# Need expert advice....Pigeon with severed foot



## Witchysharon (Mar 7, 2005)

In early fall 2 years ago a "lost" racing pigeon stopped at my farm, hungry and tired. I started to feed him and of course he started to hang around and apparently made our barn his home. (no big deal as I have had pigeons before) The next spring he started to fight our roosters for the hens (our chickens!!!) and I decided to get him some friends of his own kind. To make a long story short, I now have a lot of pigeons, and yesterday I noticed one sitting on the old chicken coop (which is the pigeons loft now) and he was bleeding and holding his right foot up against his body. He was bleeding pretty bad, so I was fortunate enough to catch him (after about 5 minutes and by tricking him)
Upon closer inspection, I found his whole foot had somehow been severed and was hanging by a little skin. I put him in an old cage i have while i went to gather cotton pads, tape, triple antibiotic cream and oral antibiotic (what I use on my chickens....Oxytetracycline)
I smeared a gob of the antibiotic cream over the end, but it is bone there. Can i cut the foot off and use some of the extra skin to cover the stump and how do I secure it....can i use crazy glue? or liquid bandage??? I need some expert help here. 
I did manage to wrap some cotton around the stump, and tape it loosely. I put a little antibiotic in his water, and he has food and grit in the cage. Also filled it with soft hay since straw seemed too stiff and I didn't want him getting poked ....he's been through enough already.
he has been eating, drinking, pooping fine, the bleeding seems to have stopped, and he rests most of the time (understandable since he must have lost quite a bit of blood) I know he wants out of the cage, but I am going to keep him in there until i know he is completely healed. These are some questions I need answers to

1) What do I use to get the skin to stick to the leg so it grows over the stumb(like a graft) crazy glue? something i would have here on hand is prefered, but i can buy something else if anyone has a better suggestion)

2) what oral anitbiotic should I give him? Is the Oxytetracycline ok, and if so, how much? it is a powder.

3) I can imagine there must be some pain (the triple antibiotic cream had a pain reliever in it) but is there something i can put in his water for pain? A few grains of aspirin? or would that kill him? what can i use for pain relief on a pigeon??

4) once his stump is healed, i want to be able to give him a fake leg....wood, plastic...any ideas?? I am sure there isn't a pigeon prosthetic maker, but maybe someone here has had this experience and fashioned a foot or a splint like or wooden leg. It is just that he's off balance because without the foot, his legs are different lengths.

Any other suggestions on caring for him while he recovers would greatly be appreciated. If you can supply links to antibiotics or pain relievers or whatever I might need would also be a great help. He is a beautiful pigeon and one of the "lost" racer's babies. He seems to be coping fine and hopefully will make a full recovery. I just don't want an infection or something setting in.
HELP


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Hi,

We would use (in the UK) Synulox as an anti-biotic for wounds (don't know brand name in US, but it is amoxycillin and clavulanic acid), and Metacam as a pain killer, in pigeons. We have a pigeon who had a broken leg, but did not gove him painkillers - reason being that we did not want him trying to use the leg and hindering healing, as may have happened if the feeling was numbed too much.

I have heard of small qty of aspirin being used, but I don't know how safe it is. certainly paracetamol, iboprufen and several others would be potentially lethal.

When you say should you cut the foot off, it depends if there are any veins in whatever it is just hanging on with. We had one whose foot was pretty much just hanging on (it had been blackened and necrotic through string damage) and we took it to a rehab friend. When she unwound the temorary bandage a jet of blood came out and she had to work very quickly to tourniquet it and save the bird. Once the blood supply to the foot had been shut off, the foot detached itself overnight.

think it will depend on where the stump will be. If there is sufficient overlap of skin, it would be best sewed over the bone (we had it done with one of ours by a vet - Cynthia finds quite a few string damaged birds).

Really don't know of any replacements for a foot. Pigeons generally heal pretty quick and manage OK with one foot and a stump. The one I mentioned earlier, in fact, has just vtwo stumps and manages very well (in the aviary). I have a visiting pigeon at least 4 years old who has two stumps, and he does pretty good.

John


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## Norwich-guy (Mar 6, 2005)

Ive never had a bird with as much damage as the one you have, I breed norwich croppers and they rip there crops sometimes. i have crazyglued the skin on a few occasions it works fine i have also stitched them too.i learned the crazyglue way from a pharmacist who raised pigeons. I've seen a few pigeons on the street with a foot missing,they are pretty tuff birds and i hope the best for the bird and you


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

I agree with John about many things here. This bird is going to need an antibiotic. Amoxicillan is available at some of the pigeon supply houses in the USA. They have it at Foys: http://www.foyspigeonsupplies.com/misc_meds/ I don't think you should cut the foot off either in case it causes massive blood loss and then death. This is a pretty scary situation and I wouldn't attempt anything surgical myself. Can you get this bird to an avian vet? They would know a lot more of what is going on and would be able to assess the situation and amputate the foot properly as well as stitch up the skin.


Good luck and let us know how things go,


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

I would also take the pigeon to an avian vet because of the bone sticking out. That needs to be filed down and tucked in otherwise I think there would be a risk of bone infection. I had a pigeon that lost its foot but had bone sticking out and asked the vet to amputate at the nearest joint. he did a good job.

A false foot is not necessary, once the stump has been cleaned and covered with skin they seem to be even better off than pigeons that have lost toes. No sign of pain or discomfort after a few days.

Cynthia


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## Witchysharon (Mar 7, 2005)

*Off to the vet*

Well, was not able to locate an 'avian' vet, (one that solely treats birds) but did find one who treats 'exotics' which includes birds. The farm vet I use recommended them and I have an appointment at 2pm. I will be able to get antibiotics and pain killers, plus I will probably have the vet perform the 'surgery' and lop off the hanging foot and stitch up the stump.

The pigeon seems confortable and is still eating, drinking etc as normal. Yup, i know they are tuff birds. I did rehab one awhile back that broke her 'ankle' I guess. Her toes were starting to curl and seemed 'lifeless', no reflex or anything. So I would stretch her leg out, massage and flex her toes several times a day so they would not atrophy. After about a week, she was grasping my finger with her toes and a few days later was walking fine as if nothing ever happened. But this whole thing with the bone exposed and foot severed is not something i want to try and fix myself.

I am hoping all goes well and no infection has already set in, so keeping my fingers crossed.


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## JGregg (Jul 28, 2003)

Please tell everyone where you are located witchysharon. That way you can have some help locating a rehabber or avian vet.

An avian vet will treat birds, though I have never seen an avian vet that only treats birds (they ussually will treat other exotics or cats and dogs besides birds).


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## Witchysharon (Mar 7, 2005)

I am in Willis, MI close to the OH border... but I just got back from the vet 2 hours ago. She is a VERY good vet, and the surgery went way better than anticipated. i though the bird would definitely need an amputation, but it appears, the back toe and the pad(?) were viable. Obviously had good circulation and so the vet was able to save them. She did have to cut a tiny bit off the end of the bone because it was jagged, the 3 front toes were turning dark so she took those off, folded skin over the bone and stitched it up. She said it cleaned up really good, but i have two antibiotics i have to give him for 14 days when i need to take him back for a re-exam and see if any stitches can be removed at that time. So basically pij has a... one toed 'padded' foot! He obviously won't be able to grasp anything with it, but at least he will be able to use it for balance and landing on. I think he is going to be just fine!! Thanks everyone for your help.


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Hi Sharon, 

Thanks for the update! That is definitely good news and just goes to show us all that we shouldn't assume anything. The foot was salvagable and that is a little better than no foot at all. Thanks for taking such good care of this pigeon in need


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## Witchysharon (Mar 7, 2005)

Pij's vet bill was $272!!! I about fell on the floor when the vet was giving me estimates yesterday before she did the surgery!! She told me I had two options, could amputate with 100% success ($361), or could try to save the portion of the foot that was still alive.($272) Only gave 65% or better chance for saving, but she felt confident it would work. If it didn't work, then it would have to be amputated. (another $361 to amputate on top of the $272 if I chose to try and save the foot) 

Well, I thought about it for a *minute*...I don't really have over $600 to spend on one bird....heck, it doesn't cost anywhere near that for my livestock vet to treat *ALL* my goats *4 times * and that includes the cost for him to drive out to my farm!! Well....like I said, i thought about it for a minute....then told her to try and save the foot. If it has to be amputated later....well, I guess I'll come up with the money somehow. 

I just couldn't see amputating if there was the slightest chance the foot could be saved. Just couldn't do that to Pij. I am a sucker for animals and actually I am into rescue of cats and farm animals. I raised pigeons over 20 years ago. Had rollers and tumblers, but NEVER had any emergency EVER. Only thing that happened was lost one to a hawk once. So when the racer stopped here 2 yrs ago, it was only natural for me to take care of it. (I have a soft spot for pigeons) Anyway, I thought about poor Pij with only one leg and just could not opt to amputate! I am going to give the antibiotics religiously, and keep his foot clean....vet said clean w/betadine and bandage if it gets dirty, but she didn't want to bandage if it was not necessary in order to see how healing progresses.

I have him in a cage with clean hay, which i will change often so his environment stays clean. He is antsy to get out and fly. What pigeons love to do best....besides make babies that is! LOL I think he was about to mate with another one because there is always the same pigeon that sleeps near, or on, his cage during the night. But looks lik he is going to have to wait at least 2 weeks before being reunited with his mate. Poor babies.

Also want to tell you about what happened the other day. I have an Anatolian Sheepdog (they are used as livestock guardians) who we got to protect our livestock/goats and chickens from predators. This dog is absolutely amazing. The chickens have a different alarm call they give for ground and aerial predators. The dog KNOWS the difference!! I have seen him in action when the call is for an aerial predator. He actually scans the sky and looks in the trees for hawks, owls or falcons. Last week, i heard him barking and I ran out to see what was going on. A Perigrine Falcon had stunned and knocked one of the pigeons to the ground. (a fantail someone gave us) Luckily there was a foot of snow to cushion his plummet to the ground, but what was so amazing is the dog had chased the Falcon off. I saw it fly to a tree in our back pasture and he was not too happy about a lost meal.

I thought at first the pigeon was dead because it was completely still, wings spread out, eyes looked wide open and glazed, but as soon as I got close enough to pick it up, it blinked, jumped up and tried to walk away. It was obviously dazed because it walked like a drunk. I did catch him and checked if the Falcon had struck him with his talons, but no blood and so knew he was just forcefully hit to the ground. Anyway, I had him stay in a cage for a day and over night next to his mate who was sitting eggs. I wanted to be sure he was back to normal, walking alright and had no hidden injuries. He recovered from his ordeal, but i notice he does not venture far from under the lean-to now except to fly up onto the roof of the barn occasionally. (the loft is in the sheltered area under the lean-to) Just had to tell you about this!!


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## Whitefeather (Sep 2, 2002)

*Many thanks for the update*

So glad to hear your pijjie patient is on the road to recovery.
Gotta love those canines!!  

Please keep us posted on how things progress.

Cindy


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## Pigeonpal2002 (Jul 27, 2002)

Hi Sharon, 

Wishing you all the best in this pigeon's recovery since you did pay a lot of money and nobody forced you to do so. That is so very kind of you to pay so much money to make sure this bird was cared for properly.

What a story about the peregrine and the fantail as well! Another lucky survivour to tell another tale. Thanks to you and the dog, this fantail will live to see another day.


GOOD JOB ON BOTH!!!!!!


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Excellent, Sharon.

Heck, we thought UK vet bills were steep for pigeons!!! Well done.

The one toe won't really be a problem if it all heals up. Pigeons really prefer a broad or flat perch anyhow, so he won't desperately need to curl toes round anything.

That's so good of you to do all this for a pij 

Your dog is spot on there! 

John


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