# Dislocated wing



## AndreiS (Jul 28, 2013)

Hi!

This is about my *starling* but I'm puting it here because in the non-pigeon section may pass unobserved. I would like to ask the moderator or admin to move the thread to the non-pigeon section after I got some answers.


Today I made a radiography to my starling, because I thought that has some broken bone in one of the digits (he / she appeared to walk dificultly). The radiography revealed that he/she has nothing at digits but has a dislocated joint at the left wing. I noticed since yesterday he / she can't fly normally but this can be older (I don't remember to saw him / her flying longer in the last days).

Here is the radiography, *click on it* for a bigger version:





Do you know if something can be done? From what I've read on a website, for fractures or dislocations in this part of the body, there is no hope but maybe you know something else. In Bucharest are not bird specialised vets that I can trust, neverhteless, I would resort to the only one available of them, if I could offer him some information I get from you.


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Years ago, around 2005, I was discussing a dislocation in a pigeon (wing or foot, I don't remember) with a paediatrician I know, and he said that, in the case of small children (with hip dislocations, if I remember correctly) if the dislocation is not taken care of within a day or so, it is too late. Extensive surgery may then be required, if even that is possible. I may have my facts mixed up, but the general impression I received was that, in the case of dislocations, don't waste any time.

In 2011 I had taken a feral pigeon with a broken femur to a vet practice which listed that they treated birds, along with the usual cats and dogs. This vet tried to wrap the leg with a splint. The pigeon pulled it off a couple of hours later, and the leg didn't heal properly. I took it a day or so later to a good avian vet some distance away, Dr. Peter Coutteel near Antwerp, Belgium, and he verified that there was nothing to do. He told me that broken wings and legs in small birds need to be set almost immediately, since they heal so quickly, and will otherwise fuse improperly. I had brought him a feral pigeon with a broken humerus in 2012, but it had already set improperly. On a larger bird, extension splints and pins might be possible, but on a small bird the best thing to do would be to immobilize and wrap the wing or leg in a natural position against the body.

My INEXPERT opinion is that, in theory, I think almost any vet should be able to deal with a simple dislocation, since in comparative anatomy classes certain bones and joints are similar in many vertebrates. In practice, some are better than others.

If no one comes along with better advice, I would try anything and anyone available tomorrow. What would you have to lose? What other chance would the starling have? Perhaps you know better than I do.


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## AndreiS (Jul 28, 2013)

Thank you for the detailed answer!  

The same bird had in last months three leg fracturesat the same leg: one time the tarsus and needed an imbolization of one monthsand two times the femur (the fracture recured in the same place) and cured without intervention, the bone knited naturally. 

But in the case of dislocation I have no idea. There are already at least two days but I will go to a vet in vicinity (the same that imobilized the leg) and see what he can do.


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