# I have an injured young pigeon.



## WoodysMum (Jul 12, 2011)

Having looked after an injured baby pigeon for a month from June-July very successfully (_story elsewhere on the forum_) tonight whilst out with our dogs, my OH and I were met with some children at my local stable owned by friends, all shouting for me to come quickly as the stable cat had grabbed hold of a pigeon and they said it had a broken wing and was bleeding!

So it let me catch it as it had got behind a tree and was in a bit of a panic. I held it close to my jacket and kept its wings held close to its body and its heart was beating madly but after a few minutes of chatting to the five kids (and with our dogs it was like the Famous Five stories with an extra dog) the poor thing calmed down a bit so we went home and I got the cage back out, put newspaper in, got seed and water and left it in the cage on the kitchen table on loads of newspaper and with a big dog towel over the cage to keep it quiet.

He/she let me pick him up and I got some cotton wool and TCP and squeezed TCP onto the wound but I don't know how it will get on or if I did the right thing, but I had to do my best for him as I have a soft spot for pigeons. 

I brought him/her (_what's the difference_?) home around 8.50pm and put seed and water in the cage on the kitchen table and I looked at him again about 12.30am and he's still sitting on the perch in the cage, the injured wing having been dabbed with TCP again, but I read that cat's saliva can kill a cat, so we shall see how he is tomorrow. I hope he survives OK.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

He will need antibiotics, or he could very well get a bad infection from the cat bite that could kill him.


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## amyable (Jul 7, 2007)

Hi there,

Good to hear from you again. Great job in saving this Woodie.

It's a juvenile Woodie and is in desperate need of some anit-biotics as Jaye said as that looks like a bad cat injury.
Are you able to find a pigeon friendly vet that would treat it but let you take on the care rather than having to hand over the pigeon to them. They may just PTS if you hand it over if they haven't time to re-hab it.

Do make sure you bathe that wound well with saline slotion and if possible put some anti bacterial cream or such like on the help keep it clean in the meantime.

If it succombs to an infection from the cat's saliva, it will go down hill quickly and there'll be no way to help it back up then so I'd try for anit-biotics as soon as possible.

Good luck

Janet


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## WoodysMum (Jul 12, 2011)

A quick update on my injured pigeon, who is still here with us, but I haven't taken him to my vet as she thinks pigeons are 'flying rats' and probably wouldn't be very helpful. He is so cute and sits on my hand and lets me bathe his injured wing and I have put Savlon cream on it today three times, so no antibiotics thus far, but plenty of TLC and as it's windy, he's indoors on his perch in the cage with an old towel over the back and sides of the cage to make him feel cosy and snug.

If he was going to not survive, would he have become worse by now? He looks bright-eyed and sits firmly on the perch so I hope he's still OK in the morning.


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

WoodysMum said:


> If he was going to not survive, would he have become worse by now? He looks bright-eyed and sits firmly on the perch so I hope he's still OK in the morning.


They usually look like they are doing well, then around the 5-7 day mark take a turn for the worse and die, this is if the attack passed on the infection to them. When they start to show that they are ill, it will be too late for treatment and antibiotics will no longer work, that's why it's important to start early treatment. If you have any antibiotics around, or your friends, family or neighbors as well, many of the same antibiotics we use can be used, we can help you with how to take a pill and make it into something to treat this little guy with, if you can locate some. A few common ones would be Cipro, Doxycycline, Bactrim, Septra, Cotrimoxazole, Azithromycin, Amoxicillin, Synulox, Keflex and Tetracycline.

Good luck with him,

Karyn


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

WoodysMum said:


> A quick update on my injured pigeon, who is still here with us, but I haven't taken him to my vet as she thinks pigeons are 'flying rats' and probably wouldn't be very helpful. He is so cute and sits on my hand and lets me bathe his injured wing and I have put Savlon cream on it today three times, so no antibiotics thus far, but plenty of TLC and as it's windy, he's indoors on his perch in the cage with an old towel over the back and sides of the cage to make him feel cosy and snug.
> 
> *If he was going to not survive, would he have become worse by now?* He looks bright-eyed and sits firmly on the perch so I hope he's still OK in the morning.



No. He could seem great for a few days, then suddenly be extremely ill, then he would die. I've seen it happen unfortunately.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Birds pretend to be well even when they are not. They do so as a survival instinct, as an ill acting bird in the wild would be an easy target for a predator.
I have never known a cat caught, injured bird to survive past 72 hours without antibiotics. I hope this one is the exception.

The following is from a rehabbbers guidebook.



Wounds:
Lavage with sterile IV fluids
Do not pluck feathers around the wound edges as this can further tear the skin.
Clean lacerations that are not under tension can be glued with tissuemend II
Cover with tegaderm, do not use oily topical medications which will damage
the feathers. Wound hydrogels work well.
Start antibiotics – Clavamox or Baytril (dosages below)
*Attacks by cats or dogs: Even if you cannot find a wound, assume the skin may have
been punctured somewhere and start antibiotics immediately. Infections from a cat’s
or dog’s mouth will be deadly within 72 hours if antibiotics are not started right away*

Antibiotic Dosages for Birds
Clavamox 125 mg/kg PO q 12 hours
Amoxi 100 mg/kg PO q 8 hours
Trimethoprim/Sulfamethoxazole 10-50 mg/kg PO q 24 hours
Baytril 10-20 mg/kg PO, SC, IM q12-24 hours (dilute if giving SQ or IM)

For those that don't have a conversion calculator handy, kg= 2.2 lb or approximately 950 grams


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