# Stepped on my dove by accident, lost a lot of feather, but looks ok?



## TofuTheDove (Oct 4, 2013)

I have a pet dove, Tofu, that's about 2 years and 4 months old right now. (Hand raised him since he was a baby bird, so he's been pretty close to me)

I usually let him fly around in the room during the day, and when I was changing my guinea pig's water bottle yesterday, he was walking around the piggies' cage and I stepped on him.

He lost a lot of feathers, pretty much all of his tail feather, and flew away right after I stepped on him.

I left him along for about two hours after this happened, and he looks ok at that time, but was obviously still in shock. He's eating, drinking, and pooping ok, still fly around the room when he feels like it, and have no problem resting on his perch over the night.

I think Tofu is still in shock as he tend to move away when I approaches him, but other than that everything look normal today....(behavior, eating, drinking, pooping, flying)


I searched online and some people have suggested if the bird is doing ok after 24 or 48 hours, then it's ok. (It's been a little over 24 hours now and he's ok)

What do you think?


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

*I had a bird in shock after a hawk attack for about 8 hours, after I managed to get her away from the hawk. I kept her in a quiet room in subdued light with food and water, and after that time she came out of it and began to eat and drink and act normal again. 

I think it is a major stress after something like that, but they survive if no major trauma to their body and all issues have been addressed. I also give probiotics as they tend to be quite depleted in good gut bacteria after such trauma. *


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

Oh sorry to hear about the accident...! Hope your dove is fine
If he has lost that much feathers I mean the whole tail,the dove got to be in shock because it hurts the birds when feathers are plucked...


> By Richard Dawkins in his book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution.
> 
> Just theoretically, plucking the feathers may cause a harm - at least in the way it may cause a skin rupture, what may lead to infection. One can then expect plucking to be painful.
> 
> ...


And bird's bones are hollow and delicate naturally. If I were in your place I would get an x-ray of the bird to make sure that nothing is broken because weight of a person is tOO much for a dove to handle. Did you put your whole weight accidently on the rear body or it was just for a fraction of a second on the tail feathers?
If only on feathers then nothing to worry about...
Hope Tofu(cute name) comes out of it soon


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

TofuTheDove said:


> I have a pet dove, Tofu, that's about 2 years and 4 months old right now. (Hand raised him since he was a baby bird, so he's been pretty close to me)
> 
> I usually let him fly around in the room during the day, and when I was changing my guinea pig's water bottle yesterday, he was walking around the piggies' cage and I stepped on him.
> 
> ...


Thats really sad, Im sorry that happend. it is normal for them to release the tail feathers all at once if they are grabbed or stepped on, it is a survial mechanism, some call it shock molt it allows the bird to get away and the predator only left with some feathers. It does not hurt as has been mentioned. I would have the vet check him over and give an opinion.


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## TofuTheDove (Oct 4, 2013)

Skyeking said:


> *I had a bird in shock after a hawk attack for about 8 hours, after I managed to get her away from the hawk. I kept her in a quiet room in subdued light with food and water, and after that time she came out of it and began to eat and drink and act normal again.
> 
> I think it is a major stress after something like that, but they survive if no major trauma to their body and all issues have been addressed. I also give probiotics as they tend to be quite depleted in good gut bacteria after such trauma. *


Tofu is eating and drinking pretty normal right now, flying around the room and sit in the usual spots. He even jumped onto my fingers last night, which is the first time since the accident happened, and launched into the room after I opened his cage this morning, all his usual behavior. 

I was thinking about giving him some BeneBac Bird probiotics but don't want to handle him too much and give him additional stress at this time.


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## TofuTheDove (Oct 4, 2013)

brocky bieber said:


> Oh sorry to hear about the accident...! Hope your dove is fine
> If he has lost that much feathers I mean the whole tail,the dove got to be in shock because it hurts the birds when feathers are plucked...
> 
> And bird's bones are hollow and delicate naturally. If I were in your place I would get an x-ray of the bird to make sure that nothing is broken because weight of a person is tOO much for a dove to handle. Did you put your whole weight accidently on the rear body or it was just for a fraction of a second on the tail feathers?
> ...


I'm sure he was shocked when this happened, and probably still being stressful due to this accident.

And no, I did not put my whole weight on him, I was walking/turning around after changing the water bottle and felt something under my foot, and at the same time Tofu lost the feathers and launched himself into the air.

It all happened very fast, and I was in shock as well, and I honestly don't know if it's just the feathers or also the rear body....but I'm just glad that Tofu is doing ok right now.

When I put him in his cage last night, he was drinking and eating like normal, the only problem that I can see right now is that it's harder for him to balance himself when he jump onto the perch due to the lose of tail feathers.....


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## TofuTheDove (Oct 4, 2013)

spirit wings said:


> Thats really sad, Im sorry that happend. it is normal for them to release the tail feathers all at once if they are grabbed or stepped on, it is a survial mechanism, some call it shock molt it allows the bird to get away and the predator only left with some feathers. It does not hurt as has been mentioned. I would have the vet check him over and give an opinion.


It's been about 48 hours since this happened and as far as I can see the only problems are the stress, and the lost of feathers. Other than that Tofu is pretty much being himself.

The normal vet I take my guinea pigs to doesn't see a lot of birds, I will try to look for a pigeon/dove vet and take him there if needed.


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## TofuTheDove (Oct 4, 2013)

Just a quick update, I'm happy to say that Tofu is acting completely normal as of now, just saw him stretching on top of my ceiling fan as usual, and acting totally like himself.


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

So glad Tofu seems to be okay! We worry a lot about accidentally stepping on DeeDee, as he's always underfoot. I also worry about the dog stepping on him, as the dog is only a pup and weighs about 70 lbs. I'm actually more worried about the dog stepping on him or "kicking" him, because DeeDee likes to preen the dog's nose, and will sometimes preen the dog's stomach, and that tickles, and if the dog kicks, DeeDee could become a birdie football...so we watch them very closely when they're anywhere near each other. 

Anyway, really glad Tofu is okay.


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## Jass SamOplay (May 29, 2012)

TofuTheDove said:


> Just a quick update, I'm happy to say that Tofu is acting completely normal as of now, just saw him stretching on top of my ceiling fan as usual, and acting totally like himself.


Thank God. Sigh of relief. Then its only the tail feathers which were stepped on probably


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## TofuTheDove (Oct 4, 2013)

DeeDee's Mom said:


> So glad Tofu seems to be okay! We worry a lot about accidentally stepping on DeeDee, as he's always underfoot. I also worry about the dog stepping on him, as the dog is only a pup and weighs about 70 lbs. I'm actually more worried about the dog stepping on him or "kicking" him, because DeeDee likes to preen the dog's nose, and will sometimes preen the dog's stomach, and that tickles, and if the dog kicks, DeeDee could become a birdie football...so we watch them very closely when they're anywhere near each other.
> 
> Anyway, really glad Tofu is okay.


We have two dogs in the house but I almost never let Tofu interact with the dogs, I think the only time they interacted was when Tofu flew away from his usual activity area and landed on one of the dog's head. On the good side, the dogs does know Tofu, do even when they see him they don't try to attack Tofu. 



brocky bieber said:


> Thank God. Sigh of relief. Then its only the tail feathers which were stepped on probably


Now it's been more than 48 hours, I think if there were any real injuries it should be visible by now. Tofu even landed on my head again earlier tonight when I was cleaning the cage of my chinchilla


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## TofuTheDove (Oct 4, 2013)

Now almost 72 hours after the accident, Tofu is still doing fine and acting normal, I think it's pretty safe to say that Tofu is gonna be ok


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

*Glad to hear the positive update!*


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