# Injured pigeon- what to do??



## emmalou89 (Jul 19, 2011)

Hi all, just wanted some advice, I rescued a pigeon from a cat earlier and it is clearly injured, it seems quite alert and keen to move around still but when it tries to stand up it falls over it's also holding it's wing at a funny angle when it tries to stand so I'm unsure if there is a problem with it's leg, wing or both, I've settled it into a carrier and put it in a dark quiet place but I'm unsure what to do now. I live in Leeds, West Yorkshire(UK) near the city centre and wondered if anyone knows where I can take it to be cared for. I would happily keep it with me and look after it but for the fact I live in a flat and have two cats of my own who are far too curious about the poor soul for my liking,
Thanks everyone!
Emma


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Look at the "stickies" in the *Sick or injured Pigeon and Dove Discussions* forum, on what to do for injured birds, while you're waiting for a PT member with good advice concerning cat injuries to come online.


I'm in Belgium. Not overly familiar with where everything is in England.

Did a search for threads on "Leeds". Here's a link another member posted: 

http://www.pigeonrescue.co.uk/rescuecentres.htm 



> South Yorkshire Animal Rescue
> South Road
> Sheffield
> South Yorkshire
> ...


A pigeon with cat-related injuries, whether severe or often only a scratch, or from even the saliva on the feathers from a cat's mouth, will need *antibiotics* _very quickly._

Once read in a book on Indian man-eating tigers (I think, _Man-Eaters of Kumaon_), back in the 1960s, that many attack victims succumbed from just being scratched by a tiger. Sepsis set in, brought on by the bacteria from the rotting flesh often found around the claws of the tigers.

An injured pigeon will often appear to be alert and healthy after an attack, when the opposite may be true. Prey don't want to attract further attention from predators, after surviving an attack.

I've kept rescued pigeons in a small one-room apartment before. Maybe use a plastic laundry basket, or a cardboard box, if you don't have a relatively clean pet carrier. If you can't keep the pigeon from having a view of the cats, make sure the pigeon is high up, on a wardrobe or something, so he feels safe and is safe from the cats. I have used a bathtub for short-term containment, with the bathroom door closed. 



Larry


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Another link (offshoot from earlier-posted link)

"Caught by predator or shot"

http://www.pigeonrescue.co.uk/predatedorshot.htm

Larry


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Links to threads on cat-injured birds:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f6/pigeon-injured-by-cat-53657.html


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## emmalou89 (Jul 19, 2011)

Thankyou so much, all those rescue centres are quite far to travel to and I don't drive, I'm going to ring my vet first thing tomorrow and ask their advice and possibly take it in, I'm not in a financial position to pay for treatments so I'm going to get their advice and offer to take care of it if it can be treated and they don't want to keep hold of it. Very helpful advice and links and I hope it all turns out ok for the little Pidge


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

emmalou89 said:


> Thankyou so much, all those rescue centres are quite far to travel to and I don't drive, I'm going to ring my vet first thing tomorrow and ask their advice and possibly take it in, I'm not in a financial position to pay for treatments so I'm going to get their advice and offer to take care of it if it can be treated and they don't want to keep hold of it. Very helpful advice and links and I hope it all turns out ok for the little Pidge


Emmalou, there are times that vets, for expediency, will just recommend that a bird like this be PTS (put to sleep) as the don't have the knowledge or resources to properly care and look after such a bird. If your vet recommends this, or turning it over to a place that will do this, then see if you could persuade him to prescribe some Synulox, enough for a week's treatment at a dosing rate of 100mg/kg. If you are up to it, with time and care, a course of antibiotics, and some help on how to treat the wing from here, probably will make this injury survivable for this little guy, then later we could see what could be done to find him a permanent home, if he was not releasable. Just a suggestion.

Good luck,

Karyn


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## emmalou89 (Jul 19, 2011)

Thanks Karyn, is this likely to be an option that the vets would consider doing for free? I'm sure it's because of the costs that they find it easier to just put it to sleep as it's a cheap humane option in their opinion, I'm thinking they'll want to charge a fee for taping up the wing too, it is such a shame but I will see what can be done and try and resisit euthanasia if possible. Thanks so much again


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## PigeonQueen (Aug 13, 2006)

perhaps you could ask friends or family if they could take you to one of the Wildlife rescue centres and offer a contribution towards the petrol?


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## emmalou89 (Jul 19, 2011)

The main problem here being I am a student and have no money whatsoever and live in my uni accommodation over summer whilst all my friends go home, so my nearest family&friends are all miles away and in living off £120 for bills, food etc a month, if it was any way financially viable I'd save the little guy but I'll have to see how it goes tomorrow but I'll post to let you all know once I know what's happening, it's such a shame that so many people think that a pigeons life I'd worth less than anything elses! Also last month my vets did take a baby bird(possibly pigeon) and fed it and were attempting to raise it, so you never know! 
Many thanks,
Emma


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## emmalou89 (Jul 19, 2011)

Again just wanted to thankyou all for all your advice! It turned out my little Pidgy had Paramyxovirus along with a broken leg, a broken wing and puncture wounds from the bite and being close to starvation! I decided since he had so many problems and was probably in a lot of pain that euthanasia was really the kindest option the vet did say that if it had less problems or if i encountered anything similar in the future that had less injuries they would help me treat it and rerelease it! So at least my faith in the vet is reinstated! Poor Pidge though he can't have been having a good time recently!
thanks again for all your advice
Emma


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