# Miss Luna The Diamond Dove.



## Kristmas! (May 21, 2010)

My Name is Kristen, i Just Made An Account And Am Trying To Get Accustomed To The Forum.. 

i Recently Bought A Diamond Dove, it's Said She's A Female, From Petsmart Two Days Ago. 
Since i've Had Her, She Hasn't Eaten Hardly Anything, i Haven't Noticed Her Drinking Any Either.

As Soon As i Put Her into Her New Cage She Flew Around Frantically And Ended Up Losing The Long Feathers Of Her Tail And About A Billion Of The Small Fluffy Ones. Now She's More Settled And i Asked The Pet Store They Said Her Feathers Will Grow Back in A Few Weeks.

i Have Handled Her About Three Times For About 5 Minutes.. 

i'm Thinking Of Getting Another Dove To Stay With Her But i'm Unsure if i Should Get Another Diamond Dove (Since She Was The Last One There) Or A White Dove Because i Don't Know if They Would Get Along..

is There Anything i Can Do To See That She Eats More, And What Birds Would Be Best For Her Companion? Any Advice Would Be Appreciated!


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Kristin...you won't have a dove to worry about finding companionship for her if you don't get the bird eating. 
I bought 2 little Diamon Doves from Petco over a decade ago. Supposedly, both were weaned. They were in a aviary with finches and they didn't look good at all. My purchase was mostly as a rescue effort although my son had always loved them and wanted a pair of his own. To make a very long, sad story short, they were both ill and dead with in not too many days. I'm not telling this to frighten you but so you will take action on behalf of the little dove.
Before you get any companion and it should be another Diamon dove, you need to take the bird to a vet that is experienced treating birds and make sure the bird is healthy. The poor little bird is probably terrified and stressed very thing is new and she is all alone. You may have food different form what she is used to. She is in a new cage. She is alone. Stress can bring out illness and so you need to get right on it.
Also and if the bird were in my care, I would get a mirror to put in the cage so at least the bird can comfort herself with her own image.


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## Kristmas! (May 21, 2010)

i'm Going To Call The Petstore Again To See What Food They Were Feeding Her And Try To Switch To it, This Morning She Pecked At The Seed Some, i Also Gave Her Bits Of Parsley And Boiled Eggs And She Ate A Few Pieces But Still Not Very Much.. 
My Mom Said if She Still isn't Eating Well By in The Morning We Will Take Her To The Vet. There's Only One in The Town We Live in. 

As For The Food And Grit, Are They Supposed To Be Mixed Together Or Put Seperately? Right Now i Have Them Mixed Together in Her Food Container, The Food And Water Bowls Are Sitting At The Bottom instead Of Hanging Up Because That's How They Were At The Store.. 

i Put A Small Compact Mirror On The Side Of Her Cage On The Perch She Sits On Most, She Hasn't Paid Much Attention To it As Of Yet But Hopefully it Will Help.
Thank You A Lot For The Advice.


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## Kristmas! (May 21, 2010)

Pictures Of My Birdy--


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

The food and grit should not be mixed together but offered separately. I would leave them on the floor of the cage.
Start Goggling and *read, read everything you can *on Diamond doves. Her survival depends greatly on how educated you are. Unfortunately, most pet stores don't do their job educating about the species they sell. Personally, I think that is wrong and as a result, many animals suffer and human hearts are broken because they have never gotten the information they need to help their pet thrive.
I will call the vet today and make an appointment, you can always cancil it.


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## Kristmas! (May 21, 2010)

Alright i'll Go Give Her New Seed in Her Container And Put The Grit in Another One, i Called The Vet And The Earliest i Can Take Her is Monday.. Hopefully She Will Get Better By Then Though.
i'm Looking Online And A Lot Of Websites Tell Me What Diet They Should Be Given, But No information On What To Do if They Aren't Eating. 

Right Now She's On The Highest Perch Of Her Cage And is Really Fluffy, i Also Haven't Heard Her Make Any Sounds Yet.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Fluffy isn't good. It means she is cold.
Get a heating pad and set it on the low setting and put it on the floor of her cage.
Put a towel on the heating pad .
Remove the perches in the cage so she will sit, hopefully on the heating pad.
You are going to need to hand feed her.
Go back to the pet store and buy exact hand feeding formula and pick up a 1 cc syringe to feed the formula from. Also buy some applesauce for human babies.
Call around to see if there is any vet, that treats birds in a neighboring community.


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi Kristmas!


Well, that is a very beautiful little Dove.

She would probably like the very small size whole Seeds, as are usually used for Finches and Canaries...and, maybe, also, the smallest size kind of KT or other good brand of Foods which are different color things, very small size pieces, those Mixes they sell for tiny Birds.

Fresh Greens are good, and cutting them into little teeny bits for easy pecking makes them more inviting and easy for the Bird.

Seeds and Grit can be mixed or seperate...I usually have a little bowl of each set up, so the Bird can decide which they are in a mood for at any given moment.

Anyway, Charis has covered the other things very well.

Doves of any sort are often quite high strung, and stress easily.


A quiet setting for their cage, away from people and away from household noises or other activities would be best.


Someone merely waling past their Cage can be very upsetting to them.

Their instinct is to flee anything disruptive or sudden or anyone moving near them, so, when trapped, they suffer a great deal of stress when they can not fly away from things they do not understand or things which to them seem disturbing or confusing.

Doves tend to have 'Poker Faces' and do not show emotion or show their concerns or happinesses very much unless they are very comfortable with you and have known you a long time...so, at a glance, it is hard to gauge their discomfort by their expression.


Phil
Lv


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Try this place. I'm on the phone with them now and they do treat birds. There are directions on the web page.

http://www.healthpointevet.com/


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## Kristmas! (May 21, 2010)

She Has A Heated Perch, But My Fan Was On in The Room So i Turned it Off.
No Heating Pad in The House :/


i Have Baby Food Applesauce, and A Dropper if That Would Work? 
Should i Try To Give Her Water As Well i'm Not Sure if She's Been Drinking Or Not. 
Her Droppings Aren't Very Runny And Green/White.. Not Sure if That's Normal or Not.

i Put Her Seeds In One Container And Grit in Another And Also Changed The Water Container To A Larger One.. When i Went Back into The Room She Had Eaten All Of The Boiled Eggs But Nothing Else.. 

The Earliest i Can Go Back To The Store is Wednesday or Thursday Of Next Week, The "bird specialist" At Petsmart Says "The Birds Are Vet Assured To Be Healthy And There Should Be Nothing Wrong With Her And it's Probably Just Stress From The New Environment." And Also They Were Not Given Grit At The Store Only Seed And Millet, i Have The Same Kind Of Seed But Don't Have Any Millet.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Let's see a picture of the dropping. This little bird should have a minimum of 20 droppings a day. The purpose of putting a heating pad on the floor of the cage is so she won't fall and hurt herself if she is weak.
I wouldn't necessarily take the advise of the ...bird specialist. I was told the same thing about the 2 that I purchased.
If the bird is ill, every day is equal to 1 week for a human. *It is a natural defense of birds to pretend they are well even when they are not, because in the wild, a bird that acts ill is an easy target for a predator and so they pretend until they can't any longer.*
I really hope this turns out well for the little dove and you.


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## Kristmas! (May 21, 2010)

The Woman i Talked To Seemed To Have No idea On What To Tell Me She Even Read Out Of The "Dove Care Guide" That i Comes With The Birds When You Buy Them.. 
She Said To Bring Her in Tomorrow And They Will Have The Vet Assess Her And if There is A Problem They Will Treat Her Without Charge Because She is Still Under Contract. 

I Cleaned The Droppings Up Because They All Went On The Perch Below Her But Next Time i'll Take A Picture And Post it. The First Day i Didnt Notice Any. Yesterday There Were Maybe... 10 And So Far Today About 6.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Most often, bird experts at pet shops are no experts at all...just a title given to them to make the public feel better.
I hope the vet is comfortable treating birds. Just because they have a veterinary license, doesn't mean they know anything about birds or specifically...pigeons/doves.


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## Kristmas! (May 21, 2010)

The "bird specialist" i Spoke To Has Been Hired There Maybe 2 Months Now, i Go To Petsmart Every Week Usually And She Was Asking Other Employees What The Birds Are Fed And She Was Reading Things Out Of A Brochure i Already Have That Wasn't Helpful in Any Way, i Already Know What They Are Supposed To Eat, i Was Asking Why She Wasn't Eating it. 

She Told Me To Buy The Wild Dove Food They Have There And Mix it With The Finch Food But if She Was Eating The Same Seed At The Store For 2 Weeks Before i Bought Her, i'm Not Sure Why There is A Problem.. Other Than She May Be Sick.
"She Might Not Like The Food" isn't A Very Good Answer.


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## Kristmas! (May 21, 2010)

i Thank You Very Much For Your Advice Though And i Will Try Everything You've Told Me in Hopes Of Helping Her And i Will Post Back After Our Trip To The Petsmart Vet Tomorrow.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Kristmas! said:


> The "bird specialist" i Spoke To Has Been Hired There Maybe 2 Months Now, i Go To Petsmart Every Week Usually And She Was Asking Other Employees What The Birds Are Fed And She Was Reading Things Out Of A Brochure i Already Have That Wasn't Helpful in Any Way, i Already Know What They Are Supposed To Eat, i Was Asking Why She Wasn't Eating it.
> 
> She Told Me To Buy The Wild Dove Food They Have There And Mix it With The Finch Food But if She Was Eating The Same Seed At The Store For 2 Weeks Before i Bought Her, i'm Not Sure Why There is A Problem.. Other Than She May Be Sick.
> "She Might Not Like The Food" isn't A Very Good Answer.



She may be young and not completely weaned.


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## Kristmas! (May 21, 2010)

THAT Actually Makes A Lot Of Sense.. 
She Does Look A Little Smaller Than The Pictures i've Seen Online, So That May Be The Case, if So.. What Should i Do?


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

You will need to hand feed her, which may be very stressful for her. I posted what to get in a previous post.


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## M Kurps (Mar 19, 2009)

That dove isn't a youngster. You can tell by the orange ring around the eye. It actually looks like a male also,or an older female. Males are definitely higher strung.You will tell male from female later by the call they give, the male will have a louder destinctive call and the female will make a more muffled quieter call,also the males orange around the eye gets thicker as he gets older. I would suggest feeding him/her finch/canary premium bird mix,and give him a little space to settle down an keep an eye on him/her,til monday.Make sure he knows where the water is,you may need to dip the beak in the water so he/she knows where the water is.Hold off getting a companion til you know whether it is a he or she.Droppings should be firm,round and light or dark brown mixed with a little white and dry farely quickly. Droppings will be watery or even mostly water when the bird is stressed. All info given by Charis and pdpbison is correct,however I do not believe that bird is a youngster,by the photo.
Kurps


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Above all, keep doing your research. 

When I was a kid, we had parakeets, small turtles. 

They didn't live long.

I wasn't very involved with them (and I was the oldest child). My relationship with the pets was such that the daily cowboy shoot-em-up on black&white TV (in the 1950s) was of more importance and was more interesting. Pets came, went. Indians chasing wagon trains got shot and fell down without being even bruised. A six-shooter solved every problem for the cowboy hero. You gave the pets food, maybe they ate it, maybe it accumulated in the plastic turtle dish and the water turned a bit slimy and one day you found the turtle with its head and legs drawn in, immobile. You caught horned toads in the parched front yard in Texas, kept them a few hours, released them. Same with crawdads from the creek you waded in across the street. 

Now, with more viewing options on television concerning animals, and even more info available on the internet, _we are able to be more conscious of what animals need._ We are more readily able to be aware of our responsibilities towards animals in our care and in our surroundings. 

(This isn't a sermon for you, it's more one for me). 

Tip: There are a lot of things in a house that are poisonous for a bird. (Such as nail polish remover. Noticed you have nicely-finished fingernails in your photos of you holding your dove).

_Bird-Proofing your Home_

http://www.internationaldovesociety.com/birdproofing.htm

Larry


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## Kristmas! (May 21, 2010)

i've Had Every Kind Of Animal Possible From The Pet Store Excluding Ferrets and Guinea Pigs Because They're Kinda Creepy.. This is The First Time i've Had A Bird Though.
My Fish Has Been Living About 3 Years Now And i Always Take Very Good Care Of My Animals.. But i See Where You're Coming From. 

She Ate Some Last Night And This Morning, And Are There Any Other Ways To Tell if The Bird is A Boy or Girl, i Was Told They Were All Females.. Although i'm Losing Faith in Petsmart.


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## Libis (Oct 8, 2010)

http://www.diamonddove.info/

This site had everything I ever wanted to know about diamond doves. She has their needs, colors, breeding information (including how to tell the sexes), and more. You should do some research here.


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

This thread is almost 5 months old.

Wonder what happened to the Dove??

Shi


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