# Pigeon with injured foot, please help!



## johnydo (Jun 16, 2009)

I found a pigeon that seems to be healthy except one of his feet is badly hurt.

There's nothing that appears damaged with his foot except he always has it curled up and never steps on it. I touched the bad foot and it is basically limp, he doesn't try to kick or grab with it.

Any ideas?

Thanks very much in advance


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Examine the foot very carefully. It could be that there is thread or hair wrapped around the foot cutting of the circulation. Sometimes it's very hard to see.


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## johnydo (Jun 16, 2009)

Hi Charis,

Thanks very much for your reply and your time.

I did examine his fit as close as possible. I've seen that happen before with a wire on other birds' leg but I see nothing on this bird's leg at all. I even checked all the way up to where the leg meets the body and nothing is there.

Any other ideas?

Thanks again


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Are pictures possible? Is the foot swollen? Could be nerve damage I guess. No breaks that you can find? 
You said you "found" the pigeon. Were you able to just pick it up or was there a chase or what? If you just picked it up, I expect there's more than just the foot problem going on.


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## johnydo (Jun 16, 2009)

Hi Lovebirds,

I thought it felt a little bigger than the other leg but nothing considerable.
It's definitely not swolen. There's no breaks either.
I can take pics but it won't really show anything because there is nothing visably wrong.

I don't think anything else is wrong because he is eating and drinking all day and there are plenty of normal looking droppings. He is also very perky and tries to peck and flap his wings when I change his food bowls. He cleans himself all day also and is very alert.

Is there any way to tell if it's broken or sprained (other than an xray)?

Anything else to check?

Thanks again everyone


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Without an x-ray, just a visual looksy is feeling the leg is the only thing you can do. He may have been like this for a long time. Really hard to know for sure. 
Maybe someone else will have some ideas. I don't deal with that many injuries and when one of my birds is injured, I usually know how it happened. These feral unknown cases throw me sometimes because you just don't know the history of the bird.


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

What color is the fleshy skin just above the beak? Sometimes borderline nestling/juveniles fall from above and injure their foot/feet. As adults, they can get stuck on glue traps and hurt their foot, they get string foot injuries as mentioned, and they also can get local bacterial infections in their feet.
Like us, they can also have a traumatic injury to one or both feet.

If you can tell us your general whereabouts, it may be possible to get free 
medical help for this bird by way of a close by wildlife facility or rehabber.
There are more local resources than the following link shows, so if you don't see
something in your area, please let us know your general whereabouts so that
we can try and hook you up w/some help.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f25/pigeon-resources-for-rescue-and-rehab-8817.html

fp


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## 4zpigeons (Jul 7, 2008)

Greetings.
Just a thought: Is the bottom of his foot clean? I once had a bird that limped and I couldn't really see anything. The foot was limp... I washed his feet, and gave him an antibiotic (as suggested by one at PT), a soft bed, food, water, and some down time (< well a lot because of weather conditions). No matter, he's now flying again and living free...
~ 4zp.


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## kippermom (Jan 11, 2006)

I fixed a similar injury by taping the foot in a natural position onto a small disc of wood that I shaped from a wood "biscuit"...(technical term in woodworking)...basically a piece of wood the size of a penny. It created a "boot" or surface that the bird could step on and it helped the foot assume a more natural position while the toes healed. It takes about 2 weeks for bones to heal. Just be sure the "penny" is under the ankle/leg bone so the birds weight is on the wood...picture your own hand...you want the platform to allow your fingers to curl around it naturally, but also support the heel of your hand.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

p.s. The bird may be in some pain if you try to set the foot...you might search on here for pain killers if you decide to try this...


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