# sick pigeon



## Shadow cat (Jul 29, 2011)

Im concerned about a female pigeon i rescued sometime in july this year, she had a broken badly infected wing that was amputated last month and the wound had healed perfecly. The reason im worried about her is she always looks so fluffed up and i know fluffing usually means a sick bird but shes done this since i got her and shes been on a few antibiotics in the past so i would think that would have cleared anything up she may have had. I have a male bird i rescued before her i planned on releasing but they have mated and are now a pair hes in the pic and he looks so sleek and good and she looks like an awful mess, she did look worse before he preened her. Im wondering if something is going on with her, these are my first pigeons so i have no idea what if anything it is. So id appreciatte any help. Thanks


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

She looks a bit off...nothing acute or critical, and I would almost have said that it might just be the fact that you can see her secondary and covert feathers....but then I look at how she keeps her head a bit 'turtled' as well and I'd tend to agree with you.

OK....so...how long has she been off antibiotics ?

Which antibiotics was she on, and for how long ?

Is she eating and drinking and pooping normally ?

Cute couple, really  Thanks for saving them both....(names ?).


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## Shadow cat (Jul 29, 2011)

Could it be just that we can see ger underfeathers?
Lets see it turns out i found her august 20th, started her on amoxi 20 mg twice daily,sept 1st i started 5% metro susp 10 mg twice daily. I gave those for about 2 weeks. The surgery was done sept 28th thats when i started the 2.7% baytril suspension 0.21 ml twice daily (i think) for about 10 days. She eats and drinks fine and her poops are normal. She doesnt seem lethargic in any way but if something is going on i want to catch it early. They are jacy ( means moon) and yuma (means son of a chief).


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

Shadow cat said:


> Could it be just that we can see ger underfeathers?
> Lets see it turns out i found her august 20th, started her on amoxi 20 mg twice daily,sept 1st i started 5% metro susp 10 mg twice daily. I gave those for about 2 weeks. The surgery was done sept 28th thats when i started the 2.7% baytril suspension 0.21 ml twice daily (i think) for about 10 days. She eats and drinks fine and her poops are normal. She doesnt seem lethargic in any way but if something is going on i want to catch it early. They are jacy ( means moon) and yuma (means son of a chief).


Very cute couple indeed 
Those antibiotics should have covered just about everything, except worms and coccidia. Has she been wormed? Have you done a fecal sample on her? I have a youngster with a tough case of coccidia. Was on a coarse of SMZ-TMP (triple sulfa), and didn't take care of it. Now on Albon and doing great. Sometimes you have to change meds.
I would worm her and see if she passes any. I use pyrantel (strongid), your vet should have that....its commonly used for puppies and kittens, very safe and effective. (the dose is .12 mls for an adult bird).


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Yes, that's the other base which should be covered...might be an illness but not an infection, so parasites might be a possibility.

Thing is, no loss of weight and the poops look good to you. But I think a fecal float test and a wormer certainly would not hurt her in any way. Even giving an anti-coccidial wouldn't hurt (Appartex over-the-counter)...although the telltale sign of coccidia is clear watery droppings with 'snake'-like solids and no sign of white...so if youy aren't seeing that, then it's probably not an issue.

As Freebird said...the antibiotics courses seemed long enough and appropriate to have covered the bases back then.....


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## Shadow cat (Jul 29, 2011)

Ok i dosed both with the strongid wormer. I dont know why i didnt think to do a fecal, ill do one tonight at work and see whats in it. Ill have to let you know what i see


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Hi. So you are a vet, or vet tech ?

If you have access to a variety of vet services...you might wanna do a full blood panel as well, beyond just a basic one. This will tell you something about gut/renal functions also.....

Also maybe a culture....again if you have easy access to these.....


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

Jaye said:


> Yes, that's the other base which should be covered...might be an illness but not an infection, so parasites might be a possibility.
> 
> Thing is, no loss of weight and the poops look good to you. But I think a fecal float test and a wormer certainly would not hurt her in any way. Even giving an anti-coccidial wouldn't hurt (Appartex over-the-counter).*..although the telltale sign of coccidia is clear watery droppings with 'snake'-like solids and no sign of white...so if youy aren't seeing that, then it's probably not an issue.*
> 
> As Freebird said...the antibiotics courses seemed long enough and appropriate to have covered the bases back then.....


I gotta say Jaye......that's what I thought too! This youngster I have got off to a rough start  his poops turned to 'huge grey colored solid mucky blobs'!...was eating and acting fine though. Did a float, C&S and gram stain. Came back- Isospora oocysts (coccidia)-many (>30)
The only other thing noted on the culture was - 3+ Enterococcus species, which I'm checking on now but finding out so far that is 'normal flora' for a pigeon/dove


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## Shadow cat (Jul 29, 2011)

I should have let you know that im a vet tech. I actually forgot to bring the sample last night so ill do it tonight. I would do a blood panel but my vet isnt great with birds and i dont want her to be a pincushion


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## Shadow cat (Jul 29, 2011)

Ok just did the float on both birds and turns out it is indeed coccidia. So what medication should i give? And at what dose?


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

Shadow cat said:


> Ok just did the float on both birds and turns out it is indeed coccidia. So what medication should i give? And at what dose?


I use Albon with great results. Adult size bird gets .20 mls once a day. I'm giving my youngster .15 mls whereas he's not quite full grown yet (4 weeks old)


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