# EMERGENCY! 3 sick pigeons - dizziness



## preciousbird (Mar 22, 2012)

Hi 

I have just fed my pigeons this morning, to discover that all 3 of them are "dizzy". I do not mean turning in circles, or twisting their heads, which I have read about on other threads - I mean that they are unable to maintain their balance properly on their perches, are having difficulty flying with ease and seem to prefer when on the ground to just sit and do nothing. When I looked them over, they look fine although one of them does seem to have lost a lot of weight very suddenly.

They were all treated for internal and external parasites, several weeks back and are done every couple of months. They do not get let out to go flying - their cages are large and they can fly freely in those.

To clarify - all 3 are housed in separate avairies (2 of them share with a rabbit and one shares with a duck; all are rescued animals/birds but I have had all of them for at least 2 years) because I acquired them at different times and none of them like each other. The cages do not abut one another.

Water is changed daily and they have plenty of clean food. Contact with wild pigeons is limited although some little doves sometimes visit (but my lot are inside their cages which the wild birds can not get into).

Any ideas about what could be causing this? They all seemed okay yesterday.


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## shrihari ramesh (Feb 16, 2012)

generally,pigeons are high flyers and they need to be let out for flying.u need not worry that they may fly away.they would come back and they need to be free.i think so the air they are breathing might be bad or something like that.


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## preciousbird (Mar 22, 2012)

Thank you for your reply. I realise this, however in my country, these types of pigeons are introduced and are considered vermin and are destroyed by poisoning. 

Also, it is illegal to release feral birds here and I am not a pigeon racer, so do not have the required permits for periodic release. 

The cages they are in are very large and very high-roofed. I have kept stray pigeons as pets for many years and have never seen these symptoms before, nor have any previous birds suffered from any of the usual diseases to which pigeons are prone.

I live on a large allotment of land overlooking farmland, in the country, not the city and the air quality here is exceptionally good.


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

preciousbird said:


> Hi
> 
> I have just fed my pigeons this morning, to discover that all 3 of them are "dizzy". I do not mean turning in circles, or twisting their heads, which I have read about on other threads - I mean that they are unable to maintain their balance properly on their perches, are having difficulty flying with ease and seem to prefer when on the ground to just sit and do nothing. When I looked them over, they look fine although one of them does seem to have lost a lot of weight very suddenly.
> 
> ...


Hi and welcome to PT 
One thing that can cause sudden balance disorders, 'drunkenness' (streptococcus, salmonella) is some type of toxin. Any chance you got some bad seed? Overdosing ivermectin (for wormings) can also cause balance problems/temporary paralysis, but you would see that immediately (within hours), not a couple weeks later. 
Do you have any antibiotics on hand? What are their poops like? Are they still interested in food and water?


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## sathyaumesh 9885bangl (7 d ago)

How to cure this


Msfreebird said:


> Hi and welcome to PT  One thing that can cause sudden balance disorders, 'drunkenness' (streptococcus, salmonella) is some type of toxin. Any chance you got some bad seed? Overdosing ivermectin (for wormings) can also cause balance problems/temporary paralysis, but you would see that immediately (within hours), not a couple weeks later. Do you have any antibiotics on hand? What are their poops like? Are they still interested in food and water?


 How to cure this


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