# Pigeon can`t stand up



## tms1950 (Aug 23, 2005)

Hi all- I got a pigeon into my wild bird rehab 3 weeks ago that can`t stand up.His legs work,but they won`t get him up.I gave him a course of Baytril when he came in,as well as worming him.He had a foul order at that time which has since gone away after bathing him.My vet & I can`t find any visible injuries,but she told me to give him 1/4 tsp Brewer`s yeast in the formula I`m crop-feeding him. He tries to get up and has even bloodied his wings,so I`ve wrapped them to protect from further damage.Please e-mail me if there are suggestions.Thanks,Teresa


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## Pidgey (May 20, 2005)

Oo... try to feel around the back end of the bird to see if there is any seeming swelling of the lower thorax (chest) and abdominal region. Specifically, you're possibly looking for a hardened mass inside the abdominal cavity with that particular test. 

In birds, the motor nerves to the legs pass through the kidneys and any swelling in that region can give them paralysis. There are several things that can do it, of course, including spinal trauma, and that kind of thing can take awhile to heal.

Are there any funny egg-white looking liquids in the droppings?

Pidgey


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## Rockie (Jan 18, 2005)

Hi Teresa. Just a thought. I recently had this happen w/one of my pijies. It was very scarey because I've had her for years and all of a sudden she just couldn't stand up. The vet gave me liquid calcium and in a couple of days she was up and moving again. In my case, the calcium deficiency was from egg laying. She had been laying eggs for years and this was the 1st time it happened. 

Best of luck to you and this pijie.


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## Grimaldy (Feb 25, 2007)

Hi T.

Consider the possibility of Streptococcus bovis. Baytril is one of the fluoroquinolones that should have gotten it, but I notice that it takes at least 10 days to get it all.


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Grimaldy said:


> Hi T.
> 
> Consider the possibility of Streptococcus bovis. Baytril is one of the fluoroquinolones that should have gotten it, but I notice that it takes at least 10 days to get it all.




Hi Grimaldy, 


Any clues for us as to how to differentiate this, from probably Calcium deficiency?


Supplimental Calcium would of course be off limits if the Pigeon is on a Baytril regimen...


Phil
l v


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## Grimaldy (Feb 25, 2007)

Hi pdb,

He would need a microscope and some gram stain. The sample should be taken from the back of the throat as near the trachea as possible.

He should be looking for something that looks like chains of blue BBs on the slide.


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## Grimaldy (Feb 25, 2007)

Parethetically, using Baytril is like using a sledge hammer to swat flies. He might try an Amoxycillyn-Tylosine combination instead.


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## tms1950 (Aug 23, 2005)

I`ve had this pidge on crop feedings of Kaytee Eact formula mixed with a jar of chicken baby food,1/2 tsp powdered calcium carbonate,avian vitamins,1/4 tsp brewer`s yeast,giving 3- 20ml feedings a day.His stool comes out looking like a loose version of his formula,so I`m also giving Pepto Bismol once a day now.Yesterday I splinted him with my version of a "bird on a stick",which has worked very well with the songbirds I`ve rehabbed in the past that can`t stand up.His feet are positioned on a vet tape-wrapped perch stick,then wrapped individually in proper position.I then pull the perch up & under him to the right position it would be in if it were nesting and run a figure 8 of vet wrap over it`s back to down around the perch to keep it in position.I`m also giving it a few grains of vit.B-12 in it`s formula now.If this doesn`t work after 3 weeks,I have no other choice but to euthanize. I still have many other songbirds in my rehab and he takes a lot of time and work,but I will do everything I can for him.
If anyone else has more ideas,would you please e-mail me as I don`t get back to this forum very often. [email protected]
Thanks,Teresa


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Hello Teresa,

How old is the pigeon, and do you know whether it is male or female? Maybe these questions don't bear on the case at hand. I've rescued a couple of squeakers with partial temporary leg paralysis, turned out to be paratyphoid from what I could tell (I'm not a vet, just went by what I read here on PT). Treated first one with cotrim and he recovered use of legs. Second one not treated with antibiotics, vet thought it was an issue of nutrition, too much energy required for feather growing. He recovered use of legs, but not of tail. 

And hens might have calcium deficiency problems because of egg-laying.

But you probably know and have considered all this. Just brain-storming.

Larry


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

*Using masking ape (crinkly, crepe tape) in place of vet tape*

Hello Teresa,

Just a tip I thought I'd pass on.

I've taken a couple of severely injured pigeons from Cologne, Germany to a pigeon hospital in Essen, Germany (Taubenklinik Essen) set up for maintenance and treatment of racing pigeons. The head doctor, Dr. Kamphause, likes street pigeons and treats them and does surgery on them for free, and unreleasables are adopted by a lady near him, with an aviary. I had found out about her (and then him) from an article about her blind pigeon Johannes in an animal magazine in a local vet's office. Sometimes asks for a small fee to defray med costs. I brought one pigeon with a badly broken wing (later amputated) to him, and used vet tape.

He told me he uses cheap masking tape, the crinkly crepe tape used by house painters. Cheap, easy to remove, adheres nicely to feathers, but not too much. Probably one-tenth the price of the vet tape, and perfect for feathers and wing-wraps and such.

Larry


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

tms1950 said:


> I`ve had this pidge on crop feedings of Kaytee Eact formula mixed with a jar of chicken baby food,1/2 tsp powdered calcium carbonate,avian vitamins,1/4 tsp brewer`s yeast,giving 3- 20ml feedings a day.His stool comes out looking like a loose version of his formula,so I`m also giving Pepto Bismol once a day now.




Hi tms,



Is this Pigeon able to peck and self feed? And you are wishing, instead, to ensure he has a diet composed of the foods you are tubing in?

Or...?



Anyway, I think you should definitely not feed any 'chicken baby food'...but, if you are going to tube-feed, stay with Vegan contents.





> Yesterday I splinted him with my version of a "bird on a stick",which has worked very well with the songbirds I`ve rehabbed in the past that can`t stand up.His feet are positioned on a vet tape-wrapped perch stick,then wrapped individually in proper position.I then pull the perch up & under him to the right position it would be in if it were nesting and run a figure 8 of vet wrap over it`s back to down around the perch to keep it in position.I`m also giving it a few grains of vit.B-12 in it`s formula now.If this doesn`t work after 3 weeks,I have no other choice but to euthanize. I still have many other songbirds in my rehab and he takes a lot of time and work,but I will do everything I can for him.
> If anyone else has more ideas,would you please e-mail me as I don`t get back to this forum very often. [email protected]
> Thanks,Teresa




I have had probably a dozen all tolled, over time, of Pigeons whose Legs were 'out' where I did not find any cause.


Four of these died, the others all recovered.


Sometimes these can be from sprained Thighs...


Sometimes, a Virus effecting the Kidneys, causing inflamation, effecting the sciatic Nerves...


Sometimes it is a deficiency in Calcium...


Sometimes a deficiency in the B Vitamines...


Sometimes a Bacterial or Protozoan infection effecting the Kidneys and Sciatic Nerves...


Sometimes it is a broken, or Green-Stick fracture of a Thigh, where even the 'good' leg is sympathetically weak or at any rate, the Bird acts as 'if' both legs were too weak to stand.



Hence, taping their Feet to a prosthesis is probably not going to help anything, unless their Legs are sliding 'out' for some reason.

Providing a softly 'rolled' Towell bent then into a "U" usually allows the to lay comfortably, and if not, a Sling, where they can poop of of the end, is another resort, where the legs simply dangle free.


I would definitely eliminate 'chicken' from their formula...and see how their digestion is then.


As you describe it, their digestion does not seem to be doing well presently.



Possibly, they have some Yeast issues in their digestive system also, for which 'Nystatin' or 'Medistatin' would help.



How are the Urates looking? Are they nice and 'White'? A nice 'paste'?



Phil
l v


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