# Likelyhood of helping string foot injury?



## msmely (Feb 13, 2011)

Hey,

I feed this pigeon flock occasionally and I've noticed one of the pigeon has a string foot injury that's pretty bad on both feet that makes it hard for him to walk. I managed to pick him up and take a look to see if we could help but the string is so deeply tangled into the foot it didn't seem like I could do anything.
Is there any hope of me helping? 
Will both of his feet die off? And if I were to get him treatment would that just mean amputating both feet?
Because it isn't just one foot, it's both :s


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## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi,

Great you've managed to get this poor bird.
Any chance of posting a photo of each foot.
For now, if he'll cope with being handled, I'd stand him in some warm water so as the skin will soften and see if you can start to remove any of the string.

Ideally you'll need a magnifying glass to really see how deep it's gone and also a stitch cutter, (if you know what I mean), so you can gently hook out any deeply embedded thread.
Don't rush so as not to stress the bird and maybe massage the skin with anti-biotic cream.

I had a bird a while ago that had both legs joined by thread. Four of the toes were dead but I was lucky, my vet amputated those rather than wait for them to fall off and after some healing time, he was released ok.

It does depend on how long they've been like this but it's certainly worth a try.

Good luck and if you can get some pictures we can advise better from there on,

Janet


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

There is a wild pigeon hen that I feed every day who had a severe string injury last year...one foot had already come off completely when I met her, and all but one toe on the other foot were black. The remaining toe was broken and bent back as well, and the skin had already grown over most of the remaining string. Her remaining foot looks like a `blob', the other is a stump. She took a long time to walk comfortably, but she does walk ok now and compete for food with the flock just fine. I've fed her & her mate every day since I met her, in a special spot. She is one of my favourites.


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