them he said, "This is great, Pij has just given us a sample of what is going on." Without missing a beat he reached over to a drawer, removed a slide & promptly put a sample of the 'water' on it & said he would be right back.

Pij had developed sour crop. The dr. explained he would need to aspirate the fluid out of the crop then flush it a couple times. With that said, we turned Pij over to them & in a few minutes he returned with Pij & a syringe with about 7 cc's of bile looking fluid. 
I looked at the dr. & said, "All that came out of Pij's crop?" He replied, "No, there were 11 syringes." *70+ cc's * of fluid was aspirated from that poor baby's crop.  
Pij is a very husky pigeon (in fact he weighed in at 530 gr.). His crop did not look like it was enlarged. Although he showed no ill symptoms, I somehow feel extremely guilty.

I'm sure had we not gotten Pij to a vet when we did, he very likely would have drowned in his own fluid.

The vet & his staff was absolutely wonderful. 

Pij is once again cooing, dancing & playing our 'hand tag' game.  

Cindy


----------



## Yong (Oct 15, 2003)

Jeez and I thought I was bloated. Poor little guy. I hope he starts feeling better really soon. I handle my birds alot and it has certainly given me a leg up on detecting some things early, as opposed to if I had not played with them. Good sluething! Yong


----------



## Rockie (Jan 18, 2005)

I'm very happy your pij is well again! 

I'm a little new to this...can you tell me how they get "sour crop"?

Thanks!


----------



## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

*What a pleasant surprise!*

The vets office just called checking to see how Pij is doing.  

Cindy  


_"I handle my birds alot and it has certainly given me a leg up on detecting some things early"_

Hi Yong,
Actually I take Pij out of his cage every day. We have our quality time together then he flies on top of his cage while I clean the room. Yesterday morning he gave no indication there was anything wrong. 
It was only yesterday afternoon that I discovered the great amount of fluid backing up.


----------



## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

Rockie said:


> I'm very happy your pij is well again!
> 
> I'm a little new to this...can you tell me how they get "sour crop"?
> 
> Thanks!


Thanks Leslie.
From what I have read, pigeons can acquire sour crop if they are kept in an over crowded loft or the loft isn't kept clean. I don't have loft pigeons so this wouldn't apply to me.
Pij lives by himself & his cage is most definitely kept clean & the seed seems to be fresh. I feed all my 'pet' pigeons the same seed & none of the others have had any problems. So, I have no idea what happened.

Hopefully some of our other members can educate both of us on why this may have happened & why it seems to have happened so suddenly.

Cindy


----------



## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

What a scare you had, Cindy.
Glad he is doing good now and is home, happy again.

Yes, it would be nice to know what the reason might have been to develop sour crop.
I thought only babies developed it.

Reti


----------



## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Hi Cindy, 

Very glad to hear that you nipped this one in the bud so quickly. You have a wonderful vet by the sounds of it....I wish we were all so lucky. I'm very curious to find out what would have caused Pij to get a sour crop as well in these circumstances. If you find out anything, please let us know. Glad Pij is ok.


----------



## Pete Jasinski (Jan 2, 2005)

I'm sooo happy to hear Pij is well! I'm going to have to do a lot of research to keep up on everything I need to know as a new pidgie lover. I wouldn't have a clue what to do if Duds fell ill. Pij is lucky to have such a knowledgeable loving mom


----------



## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

Thanks for the well wishes.  
Pij is back to living each day to it's fullest. 
Hearing his non-stop cooing once again is definitely music to my ears.  

Cindy


----------



## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Cindy,

You and Pij were very lucky! If this had happened to one of my aviary pigeons I would not have found out there was a problem until it was too late and if I had discovered a problem I probably would not have been able to get to see a vet and if I had the vet would probably not have known what to do!  

I am so glad Pij was in good hands all through his ordeal. Well done!

Cynthia


----------



## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

How scarey!!! So glad that you noticed the problem and were able to quickly get Pij to such a competent veterinarian!


----------

