# Seemingly healthy pigeon suddenly can't stand up



## stay (Jul 30, 2005)

Hi, just registered here as i've no real knowledge of pigeon matters and find myself in the situation of needing advice from people who do 
On awaking this morning we find the young pigeon we've been caring for recently suddenly seems to have lost the use of one of his legs. Either that or he has a balance problem, i'm still not 100% sure which.

Background.
About 2 1/2 weeks ago we found him as a small, partially feathered chick (i'd guesstimate he was between one and two weeks old) on the ground underneath a large tree halfway down our street. His head and neck showed signs of damage. It looked as if a cat had discovered the nest and taken him by the head with its jaws, but had lost grip and dropped him. The head/skull damage was pretty nasty looking. When I first saw him, I gave him no chance of recovery as there was a lot of blood and what appeared to be either a chunk of bone or perhaps a bit of a cats nail or something embedded in his skull and stuck in there with congealed blood.
Anyway, I read up on feeding, bought a small syringe and fed him regularly with a mixture of warm mushed up grain/meal, and to our amazement he pulled through ok. The pointy thing embedded in his skull also came out after he hacked at with his feet for a bit after it became itchy for him.

Back to the present.
Well, now he's pretty much fully grown with only a few of the small yellow wisps attached to his breast feathers giving away thats he's still a juvenile.
He has been exercising his wings vigorously more recently, taken a few very short test flights, and generally appears pretty healthy (apart from lacking a few feathers on his head where he had been attacked).

At night we usually put him out in a small shed sitting in his tray with some loose seeds, water container. Unfortunately, today he seems unable to stand up, and is leaning over to one side using his wing to stop himself rolling right over onto his side.
I took him in the palm of my hand and gripping his wings gently, turned him over to take a look at the legs.
On one of them, the toes are curled up into a grasping stance, but he seems able to grip my finger well enough with this one.
The other leg/foot is different (his right side), with the toes splayed out flat, and no grasping reaction/ability. I think this is the one he's having a problem with, although he actually seems to roll over in to the opposite side (his left) and supports himself with his left wing.
I gently felt the main bones in both legs for obvious breaks, but they both seem ok. The only difference is that the lower part of his left one seems limp compared to the other and the toes on it are splayed out.

I hope someone on here can help, as after seemingly making a miraculous recovery from the nest attack, its really disheartening to see him like this


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hello,

First, where are you ?

In the UK a pigeon in the garden would most often turn out to be a wood pigeon, sometimes a collared dove.

It could be a delayed neurological failure or bruising.

I had a juvenile wood pigeon in much the same state that you describe brought to me last summer. It also seemed to make a good recovery but every now and then is unable to fly and has difficulty picking up food, I have kept him in an aviary where he is happy and has the company of feral pigeons, a collared dove and another wood pigeon.

If you are in the UK and he is by any chance a wood pigeon then please don't take him to any rescuers or rehabbers without being aware that they invariably euthanase unreleasable woodpigeons on the grounds that the majority don't adapt to captivity. This may be true of adults, but I have not found it to be true of juveniles.

In the meantime it might be a good idea to give him a couple of drops of liquid calcium a day. I use that on collared doves that come to me with weak or useless legs and it strengthens the muscles.

Cynthia


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Hi Stay,

thank you for the wonderful care you are giving this little pigeon.
It is possible, considering the wounds this ittle one had, that he has an infection. Do you have a vet you can take the bird? He will probably need antibiotics and he will need to be started on them right away. 
Until then you have to hydrate the bird and please also add some calcium into his water. You can use a human tablet of calcium, cut up the tablet so he gets about 80-100mg and dissolve it in the water.
Lack of calcium can sometimes cause those symptoms and it won't hurt if you give it a try.
Also if you have other vitamins, especially B complex you can give some of that, about 1/4 of a human tablet.
Let us know how things go, please.

Reti


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## stay (Jul 30, 2005)

Thanks for the advice 

I think he's a wood pigeon. White flashes on the leading edges of the wings and reddish/brown coloured breast feathers.
We're in NorthEast Scotland here, and yes i had exactly that thought when we first came across him; most carer groups would probably have euthanised him. 
We took him to a vet after it became clear he was making a recovery from his initial injuries, who i think had little interest in or knowledge of pigeons, and just took a brief look at him pronouncing him ok and that we could look after him if we wanted.

We have cuttlebone here and had fed him a little ground up in his food during the first week or so when he was still growing as a source of calcium; perhaps its time for some more. Theres also a small selection of grit for him to pick at in his tray should he want to.
The one nutritional requirement we've missed giving him is vitamin supplements which i notice some of the pigeon racing sites suggest. I think thats something worth trying, along with the calcium.

Before i posted here, i read the extract posted by pigeonpal2002 (on this very site) from that Animal Welfare Board of India guide, which mentions the Paramyxo virus and throat canker as causing balance/equilibrium problems.
At the moment i can't say that i notice his throat as being particularly swollen and a quick peek inside his mouth isn't showing any signs of the yellow nodules that the guide mentions, although i may not be looking far enough down the throat to check properly.

Perhaps another point of note is that none of us have ever seen him drink properly from his water dish by himself although in the last week he's begun eating loose millet etc. by himself. As I understand it, pigeons can siphon up water just as mammals do unlike most other birds, but he's shown no sign of ever having done this (unless he only does it at night). Most of his water is provided by us when we feed him the mushy grain mixture.


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

The signs he has are not typical for PMV, but of course this cannot be ruled out.
There is no treatment for PMV, so all you can provide is supportive care, give him lots of fluids, feed him and add some vitamins and calcium to his water.
You can also provide a source of warmth, a heating pad set on low covered with a towel or a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel.

I not familiar with woodpigeons, so I leave it to our UK members to guide you further on the care of this little guy.

Good luck.

Reti


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hello,

Like Reti, I don't think it is PMV although wood pigeons do get that.

The drinking probably happens when you are not looking. When I have had captive woodies I also worry that they may not be eating or drinking. They are usually just being discreet about it. But if their poops are okay then he is probably drinking enough. He would need more water if he was eating dry seeds.

Pigeons can suffer from calcium deficiency despite the availabilty of grit, so the calcium supplements are worth trying.

One of our London members recently brought us a feral pigeon that they had found in a pretty appalling torn up state. He had a withered leg as a result of that experience and received physiotherapy from them every night. It took a long time for the leg to recover, but there is no discernible difference between the two legs now.

I will do a bit of research on the diseases that have affected wood pigeons in Scotland. He he has been in isolation for two and a half weeks which will help rule out some possible causes.

If you stretch his wing out gently you will see the white flashes on the edge of his wings are his wing bars.

Cynthia

Cynthia


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## stay (Jul 30, 2005)

He has no problem as far as poops go  Plenty of them, brown in colour (basically the same as that which goes in) and probably about the right consistency.

I've uploaded a few pics to some webspace, but they don't really illustrate his problem that well.
(Large pics btw, ~1.5 meg apiece)
Pre foot problem ...
http://www.stay.dsl.pipex.com/woodpigeon/176_7657.JPG
http://www.stay.dsl.pipex.com/woodpigeon/176_7666.JPG
This afternoon ...
http://www.stay.dsl.pipex.com/woodpigeon/176_7687.JPG
http://www.stay.dsl.pipex.com/woodpigeon/176_7688.JPG
http://www.stay.dsl.pipex.com/woodpigeon/176_7689.JPG
http://www.stay.dsl.pipex.com/woodpigeon/176_7690.JPG

The matting on his breast feathers beneath his beak are just spillage from this mornings feeding.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> Regarding the bird, I would put it on antibiotics ASAP. Should have been done right after finding it.


The problem is that so often the vets don't care to help as much as they could but we still believe that they will use their best endeavours to save birds and prescribe whatever is necessary.

However, my vet is great and I have a course of Synulox I can send you...he lets me have some for emergencies and this would be the right antibiotic for puncture wounds. If you e-mail me your address privately I can get them in the post immediately but they won't arrive until Monday at the earliest.

Cynthia


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## stay (Jul 30, 2005)

The large chunk of material that looks like bone in the first pic he hacked out himself 8 days ago. The small wound it left healed up rapidly. There are no other external gashes or pieces protruding through the skin, but that says nothing about possible damage beneath to his skull.

What sort of antibiotics can he be given ? Pigeon/Bird specific stuff or a fractional dose of human medication ?

I picked up some bird multivitamin supplement and grit with iodine etc additives today and mixed an appropriate doseage of that with his supper.
He seems comfortable, but isn't as active or perky as he was before this morning.


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## stay (Jul 30, 2005)

Thankyou for your generous offer Cyro51, I'll bear it in mind.

I'll try the local vet again first and ask for "Synulox" or something similar that is suitable for him.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

You are welcome, the offer remains open.  

Vets usually offer either Baytril or Synulox. Baytril is not suitable for cat bites because it isn't efficient at tackling anaerobic bacteria so penicillin antibiotics are best. Synulox is a combination of Amoxyciilin and Clavulanic acid. The clavulanic acid protects the penicillin structure from destruction by Staphylococci.

While you are at the vets try to get a syrup that contains calcium and vitamin D3. THat is easy to administer, easily absorbed and I have found it to be effective very quickly.

Cynthia


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