# Help with baby pigeon. Swollen leg.



## Pablo24 (Nov 17, 2016)

Hi everybody, I need your experience to help me with this baby pigeon. It has a very swollen foot as you can see in the pictures. It started 7 days ago. I gave it oxytetracycline for 5 days but it did not seem to get better. Today I switched to enrofloxacin based on the information I read in this forum. My guess is that it is salmonellosis, but I am not really sure. Its excrement looks pretty normal for a pigeon, I do not see anything weird about it.
I tried to take it to a vet, but in my area there are no vets knowing how to treat birds, they are all about dogs and cats. So I am doing my best with the information I get from forums like this one.
In case you wonder what type of pigeon this is, it is called Picazuro and it is common in South America (I am located in Buenos Aires, Argentina). It is wild and cannot be domesticated.
I found it 18 days ago on the street, it was totally helpless and exposed to dangers like cats and dogs, not to mention starvation. I am planning to release it after it gets better and starts feeding on its own.
P.S.: What you see on the beak is just food. I am feeding it with Nestum as still it is not feeding itself too well.
Thanks!


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Poor little guy. Thank you for helping him! Someone expert should answer soon.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Are you sure there is no hair or fine string wrapped around the leg? Sometimes it can be hard to see. It gets wrapped around the leg or foot and cuts off the circulation, causing swelling and pain. If that be the case, it must be found and removed or he will likely lose the foot. Look very closely, maybe with a magnifying glass. Is it possible that a piece of your hair could have gotten tangled around his leg and you didn't notice?
Here is a link with info. about it.
http://www.pigeonrescue.co.uk/footinjuriesstring.htm


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## Pablo24 (Nov 17, 2016)

Thanks. I examined it very thoroughly and found nothing wrapped around the leg.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

It sure looks like it is. Could be deeply embedded in the skin with it that swollen.
Unless he has broken the leg. But you said you had had him for like 18 days I think, and that this has been this way for the last 7 days. It is some kind of injury. If not resolved then he will lose the leg.


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## FredaH (Apr 5, 2016)

As Jay says it's very hard to see, even my avian vet couldn't see what was constricting my birds toe with a special magnifier and bright light so a part of the toe is now dead but the middle is alive and he hasn't lost the use of it. To have a better look he'd need an anaesthetic and the vet said the risk would not be worth taking as part of the toe died anyway and the rest still functions. A part of his toe looks grey but below that part it's pink so we decided to leave well alone and he uses it fine. We don't know if the fibre I initially removed was entire as it was embedded and came off in pieces but the damage had been done anyway.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Would it help to gently soak the foot in something each day? Was thinking a warm water with hydrogen peroxide soak? Someone here might have an idea on that. Have had Guinea pigs with a swollen foot who responded to soaks. Also did the vet rule out bumblefoot, that is, an infection under the poor little guys foot? Agree with Jay3 that it sure looks like a string injury...sometimes you can't see the string because the skin swells up around it obscuring it. Looks infected. Thank you for helping him. Has he started eating on his own yet?


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

cwebster said:


> Would it help to gently soak the foot in something each day? Was thinking a warm water with hydrogen peroxide soak? Someone here might have an idea on that. Have had Guinea pigs with a swollen foot who responded to soaks.* Also did the vet rule out bumblefoot, that is, an infection under the poor little guys foot? *Agree with Jay3 that it sure looks like a string injury...sometimes you can't see the string because the skin swells up around it obscuring it. Looks infected. Thank you for helping him. Has he started eating on his own yet?



cwebster, they said they have not gone to a vet. It isn't bumble foot. That would have started in the foot. This bird, the leg is more swollen.


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## Kayluhhh93 (Oct 29, 2021)

Jay3 said:


> Are you sure there is no hair or fine string wrapped around the leg? Sometimes it can be hard to see. It gets wrapped around the leg or foot and cuts off the circulation, causing swelling and pain. If that be the case, it must be found and removed or he will likely lose the foot. Look very closely, maybe with a magnifying glass. Is it possible that a piece of your hair could have gotten tangled around his leg and you didn't notice?
> Here is a link with info. about it.
> Pigeonrescue.co.uk: Bids start at € 50,-


You just saved my birds leg. Thank you!


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