# bird alive run over or hurt by animal?



## clawsywp (Apr 12, 2008)

Not sure if this bird was run over or hurt by an animal? 

saw her sitting in the garden across the road from my flats. in teh sun not moving. 
she couldnt fly away and hardly move away.

*her tail feathers are all gone like totally gone. her back near the tail area looked scrapped. feathers look like they have been pulled out where the tail should be and along the tail area of her back. there is a small wound where the skins scrapped off also on her back tail area.

along the backside of her legs have some scraps on them and blood also. (how could a car do this? it doesnt make sense)
i dont know if they are broken.*

she flapped her wings trying to get away. so wings are able to move.
im not sure about her legs. i didnt see any breaks but shes not moving them to walk.

i put her in a darkened cat carrier, towels over it to keep it dark.
water and food in there near the end with light on that side
sitting on a nest of paper towels and some covering her.

its quite a hot day here. she is *cold *to touch so I put a heat pack in the cage but not touching as i only have rice in a sock heated and that can burn after a while.

we didnt see puncture wounds so i dont know if this is a cat/fox or something, if it is i cant see the bite marks but i know cat injuries infect really fast, i would think if the bird cant fly then wouldnt the predator have hurt her even more? it does make sense so i am guessing a car injury. Ive never seen a pigeon run over my husband thinks its a car injury like she got her backend caught somehow.

she is breathing hard so im worried but im not sure what i can do besides keeping her somewhere quiet and safe and waiting till tomorrow? and then what?

i am not feeling very well and its late sunday afternoon. i can try get her to a vet tomorrow morning (oh lord work is going to kill me) i feel a bit overwhelmed and wondering if i need to get hold of an emergency vet tonight but is hard enough getting one during business hours.

her eyes are open but she was very cold and breathing hard. poor thing must be in pain. i wish i could give her pain releif. i dont want to touch her to wash the wound (it isnt deep its more like a very bad scrap thats scrapped the skin off a narrow long section)right now cause shes unhappy enough as it is.

its only been 30 mins shes not eating.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Touch her gently and if she feels cold please try to get a hot water bottle which you can wrap in a towel and place her on it.

Don't give her food yet and hold the water until her body feels warm again. Then mix 1/2 pint warm water with 1/2 tablespoon of glucose, honey or sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Dip her neka in it while it is warm so she knows it is there.

If you can lay your hands on metacam for dogs a drop in her lower beak will help, metacam for cats would require 2 or three drops. Pigeon Recovery suggest 1/4 aspirin so you can try that.

It sounds as if she has been hit by a car and had quite a whack. Is she able to move her legs or do they hang limp?

My Norbert was hit by a car, he was very badly injured and I had to hand feed him for some days. If the pigeon is alive tomorrow but not eating you might need to hand feed defrosted peas and corn, very small meals at a time to start with.

Are you still in London?

Cynthia


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## clawsywp (Apr 12, 2008)

HI cynthia thanks for helping

yeh im in london still

is 1/4 asprin ok? do i put it in her mouth like when feeding baby birds?

Im amazed how her whole tail feathers have all gone. 

her legs werent moving i didnt try wiggle them or anything. 

i dont have a hot water bottle. i will wait till this heat pad cools down a bit and then place it about her with it about her for a bit to directly warm her up. im scared of burning her cause those things have burnt me.
Oh i can fill up a plastic bottle with hot water and place that on her side is better than nothing.

what is metacam?


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## clawsywp (Apr 12, 2008)

i had a quick look at her legs while putting the water filled bottles under her.

one foot waggled around away from me, the other one didnt move, both are held close to her body and the one foot did not move when i touched it.

shes got water bottles now under her and i made that solution up.

her back half way down has all the feathers taken out, i am guessng thats part of her tail? goodness knows what hurt her. does that happen when they get struck by a car? I will have look around the street and see if i can see feathers.

i have to go out for 40 mins. bbs


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Clawsy...thanks for helping. The Pigeon was attacked by something. Doing all of the steps Feefo describes above will help stabilize her/him a bit.

She/he is going to need to start antibiotics within the next 24 hours or so.

Metacam is an anti-inflammatory usually given to pets. It is the animal-worlds version of Vicodin.

Personally..I wouldn't give the 1/4 _aspirin_. Not that I am contradicting Feefo or other Pigeon rescue sights...but I have never heard of that before.

If you have _*Ibuprophen*_, you can give that but it would need to be in a very small, small dosage. 
It has to be Ibuprophen, though...Advil, Motrin..._and not acetomenaphin (tylenol) or something else_. I usually use Children's liquid Motrin or Advil, since it's in a liquid and easy to administer. But you need a plastic syringe which is labeled in cc's. If you can get that, it's .05cc dosage,2x/day, min 10 hrs apart. This would be the equivalent of a 1mg dosage of it in pill form. But Advil comes in 200g pills...so that would be giving the Pigeon 1/100th of a pill. Not easy to do that. Easier with the liquid and syringe. Again...not necessary.

But it isn't necessary. The suggestion is made to take the edge off of some of the pain and inflammation...these have no antibiotic properties.

Put the heat pad under a layer of towel, this will keep it from burning the Pigeon (set it on 'low').

Next time you pick him/her up....wrap in a towel so head is exposed, and go to the feet. Gently pull them away from the body, one at a time, and see if the 'bad' one retracts back the way the good one does. Also see if there is any 'grip' with the bad foot. 

Thanks for saving her/him !


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Actually, Pigeon Recovery recommend 1/2 aspirin. *This* is the link. I have never used aspirin, but do you have June's number? She might be the best person to advise you on this. If you don't have the number I will find it and PM it.

The heavy breathing is a bad sign, so be careful. Can you just confirm that this is a feral and not a woodie?


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Thought I would chime in, as Cynthia is not on right now. No, 1/4 Aspirin would be too much, kind of like us 25+ aspirins at once based on weight. You could give aspirin for pain and inflammation, but the dose would be 3mg every 24h. So with a standard 325mg pill this would be 1/100 of a pill, so basically something about the size of the head of a pin.

Metacam, like aspirin is an NSAID, but without getting too technical, is a more advanced form, belonging to a different class and with longer lasting action.

This little one will also need to be put on antibiotics for about a week to prevent infections that cam come from predator attacks (from bacteria contained in their mouth and claws), so a scrape/scratch might not look too bad, but end up killing a bird because this infection was introduced. Not sure what you plans are at this point, but you can check with family and friends if they have any Amoxicillin, Clavamox, Cipro, Keflex, Azithromycin, Doxycycline....., there are a bunch that will work, you can check and let us what you find and we'll tell if it will work and how to dose.

Good luck,

Cynthia, I see you're on. The dose I posted was from my deck reference, specific to pigeons and is in line with what I remember Pidgey recommending in an old thread.

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showpost.php?p=172815&postcount=6

Karyn


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## clawsywp (Apr 12, 2008)

Hi No i dont have Junes number (i had it ages ago but have changd phones since)

um do u think it was attacked? Its tail feathers are all gone and it cant fly but wings move. Its feathers along its back - on the tail end half are all pulled out. back of legs have scraps. What would do that? we thought a car which would mean less infection than a cat bite.But we are not experts.

Should I try get it to wallington wild life care tonight or something? trains are ususally crap or not working/fixes to them on sundays (have come across that in the past too often) will have to take day off work tomorrow cause places to take it are so far away. I got interview in the morning and supposed to be at work after lunch. But will try take the day off and take it to do this.

I have erythromycin antibiotic (non penecillin) will look for some old penecillin types and get back to you.

at least its warmed up now. and doesnt like me being near. doesnt move away but moves it head about worried like


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

I have always heard that an Aspirin would Kill a pigeon.
So I have NEVER given one to a pigeon----So I don't know for sure.


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## clawsywp (Apr 12, 2008)

OK i got erythromycin antibiotic (non penecillin) and also some FLucloxacillin capsules 500mg. these flucloxacillin contain sodium starch glycollate and magnesium stearate in them as well. im bit worried to give these unless someone has direct experience of FLucloxacillin as i wouldnt want to hurt or kill it.

ive not given asprin but i do trust pigeon recovery cause they must of given a lot of it since they do so many rescues.

pigeon should be warm by now. i have to go out for about 40 mins will be back.


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Thanks Karyn. I checked my BSAVA formulary for pigeons and they don't list aspirin as a suitable anti inflammatory.

Simone, I can send you some antibiotics and Metacam (for dogs) if you PM me your address but they won't reach you until Tuesday at the earliest. Would it be at all possible to get the bird to Retief Ehlers at Companion Care at Raines Park?


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## clawsywp (Apr 12, 2008)

i get try get to pigeon recovery get a train around 7.30pm down there. i jsut dont trust the trains cause they always stuff up but it should be ok. goto dash be back soon


I had another look at his legs and they both dont retract (thu one was wiggling before and gripping) also there is a bit of fresh blood a few drops on the leg coming from somwhere and i think under his wings is scrapped on one side also like raw.


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## clawsywp (Apr 12, 2008)

If someone has pigeon recovery phone number would they ring and let them know i will try be arriving tonight with it. that it is pretty hurt.
thank you


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

You know that they don't give antibiotics and don't have the resources for intensive care these days? I honestly think it would be better off with you at this time. I think only Pigeon Queen on this forum has their telephone number.

If you go, knock and knock, they might answer the door.


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

clawsywp said:


> OK i got erythromycin antibiotic (non penecillin) and also some FLucloxacillin capsules 500mg. these flucloxacillin contain sodium starch glycollate and magnesium stearate in them as well. im bit worried to give these unless someone has direct experience of FLucloxacillin as i wouldnt want to hurt or kill it.


Both of these antibiotics would not be drugs of choice against Pasteurella Multocida, the bacteria we are worried about predators carrying. Please do continue to see if you can locate any of the antibiotics I listed, a few other would be Trimethoprim/Sulfa (Bactrim, Septra) Levofloxacin, Cefpodoxime (Vantin) and Minocycline.

If the place you have in mind does not give antibiotic treatment, as Cynthia mentions, this little guy, as Cynthia says, may be best with you, at least until a course is run, then you could reassess things then, just a thought.

Karyn


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## clawsywp (Apr 12, 2008)

hey cynthia i didnt know it was u who said they dont do antibiotics.
I thought it was some random person saying that
i spoke to June (Thanks Cynthia) she said yeh they do antibiotics she took them some recently and they also have painreleif.
so i took him there and fingers crossed he will get the best chance there.


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Thanks for letting us know what has happened with your little rescue. Thanks for caring and not wasting any time getting this little one the help it needs.

Well done!

Karyn


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

> i spoke to June (Thanks Cynthia) she said yeh they do antibiotics she gave them some recently and they also have painreleif.


Well, June should know....I got my information from someone else not directly from Pigeon Recovery, so hopefully that was a misunderstanding.

I hope it makes a good recovery...and well done for spotting it and rescuing it.


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## clawsywp (Apr 12, 2008)

Thanks Cynthia and everyone else who helped, i really appreciate it. 

I got a text from pigeon recovery he legs are paralysed from a blow to the back and they are hoping its temporary. and will be hand feeding and keeping him warm.

what happens to pigeons if they are paralysed? they cant go to the toliet easily can they? oh i hope he comes right.

he couldnt right himself if leaning over to one side.
earlier on when first got him one foot was reacting to my touch but then later both were not reacting. my husband said he saw his legs move about when he was trying to escape (just before we left for the train he got in the light and woke up and wanted out) he was still very weak though.but i think my husband was seeing things.

would a paralysed pigeon need to be put to sleep? I wondering how much that would cost with the vet, thu vets supposed to help wildlife for free aint they.

i feel bad like if i had of handled him more carefully his back wouldnt of gotten so bad. but i was careful.

I am glad i decided to take the rubbish out on my way out because if i had gone the route i usually go i wouldve missed him completely. He was sitting outside a church in its garden, i only noticed cause he didnt fly away when i said hello to him. strange to see a pigeon sitting by itself like that on bark chips. oh the poor thing. i saw no feathers anywhere so i dont know where abouts he was hurt.


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Clawsywp, sometimes it is as they say, an injury can injure a nerve center located in the back area that can paralyze them, but this paralysis can be temporary in many cases, if they are given time and care to recover, it could even be a number of weeks. Please don't second guess yourself on what you have done, or could have done, you did your best and he is now with people, who should be able to give him the time and care he needs to judge if he can indeed recover for his injuries.

Karyn


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