# Please help: injured bird, possibly dead??



## mcb00 (Oct 8, 2009)

Hello,

We found a pigeon yesterday that had difficulty flying. Would fly up to the window and then land back on the floor unable to fly again for a while. It didn't seem to have a broken wing, but wouldn't fly even if scared by the people passing by. Might have had a broken wing after all. He almost got crashed by a car as he flew to the streets and stod in the middle of the road. We saved him from that.

We went to Pet Smart and asked for help. They gave us a free cage and food and suggested we put him in the cage until it recovers. It was a parrot cage. However, the bird seemed very stressed and tried to fly inside the cage, getting agitated and beating its wings against the cage. He did this repeatedly until he just sat down and opened and closed his bean several times and get closed his eyes and stayed there paralized.

He doesn't move even a bit. His eyes don't open. He's paralyzed but sitting on his legs. Looks bigger, maybe bloated. We don't know if it's asleep or dead.

We feel horrible because we just wanted to help him and did not realize he would be so stressed out by the cage, given it was injured and he had food inside. We did move him while on the cage as we needed to walk and take the bus to get back home.

Please advise! My friend is crying out of guilt and sadness...

Thanks.


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## ssfguy (Sep 6, 2009)

You saved him from certain death, So don't feel guilty about it. If you can load up a picture that will help people to look at the situation better. If you have heating pad set it to low put a towel over and bird on top, you need to keep the bird warm. I am no expert here but somone with more knowledge will come around and help you out here. Meantime you can try loading up the picture if you can.


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

sounds like the cage may be to stressful to him, a cat kennel or even a carboard box would be better.
block his view of people and keep him in a quiet room, where are you located?
i won't be around today but someone will be along to help


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

If you don't have a heat pad or a hot water bottle you can put some rice in an old sock and warm that up in the microwave, make certain that it is warm, not too hot , spread the sock out a bit and sit him on it.

Cynthia


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Look, for goodness sake, everyone...he/she is not in her condition because a cage is stressing her out...

....so, please....don't THINK for a moment that some way you have exacerbated his condition. As ssfguy said. 

McB00, everything you have tried to do so far could only have helped, not hurt....so if he/she happened to pass during the process, _it isn't because of anything you folks did._..it's because of her condition already, OK ?

You haven't posted back in 11 hours, so we hope the pigeon is still with us; and hope to hear back from you ASAP. If she is standing, she is likely not dead....but how is her breathing ?


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## goga82 (Aug 17, 2009)

reason why she closed her eyes she was in shock,
closed eyes in most cases means dehydration
paralised - could be due to the seizure
i dont know
hope the bird is still alive
keep her warm away from drafts, and away from people
is she eating, how old is she, she a grown pigeon? 
is she eating?
if not try force feeding 
let us know how she is


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## mcb00 (Oct 8, 2009)

Thanks everyone for your kind advice and support. This seems like a nice forum of compassionate and knowledgeable people.

I'm afraid the bird likely died. We thought it would start moving during daylight, but it hasn't and its body is lying on its side with his feet and head tilted to one side and his eyes half open. She doesn't move at all!

My friend has not seen it yet. I know she'll be very sad. I'll wait for her to touch it and verify it's dead . I'm pretty sure it is. It doesn't move even if I shake the cage.

Looking back, I'm not sure we did the right thing putting her in the cage. We didn't anticipate she would get so agitated and stressed. We hope she didn't die because of that. She was trying to escape and beating her wings against the cage repeatedly. We were nervous about it but didn't know what to do. We thought if we left her in the street she would be in danger of being hurt or dieing. We had no option but to put her in the cage and take her home. We did not know better, and the guy at Petsmart did not warn us about using a box or a covered cage to keep her warm and avoid scaring her. 
She was probably very scared having to face the wind and people on a see through cage, and being transported on the bus.

I hope she's in peace in heaven without pain...

PS: We live in Phoenix, Arizona. In case anyone knows of a rehab place here, please let us know in case we have this issue again. We are wiser now thanks to you and have a little more compassion for these tender creatures...


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

It always helps to post your location immediately so help can be on the way sooner. As it turns out, there are rehabbgers close to you.

East Valley Wildlife
Nancy Eilertsen
Chandler, AZ 
(480) 814-9339
EastValleyWildlife.org

Fallen Feathers 
Jody Kieran
Peoria, Arizona 
623-533-2348
www.fallenfeathers.org

Tucson Wildlife Center 
520-903-1104
520-290-wild after hours
http://www.tucsonwildlife.com/


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

aww, i'm sorry the poor little guy didn't make it, obviously there was something very wrong with him otherwise you wouldn't have been able to pick him up.
bird hide illness and injury very well it helps them survive if it's something minor and they can recover, by the time we find an injured or ill bird and we can just pick him up much of the time it's to late.
do not blame yourself, you did the best you could with the best intentions and with a big kind heart, i thank you for caring enough to stop and help an ailing animal, we need more people like you in the world


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