# Cape Turtle Dove Needs Help



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

I am posting this for a new member who is having some difficulties getting setup here on Pigeon-Talk.

Terry

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Included 2 photo's of a little Cape Turtle Dove that has been scalped 5 weeks ago. It could still see from both eyes, although a piece of skin was hanging a bit over the one eye. After a week abcesses started to form on the edges of the skin. I put some Bactroban on (could not get Neosporin) and that seemed to help. I phoned a vet and he told me to start using some Amoxycillin (quarter ml twice a day for 7 days) and from the 8th day Nystocin for 10 days (the same amount). But the one eye that's shut does not want to heal. Seems as if the yellow stuff keeps draining into it. I rinse the eye every night with cooled down boiled water with little bit of salt added and then put some Aloe vera onto it. Now from the other photo it looks as if the bird has avian pox. Apparently there's no cure for that. It's been like this for about 2 weeks now. There's also some yellow stuff in its mouth and breathing is a bit difficult. I'm still putting some Bactroban on the scabs on the face.

I'm still feeding the bird with a syringe, and despite all the injuries, it has a huge appetite. I'm so scared that it will go totally blind. Is there anything else I can do to help this bird. I'm from South Africa and I'm sure a vet will just have it euthanized.

Thanks.

Marina Bosch


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Attaching photos of the dove.

Terry


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Does she have access to other meds than the Amoxicillin? Probably would start this little one on Baytril and Metronidazole, also see if the vet would supply Terramycin as the topical.

Karyn


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

She says ...*she's sure a vet will euthanise them*, but she hasn't had them evaluated and I think they need to be. Please tell her that even if a vet should tell her that, she does not have to agree and have the doves euthanised.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

I don't know any more info than has been posted to me by the rescuer and then posted here plus the photos she sent. There is only the one dove, and it certainly appears to me that there are some significant problems to deal with.

I did e-mail her back that I started the thread, posted the pictures, and asked that she let me know if she has further problems posting here. The original problem was not responding the the registration confirmation e-mail. I took care of that.

Terry


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

I think I have gotten Marina's posting problem fixed .. here's an e-mail I had from her:

Hi Terry,

I saw the thread you started, thanks. I clicked on post reply, but still got the same message: "you don't have permission for accessing this page". Only 1 dove is involved. I'll try and get the medicine from our pharmacy. If they don't have, I'll phone the vet again (he is in Cape Town and that's 3 hours drive from us) and maybe they can speedpost it to me. Some vets don't want to give antibiotics unless they have seen the patient. My biggest worry at the moment is the white stuff (not yellow) in the mouth that's making breathing a bit difficult. I checked on the internet and it might be a candida infection?? The vet told me the bird might get a fungal infection after taking the amoxycillin. That's why I had to start with the nystocid from day 8, but the bird hates the stuff.

Thanks again. I'll let you know if I get hold of the medicine.

Marina


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

I've spoken to a avian vet today and he advised me to stop using the antibiotics and to rather concentrate on boosting the bird's immune system. He also suggested using Flagyl which I can get hold of. What dosis should I give? The bird is doing fine and ate quite a lot again and I'm keeping it warm at night.


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Marina B said:


> I've spoken to a avian vet today and he advised me to stop using the antibiotics and to rather concentrate on boosting the bird's immune system. He also suggested using Flagyl which I can get hold of. What dosis should I give? The bird is doing fine and ate quite a lot again and I'm keeping it warm at night.


Marina, I am going to guess this little one weights 80-100g and for a bird in this weight range 5mg of Metronidazole, twice a day should be fine, if you can get an exact weight, we can fine tun the dosing. I, myself, would also be apply a bit of Neosporin every day to the wounds and blisters as well, glad to hear the bird's appetite is good and he is managing.

If you need help on how to prepare a suspension to make dosing the Metronidazole easier, I can help you with that. Also, I know the vet advises against use of a broad spectrum antibiotic, but I would keep a close eye on the open skin areas for any signs of infection. The use of a topical antibiotic ointment will help with preventing this , but good to be on guard.

Good luck

Karyn


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Thanks for the advice, Karyn. We decided to rather put the little one out of it's misery. The bird was slowly going blind in the one eye, and could not see anything from the other eye. I don't think its humane to keep a blind bird alive, I could see it was always stressed when moved to a new area. The quality of life would not have been good for this one.

It is good to know there's people out there that one can turn to for advice regarding this sort of thing. Thanks again.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Marina B said:


> Thanks for the advice, Karyn. We decided to rather put the little one out of it's misery. The bird was slowly going blind in the one eye, and could not see anything from the other eye. I don't think its humane to keep a blind bird alive, I could see it was always stressed when moved to a new area. The quality of life would not have been good for this one.
> 
> It is good to know there's people out there that one can turn to for advice regarding this sort of thing. Thanks again.


Sorry to hear about the baby, but thank you for your concern over this bird.

A blind bird can survive with human care, we have several people with blind birds and they can do well with training and guidance and adapt nicely. A one-eye blind bird does very well within a coop of birds.

All in all, you had to make that decision and I respect you for that, but I just wanted you to know the bird can survive and do well with human help, but could never be outdoors ever.


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