# my dove's head moving weird, vet ripped off tail



## Pidove (Oct 9, 2012)

1st I have a problem, my dove is having some kind of motor control problem with his head and some flying problems. Sometimes he jerks his head all the way upside down towards his back, or to the side. Closing his eyes more than usual.


I took him to the vet, vet not sure what problem is. Gave me antibiotics and told me to give him Gatorade. The bill was $76. 

I told the vet my dove could fly before he opened the pet carrier. No less than 2 minutes after the vet opened carrier door, he had ripped out all but 2 of my dove's tail feathers because he was trying to stop him from flying. Also there were hundreds of smaller feathers (from my dove) all over the floor. He said that it was because my dove needs vitamins. Is that normal for a vet to rip a birds tail off because he didn't have enough vitamins?


----------



## Pidove (Oct 9, 2012)

short video of head movement (this is a few minutes before going to vet, so he has tail)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XauYbjFqKGo


----------



## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

*If the vet tried to stop the bird from flying by grabbing the tail feathers, it is natural reaction/escape for birds to drop their tail feathers if a predator grabs them by the tail.

Has the bird suffered any kind of blunt trauma?

Any other symptoms, is the bird easily stressed?

What does the birds poop look like?

Has the bird been around any other birds?*


----------



## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

Pidove said:


> 1st I have a problem, my dove is having some kind of motor control problem with his head and some flying problems. Sometimes he jerks his head all the way upside down towards his back, or to the side. Closing his eyes more than usual.
> 
> 
> I took him to the vet, vet not sure what problem is. Gave me antibiotics and told me to give him Gatorade. The bill was $76.
> ...


first find another vet. 

and yes doves have a release mechanism in their feathers to keep from being caught by predators.. the predator is only left with some feathers and the bird gets away..that is the idea. you really should use a carrier meant for birds and not a cat or dog with a front opening a top opening is better to reduce escape.


----------



## loftkeeper (Sep 21, 2010)

might be beginings of pmv flight feathers look short has been moulting maybe cause flight troubles just a thought


----------



## pirab buk (Sep 8, 2011)

Did the vet do any blood tests to test for anything?


----------



## Pidove (Oct 9, 2012)

Skyeking said:


> *
> 
> Has the bird suffered any kind of blunt trauma?
> 
> ...


I don't know, he might have, because there is a weird shape of missing(?) feathers on top of his head.

I don't know if he is more or less easily stressed than other doves, because I only have 1 dove. He is usually normal but gets scared of unusual objects. 

The poop looks pretty normal, with normal variations during the day.

There is a chicken in the house, but they have both been in the house since they were babies. They are in separate rooms.





guys I feel like I am watching him slowly lose energy and could die any time, he is not cooing, not much energy, seems to have more and more trouble stepping onto my fingers, just closing his eyes a lot, sometimes using his wing as a crutch when he walks a bit..... I'm so sad


----------



## Donnasks (Sep 4, 2014)

loftkeeper said:


> might be beginings of pmv flight feathers look short has been moulting maybe cause flight troubles just a thought


I'm sorry if I'm butting in but
Is the pmv the same as the PPMV that I just posted about in an addendum in another thread?

I'm sorry..... her description made me wish I'd posted my question just a day earlier, and in the right place on this wonderful site. 

If it applies and helps her, I had to ask.

Goodbye everyone.


----------



## Pidove (Oct 9, 2012)

Donnasks said:


> I'm sorry if I'm butting in but
> Is the pmv the same as the PPMV that I just posted about in an addendum in another thread?
> 
> I'm sorry..... her description made me wish I'd posted my question just a day earlier, and in the right place on this wonderful site.
> ...


I don't know if it's Pigeon paramyxovirus (PPMV-1)
I don't even know if it matters at this point: it's 2:20 am, no vets open, I've spent the last few hours trying to decide whether to turn off the lights and let him go to sleep, knowing that he could be dead in the morning. He's not even perching on his usual spot when I turn off the lights (on top of my laptop screen) he's just kind of sprawled out on a shelf. I think he hasn't even been lifting himself up to poop, because it looks like he's been sitting in it...


----------



## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

PMV would be so unlikely in this case I would not even consider it, and the vet evidently hasn't a clue about handling a dove.

Maybe I missed something, but what I saw was dove preening back feathers, then moving his/her head to face frontwards again quickly. Putting the head back against the shoulderblades is something one might see with a vitamin B complex deficiency.

Loss of ability to stand and/or fly could be several things. It could be a vitamin deficiency, depends what the dove's food is. Gatorade may be OK as an emergency electrolyte, but it won't make up for a vitamin deficiency. What is the antibiotic? How old is the dove?


----------



## Pidove (Oct 9, 2012)

John_D said:


> Loss of ability to stand and/or fly could be several things. It could be a vitamin deficiency, depends what the dove's food is. Gatorade may be OK as an emergency electrolyte, but it won't make up for a vitamin deficiency. What is the antibiotic? How old is the dove?



I have been sprinkling "Avian Plus" vitamins on his food the last 2 days, which he has eaten some small amount. I believe the antibiotic is Albon Suspen 5%. He is about 2 years old. 

Still alive this morning, ate a little, drank a little, now back to sitting still in "sleeping mode" pose. Not cooing. He used to coo constantly before this.


----------



## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Pidove said:


> I have been sprinkling "Avian Plus" vitamins on his food the last 2 days, which he has eaten some small amount. I believe the antibiotic is Albon Suspen 5%. He is about 2 years old.
> 
> Still alive this morning, ate a little, drank a little, now back to sitting still in "sleeping mode" pose. Not cooing. He used to coo constantly before this.


*Please keep the bird warm, as he may not have enough energy to keep himself warm. You also need to be hand feeding/force feeding if the bird is not eating enough, because they go down quickly.*


----------



## pirab buk (Sep 8, 2011)

The vet would have told you if he/she did blood tests. I tend to doubt that he/she did since the price of the visit was only $76.00. (Blood tests are expensive)
Keep the dove comfortable, warm and make sure your bird has food and water. Let him sleep. The more you handle him the more he gets stressed.
I hope he perks up


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

John_D said:


> PMV would be so unlikely in this case I would not even consider it, and the vet evidently hasn't a clue about handling a dove.
> 
> Maybe I missed something, but what I saw was dove preening back feathers, then moving his/her head to face frontwards again quickly. Putting the head back against the shoulderblades is something one might see with a vitamin B complex deficiency.
> 
> Loss of ability to stand and/or fly could be several things. It could be a vitamin deficiency, depends what the dove's food is. Gatorade may be OK as an emergency electrolyte, but it won't make up for a vitamin deficiency. What is the antibiotic? How old is the dove?



I agree with John. That's what I saw also.


----------



## DeeDee's Mom (Dec 17, 2011)

Have you tried force-feeding him thawed frozen peas? I know others have suggested doing this to other people in similar situations. I believe they said to try to get 10-16 down the bird per feeding? And the heating pad sounds like a good idea. I'd just put it up on the bird's "shelf" where he seems to like to lay.

Good luck to you!


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

How is the bird doing now?


----------



## Pidove (Oct 9, 2012)

DeeDee's Mom said:


> Have you tried force-feeding him thawed frozen peas? I know others have suggested doing this to other people in similar situations. I believe they said to try to get 10-16 down the bird per feeding? And the heating pad sounds like a good idea. I'd just put it up on the bird's "shelf" where he seems to like to lay.
> 
> Good luck to you!


besides the "once every 24 hour for 10 days antibiotic force-feeding" that the vet told me to do, I had also been force feeding him a mixture of seeds, bread and vitamins ground up in a coffee grinder, mixed with water and gatorade. But I really feel like that was horribly traumatic for him. I ordered new "pigeon seed" the day I took him to the vet and it came 2 day priority. He seems to like it, and I have glued little tupperware containers of seeds all over the room where he likes to sit. So I dont think I will force feed him peas or anything besides the medicine now.

Overall it looks like he "feels" normal now. He started cooing yesterday, which he stopped doing the day he went to the vet. He is flying around a normal amount, to his normal spots, eating and drinking some. He had been limping, (possibly because the vet was holding him by 1 foot as he tried to fly?) but the limp is pretty unnoticeable now. 


The only problem now is... occasionally he just... falls off of where he's sitting. He's fallen off a stack of boxes, he fell off the edge of an open box he likes to sit on, he fell off my laptop screen where he has slept almost every night for a year. He has fallen off a few other things. I feel like I have to keep a constant eye on him in case he gets trapped behind some furniture or some weird place.  But other than that, I think he is a lot better than he was a few days ago


----------



## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

He should have a nice cage to roost in. Letting him out when you are there is great for exercise, but he needs a safe place where he can be kept when you are not there to watch. Birds like that anyway. A secure place they can go to to roost and eat. A place that is theirs. Just works out better.
The vet may have injured the foot when he grabbed him, and maybe that is why he is having trouble with staying on a perch. Could still be bothering him.


----------

