# My dove is sick?



## cryllc (Dec 22, 2007)

Hello everyone. I need some advice. I have a small ringneck dove aside from my 2 pigeons. The dove is 4 years old. The dove stays in a completely different room than the pigeons, they have no contact. Anyway, my dove has been sounding and acting different. He seems like he's cold a lot anymore, always puffed up. His voice has went from being high pitched to a completely different lower pitch and he's breathing more with his beak open. Does my bird have a cold or something else? Does the garlic in the water solution help with doves as well? Also, can doves and other birds eat poppy seeds?


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Birds attempt to cover illnesses in order not to signal to predators that they're in a weakened condition. As such, when they do present with symptoms, they're usually a lot worse off than you'd think. As such, your dove probably needs veterinary help right now. When they start getting dyspnea (the type of breathing you're describing) they usually need medications very quickly. He might need a Tetracycline or a different antibiotic depending on what it is. Do you have a vet as a resource?

Pidgey


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Given the voice change, I'd tend to think that something's going on down in the syrinx, where they produce sounds from. I'd want the vet to administer a nebulized treatment of Gentamycin and Saline as well as putting the bird on a systemic antibiotic like Baytril (Enrofloxacin). I'd also put him on Metronidazole, low dose. It's highly likely that you don't have a lot of time here.

Pidgey


----------



## cryllc (Dec 22, 2007)

thanks for the info pidgey. there are no vet's in my area. my dove still is very active and has had these symptoms for over a week now. i just don't know what to do.


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Do you have a feed store anywhere close that keeps a Tetracycline medication?

Pidgey


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Your local feed stores might carry something like this:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp...3407_______14602|14619|43407?listingPage=true

The Terramycin would probably be better than the Aureomycin, by the way.

Pidgey


----------



## cryllc (Dec 22, 2007)

hey pidgey, thanks again for the info. i'm going to run by a Southern States that is about a mile from here and look for the Terramycin first then the second. I was listening to my dove's breathing earlier and he's making a click sound when he breathes. i put a heating pad on low from when he was a chick under his cage to keep him a little warmer. i'm afraid he's got a cold or pneumonia. i really appreciate all the help and advice.


----------



## philodice (Sep 30, 2007)

Good for you. Pidgey is very knowledgeable and it is very true that doves won't act sick if they don't need medical attention.


----------



## cryllc (Dec 22, 2007)

*dove is still sick =(*

hey everyone. i just got my dove on the terramycin antibiotic stuff. i put .25 ounce of the stuff in a gallon of water. i'm afraid to mix too much because my dove is very small. when i got home today after 3 he was getting really weak and he was panting with his beak open. i wrapped him up in a washcloth and held him. i was sure he was dying. i've been giving him the diluted antibiotic solution and he's eating the same as always. it's when he exerts himself he just gets out of breathe really bad and it takes awhile for him to get it back. it makes me think he has a lung or airsac infection. i dont know if there's anything to make it better or if it can get better. i appreciate everyone's help on here. it will break my heart when "bobby" dies, i just hope it's not from this.


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

That's why I suggested the nebulized treatment of saline and Gentamycin. Gentamycin isn't absorbed through the lungs or pulmonary system so it kills germs on contact. A nebulizer renders it aerosol so that it'll get in there.

It's also possible that he has other things that need systemic treatment by a different antibiotic but for most of those, you're going to need a vet to get them in a pinch. That would be Baytril and Metronidazole, for instance. I'd keep up the Terramycin, though.

Pidgey


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

When it comes to heavy breathing (dyspnea), it can be a little difficult sometimes to determine the cause. They can get a bacterial infection that destroys red blood cells circulating in the blood and end up anemic, for instance. A completely different way to have difficulty breathing is to have an obstruction in an airway that makes one have to suck too hard to get a breath. Still another way is to have something going wrong with the actual tissue in the lungs responsible for the gas exchange, which can be viral, fungal, autoimmune, air sac mites and some worms (parasites)... it's a long list.

Pidgey


----------



## cryllc (Dec 22, 2007)

thanks, pidgey. you've been very helpful. last night i confirmed online that there are no bird vets within 150 miles or more of where i live. it's really awful. i dunno what else to do. i guess it's just keep him on the terramycin and hope for the best. he still has a great appetite as always. last night i got up on and off and made sure he got some drinks of the water solution. thanks again, i mean it.


----------



## cryllc (Dec 22, 2007)

this morning i've also put a humidifier with the menthol vapors near my dove and also a little heat lamp for birds angled toward him.


----------



## cryllc (Dec 22, 2007)

my dove just died in my hands a few minutes ago.


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that! There may actually be something about not using Menthol as birds have a tendency to be severely affected even by scented candles. You'll have to look into that. I'm not saying that it's the cause but it may have played a part.

Pidgey


----------



## EgypSwiftLady (Jan 14, 2008)

cryllc said:


> my dove just died in my hands a few minutes ago.


 I'm so sorry to hear this, I've been following your thread hoping he would get better. 
It sounds like you did everything you could, but many times by the time an animal shows that its unwell the illness is very progressed and very hard to treat.
He will be in my prayers.


----------



## cryllc (Dec 22, 2007)

*thanks everyone*

hey thanks. pidgey, i really don't think me turning on the humidifier advanced his death. cause it was only on for about half an hour. he hadn't ate this morning really but i'd coaxed him to eat a little seed. and he threw it back up. so i just sat down with him for about 20 minutes talking to him, telling him how much he'd meant to me. i knew he was about to go. i made an album with a few of his pictures to share with you all http://s214.photobucket.com/albums/cc47/cryllcc/bobby love/ my bird lived a long happy life for what was expected of him. he had little crooked legs and i'd rescued him when he was just a couple days old from a local pet store. he always fought so hard. he always coo'd to me and laughed when i'd get home. he was rarely in his cage when i was home. we were always hanging out. it was four years of my life i don't regret. thanks everyone.


----------



## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

I really hate respiratory deals because they seem to be fatal more often than not. When my blind bird Unie got sick with one, I went into virtual panic mode and strongarmed my vet into giving Unie a nebulized treatment. Over the phone. Sight unseen. I even brought Unie in when he wasn't there and they had it all set up and ready to go. I think Unie came ungodly close to dying from it and we lucked out big time due to dealing with it extremely quickly. I've always felt very fortunate that we had that resource close at hand.

I believe you have a very good attitude under the circumstances. There are all too many times when the only way to have known which way to turn comes from results from the autopsy. As such, it serves little or no purpose for us to continue to berate ourselves for what we might have done or should have done. It is better to celebrate a life lived and the good that came from that life.

Pidgey


----------



## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am that your baby died.


----------



## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

I am so sorry your little baby passed away. Doves are so precious. 

Reti


----------

