# Injured adult pigeon - won't eat



## Guest (Jan 10, 2009)

Dear all,
Some 10 days ago I found a beautiful white pigeon near our house. I took it in because it had a nasty head injury, a big patch of skin was really freshly peeled off, sort of folding up above one eye, leaving a raw area of some 3cm across. The wound did not look infected, but both eyes were very swollen, full of blood, and it was completely blind due to that.

I washed out the eyes with luke-warm water and put antibiotic drops in them for several days, and they very quickly became better, and it can definitely see now.

I had to force-feed it the first days, with dried peas and corn (because they are the biggest grains in the pigeon-mixture I bought, and thus I have to force the beak open less times), and I was confident it would start to eat as soon as it did see, as it was quite perky and active, cleaning itself and fluttering around the veranda.

The problem is that this is not happening: It will not touch the food, it's already quite underweight (sharp keel-bone, very light) and if i leave it for two days it starts to fluff up, get weak, and poop just watery stuff...which is why I know it is not feeding on its own.

Now I don't know what to do, should I force feed it through a tube? the way I'm doing it I just don't feel I get enough food in... is there a chance it will re-start eating? I have Mouth-raised baby pigeons before, but this one is adult and must definitely have eaten by itself before... what do you think?


----------



## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Thank you for rescuing this bird.

Is he drinking? How much does he weigh? Can we get a picture of the trauma to the head?
Sorry about all the questions...

You definitely need to feed the bird especially if it is underweight. You don't have to stick a tube down it's throat. You can hand for spoon feed pigeon mix, and you should encourage the bird to eat by leaving a bowl of seed around his cage 24/7. He should eat alot until he gains back the weight.

There may be something more going on from the injury or something else,and that is why he is not eating, until that is resolved, you have to continue to feed him and get his weight up cause he will go downhill if you don't. Evebtually he will start to eat by himself, he has been thru alot and some issues have to be worked out, as well as he needs time to heal.

I would also put ACV in the birds water and supplement with probiotics.


----------



## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

ACV= apple cider vinegar..organic. The brand preference here is Bragg's.

Treesa is right about the tube down the throat. 
Try defrosted corn and peas and about 25-30 per feeding. Pop those just as you have been the dry peas. You likely will need to feed the bird 30-4 times a day. Only feed once the crop has emptied. The bird just isn't getting enough to eat. If the bird is very thin, it may have worms which is easy to treat.
It would be very helpful if you posted a picture.
Dove mix or Pigeon mix should be available for the bird at all times.


----------



## WhitePigeonPT (Jan 10, 2009)

It has the pigeon mix available 24h per day, I spread it on a round patch so I can tell if it is eating or not.

I don't quite understand this sentence "You can hand for spoon feed pigeon mix"..Spoon?
Why should I use defrosted peas and corn instead of the dried ones?

It is drinking alright, I think even by itself, as the water level in the bowl goes down.

I will take a picture and post it here! (host it on something like imageshak, resize, and put here, right?)


----------



## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Defrosted veggies (or fresh veggies, blanched for a few minutes) are softer than dried. The bird is very compromised since it has not been getting any nourishment....soft peas/corn is easier to swallow and digest.

IMHO...if the keelbone is protruding and the peas/corn feedings don't seem to be going well...you gotta get that bird on Kaytee handfeeding formula and feed with either a tube or a plastic syringe (my preference). Mix the formula slightly lukewarm w/ water. Start with it quite runny...graduate up to a consistency more like wet pudding as the feedings progress over several days. If he seems to be a grown adult, he/she will need in the very least 25cc/day of formula, no less....broken up into 2 or 3 feedings.

Also, you can try see-popping, ala member Pidgey. I have found that to work. Use safflower seeds (they are small but not-too-small, and they have a lotta calories). Just pop 'em in, one at a time, to their open mouths near the front (don't force back towards the throat). They'll usually recognize what it is in their mouth and swallow.

If all of this is unsuccessful, the bird will need to be tube or gavage fed DOWN ITS THROAT by an avian vet. Do NOT attempt this method yourself, it needs to be done by a pro. But hopefully it won't come to that. Either the soft veggies or Kaytee should do the trick. 

Yes...you got it right on the pics...psot to a photohosting site then copy the IMG url and hit the link button when you are writing your message here.

BTW....brilliant job in healing the poor guy's eyes...just brilliant. All he/she needs now is some nutrition to get her strength back, and she will likely be on her way.

Note: not that strange for a bird to have stopped eating after suffering a trauma or injury.


----------



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

WhitePigeonPT said:


> I will take a picture and post it here! (host it on something like imageshak, resize, and put here, right?)


You can go to our Gallery and upload pictures. The Gallery software will take care of any resizing. Using outside photo hosting sites is fine too .. just post us a link to where the pictures are.

Terry


----------



## WhitePigeonPT (Jan 10, 2009)

Jaye said:


> you gotta get that bird on Kaytee handfeeding formula and feed with either a tube or a plastic syringe


Oh Dear, I have no idea what that formula is, and I don't think they have it here in Portugal...maybe I could use a mixture of corn semolina and that baby canary stuff, you know, the yellow powdery formula? I think that might be full of good stuff, and according to my experience with baby pigeons they can eat about anything (within sensible limits) and thrive. But how do I seringe-feed? do I just put it in the beak a little at a time, or really deep in in one go? I suppose the first option...



Jaye said:


> Also, you can try see-popping, ala member Pidgey. I have found that to work. Use safflower seeds (they are small but not-too-small, and they have a lotta calories). Just pop 'em in, one at a time, to their open mouths near the front (don't force back towards the throat). They'll usually recognize what it is in their mouth and swallow.


Do you mean sunflower seeds? peeled or in the shell?



Jaye said:


> If all of this is unsuccessful, the bird will need to be tube or gavage fed DOWN ITS THROAT by an avian vet. Do NOT attempt this method yourself, it needs to be done by a pro.


There is no way I could do that at a vet, vets here take care of cats and dogs, not pigeons...they would make such fun of me, and probably not know how to do it either.

But I hope it won't come to that, the feeding is going better, the Pidg seems to know what I'm doing now, struggles less and even nibbles my finger in between "bites". As soon as I let it go it flutters off, though. My main problem is that I don't have time to do it as often as would be good, but I'll try harder now that I'm a bit more confident it WILL eventually re-start to eat.

My machine ran out of battery today, I will try to take some good pics tomorrow, at night they get really blurred.


----------



## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

WhitePigeonPT said:


> It has the pigeon mix available 24h per day, I spread it on a round patch so I can tell if it is eating or not.
> 
> I don't quite understand this sentence *"You can hand for spoon feed pigeon mix"..Spoon? *
> 
> It is drinking alright, I think even by itself, as the water level in the bowl goes down.


Sorry about that, my finger hit the wrong key.

You can hand feed or SPOON feed the bird seeds. It's messy but you can easily feed them that way. I use my sons baby spoon now that he is grown, and load it up with small seed, open the beak and gently deposit behind the tongue and allow the bird to close its beak and swallow.Repeat until he has had about a tablespoon-that is about the size of a meal for grown up pigeons. If he is drinking, you can feed dry seed and then make sure he drinks water after feeding him.

I have had older birds that just refuse syringe or any other method, so its easier and less invasive, and less stressful.


----------



## WhitePigeonPT (Jan 10, 2009)

Tried spoon-feeding today, works rather well, although lots of it falls off the sides, lots goes in as well, at least five or six grains of wheat per swallow, i think. 

I'm going to do it again later, as it seemed quite pleased.


----------



## WhitePigeonPT (Jan 10, 2009)

I'm So Happy! It Ate! Has Lots Of Grain In Its Crop!


----------



## WhitePigeonPT (Jan 10, 2009)

Just to say its getting better every day, now that it re-discovered how to eat I wake up every morning to the "ping-ping-ping" of its pecking in its glass bowl of food. 

I'm very happy. The head wound is looking better as well. Do you reckon I can keep it and put him with my mothers white fan-tails?


----------



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Thank you for this good news update, WhitePigeonPT! We would love to see pictures if you're able to post them either here in the Gallery or on one of the free photo hosting sites. As long as the bird is in good health and free of parasites, I see no reason not to keep it with the fantails.

Terry


----------



## WhitePigeonPT (Jan 10, 2009)

Yes, the pictures...I promise I'll post some, it's just that I've started work recently, and I've had no time for virtually anything, but I won't forget!


----------



## WhitePigeonPT (Jan 10, 2009)

So, here go some pics, it was quite hard to get proper ones, as he is white, and so are the walls of my veranda (where he is staying) so I caught him and took him to the living room for contrast, which he didn't like, that's why he looks a bit stressed:

One side










Other side:








From above:








Head wound detail:








I guess I should have pulled the skin into the correct position and maybe stitched it up or something, as the wound was fresh...but it was all bloody and crusty and somehow I thought it would straighten out or he would die anyway, so I just gave it a clean. It hasn't straightened out, though, and that's why he has a lump over one eye...What do you think should be done?


----------



## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

I'm glad to hear the bird is so much better and eating on its own.

Wow! The head looks incredible, did the skin close up by itself?

Can we get a close-up picture of the lump over the eye?

Do you have a resource to take the bird and have it looked at, like an avian vet or rehabber?

Here is a list of our resourves:

http://www.pigeon-life.net/prd.htm


----------



## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

That's a beautiful bird. Glad he is eating now.

A couple of years a go I found a bird with scalped head and a bloody, swollen eye. The wound on the head was deep you could see the bone. My vet said there was not much we could do for the skin, it was not possible to suture it together as the wound was too large, the skin could not be pulled enough for sutures to hold. We were thinking about skin grafts but he said first to wait some time, maybe he could heal on his own.
It took about 4 months or more to see some improvement.
Now his head is covered by fibrous material which grew over the wound. I have a bald bird as no feathers ever grew over his head, but as he lives indoors that doesn't really matter.
It's amazing how those guys can heal on their own sometimes.

Reti

Reti


----------



## WhitePigeonPT (Jan 10, 2009)

Hehehe, amazing all the resources you've got over there...Portugal is nothing like that!

The skin did not actually close up, it sort of shifted and formed the lump, leaving that patch of scar-tissue you can see (pink, raw looking) the lump is the skin that is not on the wound, but it has dried up, and there are feathers all over it, I don't think I can get a clearer picture, its not even clear in real life.

But he's so much better, it's a shame I didn't take pictures on the first day, when he was all skinny, grubby, ruffled up and bloody... I honestly wasn't sure at all if he'd make it!


----------

