# help feral pigeon with lump and thread foot



## Jello (Oct 21, 2009)

Trying to help a little pigeon

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I reccently lost my little pigeon, I miss her dearly and have not yet come to terms with it. I started feeding a flock nearby her left over seeds, and noticed a younger bird limping and struggling to fly. I went out lured and caught him this afternoon, and he is now sitting in a box in my bedroom. There was hair wrapped around his foot, which I removed majority of, and will coninue to work on. After wiping him down and giving him a once over I noiced a massive pink lump on his right wing that goes straight through to the bottom, not realy sure what I can do about this, there is no wound, and he can get of the ground but is not able to fly properly. His crop is also full and hard, but he has 0 signs of canker, some moron was feeding him a bagle right before I caught him so I figure this mght be the culprit. The growth doesn't appear to be yellow at all, I am givig him a couple of minutes before I continue cleaning him, ( he is covered in poop etc...) Anybody with any ideas of what this may be or how I can help treat his lump would be glady appreciated. I would love to save this little guy in honor and memory of Fallen, my true soulmate.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Where on the wing is it? Can you post a pic? I'm sure someone will be on who can help you. Thanks for helping this guy.


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## Jello (Oct 21, 2009)

I won't be able to get a picure up, my camera is brken at the moment, the lump is around the ulna. My previous pigeon had a cyst when she was a baby, and this looks nothing like it, it is pink and firm, and extremely visible now that he has been cleaned off. I think I was mistaken about his age however, in the light of my bedroom, his eyes appear to be more orange then brown, I also haven't had a chance to get a good luck at his vent, but the surrounding feathers are soiled.


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

Can you give water to try to get whatever's in the crop softer ? 

Do you have any antibiotics such as Cipro, Amoxycillin, Penicillin, Ceclor, or any of that ? Be it human or pet grade ? If not, you can order some online from Jedd's or Foy's and have it express-shipped to you...or perhaps there's a similar Pigeon Supply place in Canada.

I would say, if you have worked out most of the threads and cleansed the wounds/feet, that is a good start. Hard to tell what is going on with the lump...it could be many things...a young blood cyst (these are the result of the wing hitting something hard)...or perhaps he/she was actually shot with a bb gun or slingshot, and there is something inside. Without pics, very hard to tell.

Can you get hold of a simple anti-inflammatory...such as Children's Motrin or Children's Advil ...liquid ? These can be administered via syringe and can provide some pain relief and also help reduce the swelling, perhaps. The typ. suspension is 100mg/5ml...in which case you wanna give .05cc 2x/day (this is a very small amount in a 1 cc syring...half of .1cc).

Sounds like you have had experience with pigeon rescues before, so all of the usual stuff applies: keep her in a very warm space (i.e. 80 degrees F or warmer), cage/box/carrier with a soft underlayment (you can use a heating pad on low under 1 layer of tericloth towel as a heat source, too). Provide food and water.

Keep an eye for the typical red flags such as closed eyes, lethargy, fluffing feathers, rapid breathing.

Does anyone have a camera you can borrow...or do you have a digital video recorder with which you can make a video of him/her ?

Any avian vets in Toronto ???


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Jello, if it is Bagel in this little guys crop, just make sure he has a good supply of water and the Bagel should break down and pass with time. Might be best to get him started on a round of antibiotics both for the foot and possible infection in the wing. Here is a place that I found for another member in your area that carries a med called Triple Sulfa by API, it's for fish, but it will work well for a number of infections in pigeons:

http://www.bigalscanada.com/Stores/Locations/Scarborough/scarborough.html

Have a look down his throat and make sure it is clear and pink, no yellow/cheesy growths. If you see anything like this he will need Metronidazole, the tropical fish stores should stock this as well. I can help you will mixing and dosing, for the Triple Sulfa and Metronidazole as well, if he has any canker growths. Did you take your other guy to a vet?

Good luck with him,

Karyn


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## Jello (Oct 21, 2009)

His mouth looks clean aand pink, no offensive odours so I think he is ok for canker. I have completely removed the hair from his feet and applied topical antibacterial drops that were perscribed for my dogs ear infection, I have some amoxicillin pills for my dog, I believe they are 400 mg. I am letting the little guy rest for the night. after bathing him and drying him off, I wrapped him up in a towel and held him for awhile and he fell asleep, not so sure this is a good sign, but then again he has gone through a lot tonight. He is in a box wrapped in a towel. I attached an undertank heater to a small section of the box. Tomorrow I will try to find a camera. I can get childrens motrin tomorrow. I realy hope he is going to be ok, I am curious about the recovery process for his feet. They are quite swollen, but the skin isn't black, the color is almost perfect. I really appreciate you guys trying to help me save him. I just recently lost my previous companion pigeon in freak accident and it honestly kills me that I couldn't save her, but maybe if I can save him it will dull the ache a little bit.


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Jello, if you take two of the 400mg Amoxicillin pills and crush them up as fine as you can (if a capsule, just open them), to this add 5mL (1 cooking teaspoon, not a common flatware teaspoon) of very warm water to help dissolve and then add to this add 5mL of syrup (you can use corn syrup or even pancake) you will end up with a 8% suspension of Amoxicillin (80mg/mL). Get a 1cc syringe (the kind without a needle) and give your little guy 0.40mL/cc (mL=cc), this will be 32mg of Amoxicillin (this is the fourth line on a 1cc syringe). This will be roughly 8 drops and you can give it to the front of his mouth, a drop or two at a time, and let him tongue it down. This will be fine for a bird weighing about 300-325 grams, if you can weigh him we can make any adjustments needed to be more exact, so we are dosing at about 100mg/kg q12h. Good to hear the mouth is clear, will wait for photos, don't forget a few clear, close-up photos of his droppings as well.

Karyn


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

Dear Jello, I haven't any advice about this pigeon, but I wanted to send you both good wishes. You are a beautiful person. I really hope this works out well for you both.


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

The amoxycillin and motrin should be plenty to get the swelling in the feet to go down....he/she should recover from that; they usually do.

The question mark is that lump...hopefully antibiotics and anti-inflammatory will improve that as well.

How is he/she today ????


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## Jello (Oct 21, 2009)

This little guy is in rough shape. His feet however look much better, I reapplied the otomax drops to his feet this morning, and went to the drug store but they didn't have any syringes or liquid childrens motrin/advil...I was mistaken on the size of the pills, they are 500 mg, I mixed it as instructed above. I gave him a drop earlier. I am trying to give him as much privacy as possible, he get extremely stressed when handled. He has not eaten anything, but oddly enough his poops are normal, perfect color and consistency. His crop however is now empty. He seems underweight, thinking tonight I might start him up on peas...hmm...everytime I put my hand in front of him he clucks his wings like a chick does when it's going to be fed, but I think he i an older guy. (orange eyes) he also doesn't really move around very much, but is bearing weight on his foot again. His feathers are extremely frayed, poor little one is a mess. I am heading downtown for work in a while, plan on leaving earlier and hitting a drug store down there. Do you guys think I should start him on peas tonight, even though he isn't a fledgling?


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi Jello,



Can you post some images of the Pigeon himself?


And of the Feet?



And, some good, close-up, in-focus, images of fresh poops?



What kind of Seeds are you offering him so far, which he is not eating?




Phil
Las Vegas


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Jello, what you are most likely seeing is the Bagel from yesterday making its way through. Did you use 2 pills?.... if so you will have a 10% suspension and you will give him 0.30cc (this is about 6 drops = 30mg Amoxicillin), almost any drug store will have 1cc syringes for quite cheap a price, or in a pinch, you can use an eye dropper, the one drop you gave him will not be enough, he needs 5 more.

Well, he proved yesterday when you got him, he is capable of self feeding, by being stuffed with bagel, so I would give him a bit of a chance still to adjust a bit and self feed and water, since he is producing decent droppings still from his last good feed. He may nor be used to seeds as food, so you could put in some small pieces of whole wheat bread, along with seeds to get him started, also make sure he stays well hydrated, as this is quite important.

Pictures would be very helpful, both of the bird and his droppings, see if you can borrow a camera for a few hours if possible.

Karyn


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

The antibiotic is the more important of the 2 drugs, so good you got him/her started on that. If he/she is underweight, I'd say that handfeeding peas certainly couldn't hurt any....yes, it might stress her out a bit, but you wanna keep the strength up, too. An underweight pigeon isn't in the best of shape to stave off illness....

Oftentimes a string-injured pigeon will NOT move around much...all they could manage outside was flying, landing, staying in one place...taking off again. Sometimes it takes ...some time...for them to start using their feet.

Just keep it up ! And keep him warm, warm, warm...


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## Jello (Oct 21, 2009)

So I came home from work and the little bugger was sitting on my bed. I left the box open with a towel partially covering it. His feet are definitely feeling better. He has eaten some seeds, and I did get an eye dropper, glad to hear it will work until I obtain a syringe, no luck with the camera so far but hope to get my laptop back tomorrow, (was being repaired) it has a built in camera so I will get pictures of the bird up, and if I can get the angles right, hopefully the poops.


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Borrow a Camera from a friend..! Or invite a friend over and for them to bring their Camera.


Lol...


Worth trying anyway...


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

Jello said:


> So I came home from work and the little bugger was sitting on my bed. I left the box open with a towel partially covering it. His feet are definitely feeling better. He has eaten some seeds, and I did get an eye dropper, glad to hear it will work until I obtain a syringe, no luck with the camera so far but hope to get my laptop back tomorrow, (was being repaired) it has a built in camera so I will get pictures of the bird up, and if I can get the angles right, hopefully the poops.


Hey Jello,

Not sure if anyone mentioned Probiotics yet ? If you can get to a Pet store, you can buy inexpensive probiotic powder from them, that you put in water or food. It helps heaps with birds under stress, especially if they are wild & they are newly captured. It keeps the bacteria balanced in the digestive track, preventing stress or illness causing `bad' bacteria to overpopulate and make the bird ill.

Also, it is especially helpful for a birds taking antibiotics. I'm no expert here, so I hope Phil or some of the others will speak up, but I think you have to give the pro-biotics at the opposite time of day to when you administer the anti-biotics (say, afternoon if you give her the antibiotics in the morning).


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Even more important to give the probiotics _after_ finishing with the antibiotics to build up good gut flora again. The antibiotics kill both the good and bad bacteria, so will also kill the probiotics.


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## Bella_F (Nov 29, 2008)

Jay, I've seen that information contradicted here on the Forums just recently (and previously)

this what altgrl told me to do: she is a state and federally licensed rehabilitater.

``If your going to give baytil you want give the probies in a single dose 12 hrs after the baytril
give them the whole days dose in the morning then a dose of the other in the evening, the baytril can kill good bacteria too

``http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f30/pox-outbreak-wild-bird-feeder-hygeine-advice-needed-46591-3.html''

.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Bella_F said:


> Jay, I've seen that information contradicted here on the Forums just recently (and previously)
> 
> this what altgrl told me to do: she is a state and federally licensed rehabilitater.
> 
> ...






Oh, I know many do it that way. But the antibiotics will still kill them, so it's important to give them for a while after the antibiotics, so that they can build them up again.


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## Jaye (Mar 13, 2008)

This is what my avian vet says as well...that there's no point in administering probiotics while the bird is on antibiotics. My vets suggest starting after the med regimen is done.


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## Keith C. (Jan 25, 2005)

There's a pretty good chance that the lump on the wing is a paratyphoid infection.
The paratyphoid strain, that most pigeons carry, is not communicable to humans, but you should use good hygeine after handling it anyway.
Cipro, Baytril, Sulfa-trimethhoprim, Albon, Sulmet, and Aureomycin can all be used to treat paratyphoid in pigeons.
Good luck


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## Jello (Oct 21, 2009)

*thank you so much for your help!!!*

I would like to say thank you to everybody who helped me save this little ones life (now nicknamed Lumpy). He is feeling much better, his feet are in near perfect shape and his lump is almost non existent, he is now flying around and has new feather growths all over his face. I am now wondering if he is fit to be released back where I found him...I can wait until the spring, figure it would be cruel to release him in the middle of winter, just wondering if he will thrive, hopefully I haven't interferred to much. I don't handle him at all, except for quick examinations, I set food & water for him on my windowsill, and give him free roam of my bedroom for the most part...(he pretty much stays on my dvd tower, so it is fairly easy to clean)
Any ideas or indicators I should watch for, one thing that worries me is that he has no fear of my dog, I think he is lonely. Any suggetions are welcomed!

Once again thank you.


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## Dobato (Jul 3, 2008)

Jello, thanks for the update, glad to hear things went well for this little one. I would be thinking to give him his beast chance of a late spring release, where the temperatures no longer get real cold at night. Also, you restraining from making him too social with humans is also a very good idea, you may want to spread a bit of seeds around as well, so he gets use to pecking food from other than a seed dish, nice job by the way.

Karyn


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