# Pigeon with yellow/infected foot?



## ivanilyich (Oct 13, 2011)

I live in New York City so I see a lot of pigeons around everyday. There is this one pigeon I run into everyday that seems to have some foot problem. Its left foot is yellowish and swollen around the toes and it seems to give the poor bird a lot of discomfort. I often times see it standing on one foot then walking a little and then standing on one foot again. Once I even saw it pecking at the "infection" (I don't know what it is). 

I feel really bad seeing the poor thing hurt like that and in pain. What should I do. I don't know what's wrong with it. I've been seeing it for a while now - almost ~4 weeks! What happened to the pigeon? Will it be okay? Thanks.


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

ivanilyich said:


> I live in New York City so I see a lot of pigeons around everyday. There is this one pigeon I run into everyday that seems to have some foot problem. Its left foot is yellowish and swollen around the toes and it seems to give the poor bird a lot of discomfort. I often times see it standing on one foot then walking a little and then standing on one foot again. Once I even saw it pecking at the "infection" (I don't know what it is).
> 
> I feel really bad seeing the poor thing hurt like that and in pain. What should I do. I don't know what's wrong with it. I've been seeing it for a while now - almost ~4 weeks! What happened to the pigeon? Will it be okay? Thanks.


It is hard to tell what happend if you can not catch him and look at it..but sometimes they get string wrapped around a foot and it gets infected.. I have heard of a few who do make it and lose the foot and do fine.


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Thank you for caring, Ivan.

Well...there's a few things you can do.

1) If you can get close enough to feed him, you could try to feed him medicated food. Go buy some parrot pellets for budgies (parakeet) sized birds, and then crush some Amoxycillin, Penicillin, Cipro/Baytril, Augmentin, Ceclor, or Cephalexin and mix with water, then put on the food before feeding it to him.

This may or may not help.

2) Can you catch him ? If you feed him/her and she comes near, could you possibly bring a net or box and try to throw it over the Pigeon and secure him ? I understand that this is the sort of thing some people would not want to do in public, but actually securing the Pigeon is the best way to assure that you help him/her.

It could be a string injury or it could be another sort of injury, but for sure there is an infection so yes, perhaps the Pigeon can survive it...or, just as often if not more, the Pigeon will just make a slow spiral downward in health until he dies....

If you want more instruction on catching, let us know.

_________________________________________________________________________________
perhaps in these trying times, ronald reagan is not the person we should be seeking inspiration from, considering it was his policies which drove us to where we are today.


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## ivanilyich (Oct 13, 2011)

Thanks for your reply. I think I can catch him and I would like some more advice on catching him. I don't want to hurt it. But the main question is, what do I do after I catch him? Do I just feed him or do I take him to the animal hospital or something?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

ivanilyich said:


> Thanks for your reply. I think I can catch him and I would like some more advice on catching him. I don't want to hurt it. But the main question is, what do I do after I catch him? Do I just feed him or do I take him to the animal hospital or something?


There are rehabbers in your area..and members here can tell you where they are..but first it needs to be caught if you can..if you do that and post pics of the foot either we can tell you how to treat it if it seems like it can be by you..or someone can be notified to see where you can take it..but first things first..which is catching him/her.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

If you can catch the pigeon, this is a good place to contact.

The Wild Bird Fund, Inc.
c/o Animal General
558 Columbus Avenue
[ Columbus and West 87th]
New York, NY 10024
646-306-2862


Hours:
By appointment only.
Monday through Saturday, from 1pm to 3pm. 

The foot could be sore because string, thread, hair is wrapped around the foot, cutting off the circulation or the pigeon may have a condition called bumble foot. The yellow that you see is probably pus. Pus in birds is thick and doesn't ooze. It's probably think because birds have a higher body temperature than mammals and because it's thick, it needs to be removed,the area cleaned and an ointment applied. This often needs to be done with surgery.
Catching the pigeon to figure out the cause, is definitely in the bird's best interest. I realize that may be easier said than done. Thank you for caring to notice.


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

You could also contact http://nycprc.org/ and they can recommend where to take him/her for free.

Now...if you have some experience with animals, you may well also be able to nurse him back to health yourself, with some proper medications which are available online or perhaps even locally.

To catch your pal, best bet is to buy or make a net. Blankets, towels etc. are a very distant second to a good, weighted throw-net or fish net.


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