# Baby Eared Doves



## Chiki (Dec 22, 2010)

Hi everybody! In the past two days I've found to baby eared doves, one is more a youngster than a baby. I need some advice.
On Saturday I was coming back from my mum's house with my boyfriend, and I wanted to show him the huge nest Monk Parakeets had set up in a palm tree. So we went to the square where the nest is and when I was showing him, we looked down another tree and there was this youngster eared dove. Just standing there not knowing what to do or where to go. We checked to see if their parents were there, but he was all alone, so we brought him home. He has some bald patches, feathers are a complete disaster, all broken and messed up. One eye was swollen, and he had stuff stuck around the beak feathers. We named him Balcarce, since that's the name of the square.

We have given him care for his wounded eye, and we took care of possible infections, canker and internal parasites. He's on preventive treatment for these. Droppings look good, nice color, well shaped.
At first I thought he was blind. But then I noticed he pecks well on seeds, and he got angry today and hit me with his wings whenever I put my hand close to his body, so I can assume that he's able to see. Maybe he's not able to see very well, since, I think, the left eye had a big hit.
The thing is, he is very tamed. He doesn't even try to fly. Ok, his feathers are in bad shape, but he would still try, right?
So either he was hand raised and escaped, or was released when not ready, or he hit his head so hard that he became a little "slow".

This is Balcarce when we first took him in:









This is a pic I took yesterday:









Today my boyfriend left for work, and five minutes later he called me: He found another baby eared dove, he was bringing him home. A very feisty little dude! We named him Guile, after the Street Fighter character:








He's very anxious and gets VERY agitated, to the point of getting hyperventilated. This makes ME anxious because I'm afraid he might die while I'm feeding him. He doesn't want to be fed or handled, it makes things very difficult. I bought a catheter and fed him with that, he stills get very agitated and I was only able to give him 2 ccs. each time, because I was afraid he might go into cardiac arrest or something! Droppings seemed normal, I thought I saw a little blood in one of them (digested blood). I was thinking I should take him to a vet, but I'm afraid he will literally become scared to DEATH!

Thanks in advance for any advice you might give me! And sorry if I made any mistakes, English is not my first language!


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Hi and thanks for saving the Doves.

Your english is great, BTW.

Blood in the poop is not a good sign, so if you do have an avian vet available, I would go there. Doves tend to be highly nervous, so his/her behaviour doesn't surprise me. As long as the vet will not confiscate the Dove (in some places, laws demand that vets do this. Get this clarified before you go - you may have to claim she/he is your pet...maybe throw a band on him if this is an issue).

Does Guile seem alert and active ? or is he/she sleepy and still ? When I have had to feed Doves the few times I have had to, a towel-wrap was necessary for the reasons you stated. They are just too wiggly and nervous and they need to be secured in order to feed (gently, but firmly).

Regarding Balcarce...you can help him/her learn to fly by giving little tosses. Hold him at waist level, and toss him towards a soft surface such as a bed or couch. See what happens. 

Test how good the injured eye is by approaching it with your hand of finger from the back of his/her head, moving towards the eye. if she doesn't react much or reacts slowly, then there probably is partial blindness. But if he reacts to it as he would the 'good' eye, than it probably has most of its vision.

Balcarce = Buenos Aires.

We have another member, Pawbla, in BA as well.


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## Chiki (Dec 22, 2010)

Thanks, I wrote in a hurry and I wasn't able to double check my spelling.
The little one (Guile) has become more relaxed. He's still very alert and anxious, but he won't hyperventilate anymore (thankfully). I'm thinking of taking him to the vet today. I was aware it was a major concern but I didn't want him to die during examination due to a cardiac failure or something. Since he is a little less scared of everything, I'll risk to take him. Today I was able to feed him 6 ccs of formula, twice! 

I tried making Balcarce fly, he flies but his feathers are in such a bad shape, he would only make a landing, like I said, he's very tamed. He stays on my finger and lets me pet him. Since I'm not sure if he's able to see very well I don't know if I'll need to keep him. (He won't react to hands but he does peck on seeds with high success rate xD). So I'm trying to talk to him and reassure him, until I know what's wrong and his chances to be reinserted into the wild. Maybe his sight has something to do with him not wanting to fly...

We have no legislation regarding eared doves, they are actually considered a "pest", so pretty much nobody cares what happens to them :S

And yes, I know Pawbla, she's one of my facebook friends. She helps me a lot too 

Thank you!


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## Chiki (Dec 22, 2010)

Bad news, remember I told you Guile got really agitated whenever I handled him? Yesterday he started making noises everytime he got agitated, and today he breathes with his beak open. So we are thinking pneumonia.

Whenever I come close to him, his breathing becomes worse, so the vet adviced no feeding today, I just put the antibiotics in the water, with a little honey so he can get some energy from there. Although I'm not sure he drinks. 

The vet says if he survives the night, tomorrow I should give him an intramuscular antibiotics. But we'll have to wait and see how he's doing tomorrow. Send some good vibes for him, please!

Thanks for your time.


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Hi Chiki, I am sorry to hear Guile's breathing is not so good. What kind of antibiotics are you using and how much did you add to his water and is he not drinking OK, you may have to give him the antibiotics orally, instead of in the water. I will send some healing thoughts his way.

Karyn


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## GEMcC5150 (Oct 24, 2010)

Thank you so muck for all you are doing for the little ones.


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## Chiki (Dec 22, 2010)

Thank you GEM!

Dobato/Karyn. I'm using a compound (magistral?) formula my vet prepares for pigeon and doves, especially for respiratory issues. Like I said, when he was breathing normally he became agitated from handling, now that he is already agitated, he gasps for air at the mere sight of me. I don't want to risk him passing out in my hands.


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Chiki said:


> Dobato/Karyn. I'm using a compound (magistral?) formula my vet prepares for pigeon and doves, especially for respiratory issues. Like I said, when he was breathing normally he became agitated from handling, now that he is already agitated, he gasps for air at the mere sight of me. I don't want to risk him passing out in my hands.


I am unfamiliar with this medicine. Yes, Doves can be very high strung, sometimes if you cover their cage (the top and three sides, leaving only the front open) to close it in and darken it a bit they sometimes feel more secure and may help him to help relax a little more and be more comfortable to drink. I will leave it your discretion to do what you feel is best, but also best then to get him into the vet ASAP.

Good luck with him,

Karyn


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## Chiki (Dec 22, 2010)

Thanks Karyn. I forgot to mention that: When I called the vet today he said not to take the baby to consultation, since he might die due to handling.
He's in a dog carrier so it is pretty much what you described. And the door is facing the quiet end of the kitchen, so I hope this helps.
I've use that medicine he prepares before and it works very well. Let's hope this is the case too.

Thank you very much for your time and advice Karyn, you've been of great help.


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Doves are very much a challenge and so unlike treating Feral Pigeons. Because of all of the nervousness and high-strung personality; combined with a physical frailty that their larger cousins don't possess.....

Pawbla reports that you know your stuff, Chiki...so I agree w/ Dobato...trust your own judgment. I think the important thing is that the meds start getting into his/her system....


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## Chiki (Dec 22, 2010)

Thank you all, I was actually considering in taking him to the vet this afternoon, but when I went to check on him he had passed away 

Again, thank you for all your help. I'm pretty sad right now, and scared because one of my other doves was in treatment for something totally different, and I had to open his beak and put bread with medicine in it. I took every precaution regarding prophylactic measures but I'm scared anyway, could he get whatever the baby had?


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## Chiki (Dec 22, 2010)

Just wanted to let you know that Balcarce is doing fine, I took him to the vet the same day Guile died, but I was so sad I forgot to tell you. 

He has no internal parasites, no canker, no yeasts in the crop. Everything is just fine. The vet change the eye drops I was using, so we are starting a new treatment, but he says the injured eye has poor vision. He strongly believes due to Balcarce's temper and physical condition that he was (poorly) hand raised, and then released. He is very tamed like I said, I found him in a square, so the vet thinks they took him there to release him and left. He looked at the food residue around the beak and thinks he was fed a bread and milk combination. Right now he's pretty malnourished, he lacks calcium and the feathers are in bad shape; also, like I said, before he has some bald spots too.

So it'll take a couple months, he thinks he won't be suitable for release, due to temper and health issues (especially the sight problem).

Anyway, I'll let you know how everything goes, and I wanted to thank you again for your time, and for giving me good advices and the opportunity to mourn Guile here.

Thanks everybody!


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