# Baby Pigeon Limping



## sushil (Mar 14, 2009)

Need some advice and help here.

I have got a baby pigeon, which was born on 17th Aug, exactly after 2 days of the hatching of its sibling. When it was 2-3 days old I observed it was not growing at a regular pace. Parents were feeding it but not as much as the other sibling which obviously was much stronger and bigger. When they started feeding it grains, I started hand feeding this baby, twice in a day, in addition to what it used to get from its parents. I did this for about a week or so and then I had to go back to my home town, leaving my birds with one of my friends to take care. I came back today. This baby has grown well, still half the size of its sibling. It has started pecking grains and is eating on its own. It's still getting fed by parents, but less as compared to the other one.

I saw it limping very badly today. I am not very sure if its splayed leg or something else (maybe a dislocated joint). I know a little about splayed legs and the pictures which I have seen, the leg will be typically bent in one direction. While for this baby leg is straight, but it can not put much load on the left foot which is affected. If I hold the baby and dont rest the foot on my palm, I can see the leg hanging.

Here are few snaps, I am not sure if I have got the correct aggles. Let me know in case you want me to take few more snaps in different angle/position - 





































As always I appreciate you taking time and for your efforts for caring these lovely creatures.

I am really worried about this little one. Hope this is not a major problem and it'll recover well from this.

Thanks

Edit--- I am sorry if you feel I have mishandled this little baby while taking snaps, since I was doing this all alone.


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## plamenh (Aug 11, 2006)

Did you check poops? Is there anything out of ordinary?
The only thing I can see is that is favoring his leg.
I would separate him and let it rest for now.


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## sushil (Mar 14, 2009)

Hi Plamenh,

Yes, its poops are normal. Nothing unusual which I have observed. It chases its parents for feed as well, as others would do. However while doing this it limps a lot. It is very active.


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## plamenh (Aug 11, 2006)

Without x-ray shot there is nothing much you can do. Vitamins and supplements and rest, that is what I'll do, but again that means separating him from the rest of your birds.


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## sushil (Mar 14, 2009)

Ok. Currently this family (parents and their two kidos) stay in a separate compartment. None of the other pigeons have access to this compartment. Do you suggest I should keep it alone and continue hand-feeding?


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## plamenh (Aug 11, 2006)

Well there are always pros and cons:
If you leave it with parents, baby will be looked after and it will receive additional feed from you. It may be temporary problem that will pass with time. Problem is that baby will carry on jumping around and this will slow down healing. In case that injury is caused by parents, it may be repeated and worsen babies condition. If it is disease on the other hand, you are risking parents’ and other baby’s health.
If you separate it, then you need to feed him and provide heat source (depending on temperatures in your area. Baby will have no reason to jump around and will have more time to sleep and heal. Personally I would prefer this option as I don’t like to take chances. 
In both cases I will consider vitamins and supplements to boost his immune system.


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## alhowiriny (Jan 10, 2009)

Maybe twisted leg or slipped tendon or splayed Leg (either at the hip or at the knee).

If twisted leg then from my reading itsn't reversible, anyway if you don't fix it early it will get very bad to the limit that it will be irreversible.

From the photos it doesn't look very bad.. if i were you i would try somthing like this:

http://www.parrotparrot.com/splay/
http://www.ehow.com/how_4479614_treat-splay-leg.html

+ Vitamins & minerals (specially manganese + vitamins B).​


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

it doesn't look like splay to me, is he putting any weight on it at all? if you can't feel any fractures or swelling, he will probably be fine with a little rest


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## sushil (Mar 14, 2009)

Thanks for the input guys...



altgirl35 said:


> it doesn't look like splay to me, is he putting any weight on it at all? if you can't feel any fractures or swelling, he will probably be fine with a little rest


Yes, he does put weight on that leg. I can't see any swelling in that area. What I have observed is, while putting load on that leg, its elbow (not sure what is it called, but the joint between the Toe the Main leg joint, like our elbow) touches the ground. It rests on the elbow instead of the tow.



Fbirdie82 said:


> As has already been suggested, I would remove this baby from the loft. It is at risk for attack from other birds since it cannot get away very quickly.


The first thing I did in the morning was to separate it from rest of the pigeons, after reading the suggestions last night. I am handfeeding it twice a day. It has got access to water all the time. I hope this heals with time.



plamenh said:


> Well there are always pros and cons:
> If you leave it with parents, baby will be looked after and it will receive additional feed from you. It may be temporary problem that will pass with time. Problem is that baby will carry on jumping around and this will slow down healing. In case that injury is caused by parents, it may be repeated and worsen babies condition. If it is disease on the other hand, you are risking parents’ and other baby’s health.
> If you separate it, then you need to feed him and provide heat source (depending on temperatures in your area. Baby will have no reason to jump around and will have more time to sleep and heal. Personally I would prefer this option as I don’t like to take chances.
> In both cases I will consider vitamins and supplements to boost his immune system.


I completely agree with you. I feel terrebly bad, when I see him limping aroud to get food. It can not hold the ground and slips a little bit while he is bening fed by its parents.


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## plamenh (Aug 11, 2006)

Yous give him a rest, feed and vitamins and keep us posted about his condition.
All kids have injuries!


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## alhowiriny (Jan 10, 2009)

The reason i've suggested the sponge method, so the bird won't but pressure on the affected leg and as 'Fbirdie82' said "best thing you can do stabilize the leg", also to prevent the case from developing or turning into splayed leg since you've said :


sushil said:


> It can not hold the ground and slips a little bit while he is bening fed by its parents.


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

He's more than likely got some infection that's basically caused an arthritic condition. In a lot of them, we call it "Paratyphoid" and give them Baytril. Sometimes that doesn't work because the infection isn't susceptible to Baytril. I had one that I was treating with Baytril and didn't get ANY results (there wasn't any discernible swelling, though) and so I switched him to Doxycycline. A trip came up and since I wasn't going to be able to keep the Doxycycline up while I was gone, I took him to the vet to get an injectable antibiotic. They didn't have Dox (Vibramycin) in a time-release form so I had to go with a straight Penicillin. It worked--when I got back from my trip, there was no trace of a limp left. He'd been that way for almost two months. I've since treated a few of those with Doxycycline and it's worked, too, although it's best not to give that to a developing youngster like that. I'd tend to go with the Penicillin if you could get somebody to inject it for you.

Oh... you're in India. Hmm... well... that could be interesting. Truth be told, he might actually heal on his own (supplemental calcium sometimes helps) but it doesn't look like a dislocation--the joints look like they're supposed to.

Pidgey


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## sushil (Mar 14, 2009)

Hi,

Because of work I was not able to update you guys.



alhowiriny said:


> The reason i've suggested the sponge method, so the bird won't but pressure on the affected leg and as 'Fbirdie82' said "best thing you can do stabilize the leg", also to prevent the case from developing or turning into splayed leg since you've said :
> 
> Alhowiriny, I am sorry I missed to quote your reply. Thanks for sharing the links. At this point of time I didn't used the sponge method, however I separated it and have put it into a small compartment so that it does not moves too much.
> 
> ...





Pidgey said:


> Oh... you're in India. Hmm... well... that could be interesting. Truth be told, he might actually heal on his own (supplemental calcium sometimes helps) but it doesn't look like a dislocation--the joints look like they're supposed to.
> 
> Pidgey


Pidgey, I agree, after inspecting carefully again I felt the joints were proper. Its a big pain to have a sick or injured bird here, since there is almost no help available. Its almost impossible to find the medicines which you guys mostly recommend, because of the manufracturers reach. Most of the vets treat only dogs and cats. And vet medical stores mostly keep medicines again for dogs and cats .

Nothing against them, but its because I guess people here (majority not everyone) are not too much worried about smaller animals and birds. I believe the value of life of other creatures is measured byt there size. The big the creature the higher is the value of its life. It doesn't matter if some small creature is suffering, let it die doesn't matter 

Anyways, our little friend seems to be recovering well. I'll post a pic soon.


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## plamenh (Aug 11, 2006)

Next time when you need Spartrix tell them that you need it to treat canker in your pet elephant (if that helps) 
I'm glad that baby is recovering.


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