# found:shot pigeon in ARIZONA



## VannillaCream (Oct 13, 2005)

A friend from church found this pigeon, (well actually her boys did.) I 've taken in a lot of animals before, from dogs and lizards to cats and birds. and i've had a few birds before, some which still come around, but this is the first one i've had with this much damage, i don't know what to do.  the bebe gun shot might still be in there but i can't tell. there was a lot of bleeding. (s)he's acting fine with the exception that the pigeon can't lift up its wing. any suggestions? i can't afford to take it to a vet. I'm not yet old enough to drive. my mom is helping tho.


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

VannillaCream,

Welcome to Pigeons.com and taking this poor pigeon in. I wish your situation wasn't so bad.

When it comes to trauma (injury), there's very little we can advise you to do besides just giving the bird food, water, warmth and safety unless you go to great pains to describe the wound better. We can't tell if it's in the wing or in the side of the bird. If it's in the wing, then look at this drawing and feel around to see if you can figure out what's going on. If the projectile is still in the wing (I've had one that way) then you will be able to feel it:

http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/skeleton.html

Pidgey


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

Hello and welcome to Pigeons.com. Thank you for rescuing this wounded pigeon. If you haven't already done so, please read the thread "Basic Steps to Saving the Life of a Pigeon or Dove" on this forum: http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=9457

The main things are to keep the pigeon warm, hydrated and safe. A screen-covered box or pet carrier lined with old towels or t-shirts will work fine. 

Was the bird shot in the wing? Please examine it gently to see how many wounds there are and how deep. It would be best if this bird could be seen by an avian vet; however I understand not everyone can afford to do this. _Some_ vets are willing to treat the bird if you release it to their care. Please be careful though, as some will simply euthanize it. Where are you located? I know at least two wonderful avian vets in our area who will treat pigeons free of charge to you if you relinquish the bird to them. Try this site for a listing of avian vets: http://www.aav.org/

Have you tried to locate a rehabber in your area? If not, try this listing. There may be someone close to you who can help the bird. http://www.pigeons.com/prd.htm

If you can't find someone to help, I recommend thoroughly cleaning the pigeon's wounds and treating them with antibiotic ointment. Liquid is better than gooey stuff, but if you don't have anything else, Neosporin or a similar preparation will work. Try a feed or pet store for appropriate topical medications. But if the wounds are deep and/or have broken bones, the pigeon needs medical care ASAP.


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## VannillaCream (Oct 13, 2005)

*thanks*

Thanks for the advice. The wound is in the wing only,I will try to carry out treatment the best I can. By the way, I'm in Arizona.


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hello and welcome to pigeons.com

Thank you for helping this pigeon.

Here is another resource for rehabbers, click on Arizona and see what you find for rehabbers in your area:

www.wildlifecare.org/list.html


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

If you are anywhere near Chandler, please call East Valley Wildlife: 

Nancy Eilertsen
Director, East Valley Wildlife
[email protected]
480-899-1513

Terry


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## VannillaCream (Oct 13, 2005)

*Fyi*

Thank you everyone for all of the help. I now have a cage for the pigeon and have lined it with towels in which the bird has comfortably settled itself down in. Tomorrow I'm hoping to go get some medication and choice birdseed. He (I think it is a he) cannot fly at all. But has no problem struting around and fluffing his feathers. I let him out for some exercise today. No I'm not in chandler but thanks anyway. Is there a way to put pictures on this forum? if so could some one please let me know. That way I could post pictures of the wound for better information. Thank you again.


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## BrianNAmy (Nov 2, 2003)

We're located in central Phoenix and belong to another group in north Phoenix called Raptors Inc. (Don't worry, they know us and will generally call us if they get a case like this in... instead of using them as dinner for the hawks that is) If you need someone to take a look at the bird for you, let us know; housecalls aren't alwasy out of the question either.

You can attach pictures/files if you look under the window to post and click where it says "manage attachments".


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## VannillaCream (Oct 13, 2005)

Central Phoenix, Mom here. 
Would love to have you take a look at the bird.
Doesn't look to be too serious but he is hanging his wing out and not keeping it in. He is eating/drinking like a champ
We are applying neosporin to the hole in the wing.
I could bring the bird in Wednesday 19th if you will be so kind to give an address or phone number.

Until next time


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## VannillaCream (Oct 13, 2005)

*update on pigeon*

We're looking for help with this pigeon.
The wing is worse than we had first thought. 
It is broken along the radius and there is swelling around the wound.
we are willing to take this pigeon to some place where it can get the proper care that it needs. 
P.S. mom is saying that she might just let the pigeon outside and let nature take its coarse, PLEASE HELP!!!


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## BrianNAmy (Nov 2, 2003)

*Give us a call*

We live in N. Central Phoenix, just off I -17. Leave a message on the machine (sounds like a computerized voice mail) and we'll call back ASAP if we're not in.


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

*BrianandAmy*

Did VannillaCream ever contact you??


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## BrianNAmy (Nov 2, 2003)

Bird is on her way over as I speak


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

*Thank You!*

I hope the bird can recover! 

My Mr. Squeaks had a broken wing so badly injured that my Vet had to do some amputation. He can no longer fly but now rules me and my 4 cats with an iron beak!

Please let us know how the bird does...


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## BrianNAmy (Nov 2, 2003)

The diagnosis so far:

We found the bullet/pellet hole in its wing. It almost appears that the entry wound is on the under side of his shoulder and the exit would is on the outside of his wing. It's hard to tell exactly where the exit wound is due to the huge mass of clotted blood/feathers over it. There's some dried blood on his body near his wing but we can't see any signs of any major injuries there.

This is almost like getting shot in your shoulder and having the bullet come out half way down your arm  

His wing doesn't appear to be boken, or still broken. He does have a rather large mass near his shoulder, could be the bone healing already (it's been 7 days). He is keeping his wing drooped to his side... most likely because it reallly HURTS, but he's able to use it and move it around though. He also definitely has feeling in it.

Right now we have him enclosed in a little pet carrier where he can't move around and injure himself too much. Although he's hating life right about now... "strange people, poking me, prodding me, no privacy" We'll move him to a bigger cage this weekend and see if he wants to stretch his wing out a bit and exercise, maybe improve his mood a biit too.

We have another also who's a bit perkier but has a massive shoulder injury (Gunshot wound again). There's really no blood to speak of, but we discovered whoever left him ouside of Petco in a bucket that said "Help, I have a broken wing" probably had him for a couple days prior to us, since his injuries were already turning bright green (Biliverdin, as we found out on here). His wing has no motion and no feeling at all. We can pull it, poke it, stretch it, and he'll just stare at us with the "are you done yet?" look. The most we can do for that one is to bandage him up in a natural position and hope it stays.

So they're both feeling rather violated right about now, but hey; misery loves company!


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## pigeonmama (Jan 9, 2005)

Well, at least someone took the time to put the poor pigeon in a bucket with a message, rather than leave it out to become some critter's dinner.
Daryl


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Hi BrianNAmy, 

It's terrible to think this way but it would almost seems like whoever might have shot this pigeon with the BB gun, might have also been the one that left him in the bucket outside of Petco. Perhaps they felt is was a good joke to play on whoever found the poor bird I hate to think this but it's awfully strange that someone would leave a pigeon in a bucket with a note.


Good luck and best wishes however in helping this unfortunate pigeon.


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## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

BrianNAmy said:


> His wing doesn't appear to be boken, or still broken. *He does have a rather large mass near his shoulder*, could be the bone healing already (it's been 7 days). He is keeping his wing drooped to his side... most likely because it reallly HURTS, but he's able to use it and move it around though. He also definitely has feeling in it.


This injury sounds typical of what Pij'ette had. I took her to Nancy & we discovered the 'mass' was an awful abscess.  

Cindy


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## KIPPY (Dec 18, 2003)

*"I took her to Nancy & we discovered the 'mass' was an awful abscess."*

So what did you guys do? Did you use antibiotics and clean the wound?


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## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

KIPPY said:


> *So what did you guys do?* Did you use antibiotics and clean the wound?


Cleaned the abscess, applied Nolvasan ointment & wrapped the wing. 
The wound appeared to be quite old, which was most probably a factor regarding the irreversible damage.

Cindy


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## Victor (Dec 18, 2004)

brian~n~Amy,
It was great of you to come to the rescue of that young mans new found injured pigeon. That was a very caring and thoughtful deed to do for someone with a pigeon in distress. Thank you.


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## BrianNAmy (Nov 2, 2003)

We had a Trich scare here the day after we took this one in. The vet found it in our oldest and most personable (can that word be used for birds?) bird, Stewie. He showed no signs of sickness otherwise but the vet found a decent amount when he was trying to help us figure out why Stewie was sick. Now we have all of our guys, and this one on Metronidazole treatments... ugghhh. 

Now he's in a larger cage with some room to stretch. He has control of his wing and the wound looks like it's healing/healed naturally. We'll take a closer look at his progress in a couple of days or so, so he doesn't get too stressed.

**Sadly, Stewie passed on the other night after only being with us a year and a half *sob* The vet can't tell for sure why. RIP Stewie**


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

I am so sorry to hear Stewie didn't make it. A year and half is a while to keep a bird - you learn to love them and know them as individuals. I know exactly how you feel. Sending hugs your way.

maggie


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## Birdmom4ever (Jan 14, 2003)

I'm so sorry you lost Stewie. It sounds like you did all you could for him and I'm sure he knew he was loved.


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## mr squeaks (Apr 14, 2005)

*BrianandAmy*

I was so pleased to hear about the care that the shot pigeon received. 

THEN, to hear you lost Stewie! What a heartbreaker! I'm so very sorry!


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## BrianNAmy (Nov 2, 2003)

Thanks for the support everyone, we will miss him.

As for #2 as we call him (received 2 broken wing cases within 2 days) I'm not exactly sure how well he is doing. As for his health, he's not ill. I take him out occasionally to get him a bit more comfortable around us, since he just sits in his cage all day long. We've had him on a 7 day metronidozale treatment for possible canker and would probably help with any possible infection as well.

The dried blood on his feathers on his torso was just that, dried blood. I plucked a few of them off and he's alright underneath.

His wing looked a bit puffy so we went to take a closer look and try lifting the scab up a bit thinking it needed to drain. Well, that scab turns out not to be a scab... I can't say exactly what it is. It doesn't move or give like I would expect of a bullet/pellet to from a gunshot wound; it's hard, crusted over with dried blood and doesn't budge an inch when I tried prodding around. It's looking more and more like it could be part of his bone, although he still has control of and motion in his wing.

We've disinfected it for now and we're getting him to a rehabber on Saturday who can take a closer look... what I woudln't give for an X-ray machine


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## BrianNAmy (Nov 2, 2003)

Oh, and as for #1, after trying to wrap him up and having him get tangled or escape I decided on one last ditch effort. The bandages weren't holding considering he would get his foot caught in them and/or slide out of them since he had virtually no "shoulder" on the wing that's injured. It was like trying to sit on the lap of a person who's standing. I decided to resort to using actual first aid tape to tape his wing in a natural position. I figured never being able to fly again outweighed losing some feathers.

About 3-4 days after doing this, it seems to be maintaining its shape and he now seems able to move his wing again, although we're waiting a bit longer to take the tape off.

Does anyone actually have any suggestions for bandaging a wing that has a shoulder injury like this? We tried wrapping the bandage around his body, under his good wing, keeping his bad wing tucked in, but since his wing had almost no shape or control near the joint, it would end up sliding under the bandage, down to his keel... where he'd get his foot caught between his wing and the bandage when he walked.


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

BrianNAmy,

When you say that the bird has no shoulder left, do you mean that if you view the bird from above, it looks as though the bad wing is connected about a half-inch or so further back on the body? I've got one like that and what it is with her is that the skeletal structure that would be like the collarbone in us was shattered and it allows the musculature to pull the shoulder backward.

That's actually not an uncommon injury and often comes from hitting a wire or other solid object in a bad landing. A pellet could do the same basic damage, of course. This is a picture of Pattie Cakers (Lin named her, not me), whose left shoulder finally froze somewhat in place:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=77175&postcount=71

She can actually work it from about straight out to straight down so if she jumps off of something, she can maintain a level glide/flop. But the shoulder will not rotate upward enough to gain any altitude. She has lived somewhat happily in the loft for 4-1/2 years now. I had to take her in to get a mass removed from her oviduct the other day. It was a bunch of the same kind of cheesy stuff that you see with canker but it wasn't because of trichomoniasis. She doesn't get enough exercise and that can cause problems with pigeons in the long term. She's fine now, though.

Anyhow, I haven't had a lot of luck with the normal taping method for a broken wing either in a case like you describe owing to the bird tripping around a lot. Someone advised me that they will eventually figure out the balance issue but I have a difficult time watching them trip and fall forward onto the hurt shoulder so I finally got to where I just used the white cloth medical tape to support the shoulder and wing from the back by lifting the feathers to get to the skin, if nothing else. It doesn't take much, really.

Pidgey


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## VannillaCream (Oct 13, 2005)

*Thanks*

I am so Glad to hear that the pigeon is still alive and doing ok.
Knowing that if the pigeon had stayed with me it wouldn't have gotten such good care, as to the fact that I wouldn't know what to do with it.
Thank you so much BrianNAmy.


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