# Sudden Illness In Woodie



## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi,

I have two disabled Woodies that have been with me since last July. Always kept indoors and separate from any other birds, in fact weren't even together the last three weeks inside.

I'll do a different thread for each as they both have some issues but are diffferent.

This youngster can't fly due to severe damage to his shoulder when he hit a window. Both wings are frozen.
I had found a permanent home for him but was waiting for warmer weather as he'd been inside over the winter. To get him more acclimatised I set him up outside with my disabled pigeons four weeks ago and he's even got used to climbing the ramps so he can get to the top perches.
He's been fit and well apart from the wing issue, or was.....

Yesterday morning I found him on the floor unable to right himself as he'd fallen on his frozen wing. He must have laid there all night as he'd scratched his skin where he'd tried to get up.
Normally if I right him he toddles off ok but this time he couldn't use one leg and kept falling over, I assume as he'd been lying there a long time. So I took him indoors to warm up and bathe his wing.
While he was in his box he did an almost totally watery but very smelly poop, a smell I've had before when looking after a very sick bird.
I re-hydrated him and kept him warm and eventually he got the use in his leg back.

What I'm concerned about is that his poops are now very dark slimey green, just like starvation poops when a bird whose ill first arrives. He had been fine and I'd seen him eating normally the day before so couldn't be starving from one night on the floor.
As he's been with me for so many months and shown no illness symtoms and my other birds aren't free flyers so can't have infected him, what could possibly be wrong as I'm worried he's been mixing with my birds and am scared that they might get sick if he's carrying anything that's just been dormant all this time.
Is this possible, and does anyone have any ideas.

By the way, I've put him on Baytril.

Thanks

Janet


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## Quazar (Jul 27, 2010)

Hi Janet,
I wouldnt think that after all this time in yor care he would have something that had been lying dormant, espec as I would imagine you probably had him on meds etc before.

When you found him, had he just fallen over ? 
Or maybe fell from a perch or shelf, or possibly knocked off accidentally by another bird ?
If hes fallen off something, its possible the landing has hurt his back and that could cause the temporary leg paralyses problem.
It could also explain the poops if any nerves have been damaged or trapped when he fell, he may not have been able to poop.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hi Janet,

It could just be due to shock. With woodies it is hard to tell. Norwood had dark green slimy poops before she died, so they panic me. But the other day Freddy had them. I had brought him in because John noticed his urates were orange, I had treated him with Baytril and Flagyl and he improved. His poops became perfect then overnight became green and slimy. Next day he was better again.

What I am wondering is whether in woodies these poops are some sort of stress reaction, caused sometimes by illness but other times just by stress?

As a precaution I would isolate him and dose him with baytril and Flagyl, keep an eye on the other pigeons...you could also send a sample to Retford, just in case.

BTW the "leg paralysis" happens with woodies when they have fallen over and been unable to get up. I don't know why.

Cynthia


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Just a warning....try to avoid any situation where he could fall and be unable to get up again. Rosewood and Baywood had this problem, that is how I know about the "leg paralysis", but they both died, I suspect because they had fallen over and were unable to right themselves and I didn't find them in time, although it is possible that they died before falling over. They weren't here at the same time and the cause of their falling over was different, injury in Rosewood's case and neurological in Baywood's..


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Feefo said:


> As a precaution I would isolate him and dose him with baytril and Flagyl, keep an eye on the other pigeons...you could also send a sample to Retford, just in case. Cynthia


Hi Janet, I agree with Cynthia on what she has laid out.

Good luck with him,

Karyn


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## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi,

Thanks for the advice both.

Quazar, unfortunately I don't know if he'd just fallen but I'm more inclined to say he'd been there all night as his feet were cold and he just couldn't use them. In fact for a while when he came inside he had his legs stretched out behind him with his feet curled up, which is more like a bird that's about to pass. I had thought I'd lost him at that point.
Once he had warmed up and had a good drink he regained the use of his legs and they're fine now.
As you said, he had been on meds before when he first came as he had a big hole in his shoulder and a compound fracture.

Cynthia,
I hadn't thought about the poops being brought on by stress, that's a good point. He isn't as bad as the other Woodie but doesn't like being handled so just being brought back inside would be stressful enough without spending the night stuck on the floor.
Tonight the poops are still very dark but slightly more than water. I'll see what they're like tomorrow after another day inside.
I had thought the paraylisis might have been simply due to a loss of cirulation after lying on the leg for a long period, like pins and needles.
I know I've often woken up in the morning with no feeling in my arms after falling asleep with them above my head, a very stange feeling not knowing exactly where my arms were as they were completely 'dead'. 

I'll keep him in while he's on the meds again and see how things go with his poops.

Thanks again,

Janet


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> I had thought the paralysis might have been simply due to a loss of circulation after lying on the leg for a long period, like pins and needles.


Yes, you are probably right. They aren't designed to have their feet in the air.

I hope he makes a complete recovery soon, but go with the antibiotics. There is such a small window during which you can save a woodie or a collared dove.


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