# Pigeon with twisted neck



## beltron13 (Nov 12, 2018)

Hi all

Need your help and advice on helping this poor bird.

*Background*
My apartment has numerous pigeons living around us and a week back I found this pigeon fallen on ground and unable to fly, struggling badly so i brought it home.

*Symptoms*
This one has a badly twisted neck which turns completely upside and especially when its trying to look at us. Also when looking suddenly its leg start to wobble and it falls down and then keeps struggling haplessly.
Here's a video of the bird

https://youtu.be/Y10SqfrhgSM

The bird eats grains during the day but doesn't seems to eat much, neither it seems to drink water. Its poop is green coloured and was watery when i first brought it in but in last few days it has firmed up a bit. I keep it in an open area in balcony during day and pull it inside house in a decently sized carton lined with newspaper. It keeps going in those fits of endlessly flapping numerous times during day as well as night and then can be found lying tired with twisted neck and body completely out of shape.




While alone, he rests with his neck in normal position but gets into twists the moment it wakes up/gets alarmed and then goes into the fits and then even if supported and corrected, cant stand and keeps falling and whirling and also hurting itself. 



*Medication*
Based on a pigeon rearer's advice I have treated him for 5 days with following medication

Doxycycline - 20mg twice a day (crushed tablet in 3 ml of water, injected in his mouth)
Neurobion Forte - Vitamin supplement - 1/4 tablet per day administered orally crushed in water

Evion 200 mg - Vitamin E capsule administered orally, 1 every 2 days


*Current situation *
The only thing that seems to have improved is some strength in the bird gauged by the strength of it's resting being held while being fed but overall the situation is grim. The helpless bird keeps going in fits numerous times a day by itself or when someone goes near it.

As of today it has hurt it's left eye is completely swollen and the very little of pupil is visble. Not posting a picture now since its resting and I dont want to disturb it for now. Will post later.

It has been 5 days that I've been administering him medicines but there's barely any improvement to talk about. Please guide me how to better help the poor bird.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Looks as if he has PMV (paramyoxyvirus). No medicine will help, only supportive care till the virus has shed. This normally takes about 6-8 weeks. In nature they usually die from starvation, impossible to pick up seeds. That will explain the green droppings when you found him (starvation droppings).

Put down a deep seed dish, he will peck at random and figure out a way to eat by himself. If not, then you will have to handfeed him. Leave a small dish of water with him, they can sometimes drown when having fits. Minimize stress, cause this will make the symptoms worse. Do some reading up on the internet regarding this disease.

Even after recovering, the symptoms can return when stressed. So he might be unreleasable once recovered.


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## beltron13 (Nov 12, 2018)

Thanks for the reply Marina.

It has been a good day today (or so I hope) because no fits since I gave him the medicine this morning. I hope its not due to the eye injury that he's not active 

I'd done reading up on PMV and suspected that. You too are almost certain of that, now I need advice if i shall stop the antibiotics ? I guess i should continue with the multi-vitamins for few more days.

How much should i feed him, he eats very little by himself but doesn't seems troubled when eating/picking grains. Bengal gram/Peas is what I feed him by my hand, any suggestion on how many to feed him and frequency ? His stool is still green, should I be worried ?


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## beltron13 (Nov 12, 2018)

So here's the picture of his eye which was perfectly okay but since last 36 hrs has been like this 

 

The other eye looks okay




Any suggestion for eye care ?


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Are you feeding him the frozen peas that have been defrosted in lukewarm water? If so, try feeding at least 40-50 peas 3 times daily. His droppings will be dark green when on a pea diet, that's normal. Peas contain a lot of moisture, but try dipping his beak (not over the nostrils otherwise he might aspirate) in a small bowl of water after feeding.

He can also aspirate if you put water in his mouth with a syringe, so rather try the above. Don't give him antibiotics unless really necessary.

Can you get a small cage to put him in rather than letting him loose on the balcony, otherwise he will injure himself more. You can also turn a cardboard box on it's side with the open part to the front and then cover this part with 20 % shadecloth so that enough light will filter through.

Minimize stress. If he is safe from predators on the balcony, put the box on a table to make him feel safe. Don't move him around too much, leave the box with him in the same spot. Only handle him when you have to feed him.

I know it's awful watching them having these fits, but at least they are not in pain.


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## beltron13 (Nov 12, 2018)

I'm feeding him approx 10 peas twice a day as he seems to be extremely stressed when being hand fed. I'll increase the number today. These are fresh green peas and Bengal gram.

I need advice on if I should continue with antibiotics for his eyes to heal up? 5 days of antibiotic done but the injury happened only 2 days back.

During the day I keep him in balcony for being in sun but by evening temperature starts to drop hence I bring him in a carton lined with cloths and paper. Here's a picture of his day time arrangement


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

I've never dealt with Chlamydia, but photo's I've seen on the internet looks similar to what he has. Then you will have to continue with the Doxycycline, treatment for up to 3 weeks. 

Put a deep dish with food inside there with him. Will be so much easier if he can start eating on his own.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Rather split the tablet into pieces and put the correct amount deep inside his beak when you medicate him. So much easier and there's no danger that he might aspirate.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I agree with Marina that it is likely PMV, although other things can cause neurological symptoms. The eye could be from Chlamydia, or even canker, or from him injuring it when he has seizures. Just in case it is chlamydia, I would continue the meds. But cleaning with saline and dabbing dry, then putting an antibiotic eye ointment on the eye would be a good idea. Is the balcony closed on the lower half so that he can't fall off? 
If you cook the peas till they are soft, and then let them cool to luke warm, it may be easier to digest.


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## beltron13 (Nov 12, 2018)

Thanks for the replies Marina & Jay. I've cordoned off half the balcony with his opened up cage forming one of the boundaries and closed all other gaps so that he can roam around in the space should he feel the need and not fall off. Earlier I kept him closed in cage. He still doesn't walks out of the dark corner of the cage. 

The eye certainly looks like an injury to me since both the eyes were perfectly fine and similar but suddenly this happened 2 days back and he was in violent fits then. Anyway, I'll continue with the antibiotic for another 3-4 days for the eyes to be better. Going to crush the tablet, and make him swallow it with peas, probably filling the powder inside one. The syringe thing looks horrible and poor bird pants even though I've been very careful with it.

I've kept grain on the floor of the cage on newspaper since he was constantly tipping the bowl over. He walks over and eats the grain a few times during the day. The water bowl is outside the cage with minimal level so that there's no possibility of drowning even he drops his head in it. 

I assume it's good that there have been no fits in atleast last 24hrs and he also seems to get back his composure pretty soon after being handled, sense of balance is improved but most of the time he's sleeping.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

The meds won't be effective if you put it inside a pea. Will be better if you crush the tablet, dissolve the correct amount in a little bit of water. Take small breadballs and let this soak up the water with the meds and feed to him. I still think it will be easier for him to eat from a deep seeddish. Even a small box with the sides and back higher up than the front will be better. Put this against the wall and try and secure it there somehow. The higher parts will prevent spillage of seeds when he tries eating.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Marina B said:


> The meds won't be effective if you put it inside a pea. Will be better if you crush the tablet, dissolve the correct amount in a little bit of water. Take small breadballs and let this soak up the water with the meds and feed to him. I still think it will be easier for him to eat from a deep seeddish. Even a small box with the sides and back higher up than the front will be better. Put this against the wall and try and secure it there somehow. The higher parts will prevent spillage of seeds when he tries eating.


Agree.
.........................................


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## beltron13 (Nov 12, 2018)

Thanks Marina. Will try and arrange something like the deep dish and secure it to the side of cage. No fit frenzy since last 2 days. I feel the kid's getting better 🙂


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Glad to hear he is getting better. Thank you for helping him.


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## school1012 (Sep 8, 2013)

I saw this in a bird a few years back and took it to a vet. It was a bird virus pmv sometimes known as twisted head. He said the bird can live a long life but can not be released. It is important to keep the bird calm and can give it Chamomile liquid in the bird's drinking water. We used 4 drops each day and it helps keep him calm. However the symptoms may lessen at times but will never go away completely.


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## beltron13 (Nov 12, 2018)

Update

The bird is okay.

Have stopped the antibiotics as well as the vitamins since yesterday as he seemed to whizz a bit more than usual while being administered the medicine by syringe.

The eye is healing up.

Today he ate quite a bit from the seed bowl so won't be handfeeding him as it's a lot of stress for the bird. Haven't been able to get a deep dish so he scatters quite a few. 


He is very uneasy in our presence and will otherwise be calm and stable but as soon as he senses us approaching, he seems to loose it and twists his neck and falls. We try and leave him alone as much as possible.

The random fits have stopped but sensing us near he looses his balance and falls and keeps whirring as if to escape so we maintain our distance as much as possible


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

Glad to hear there's an improvement. Any longterm plans for him? As said, he might not be releasable.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Make sure he is actually eating enough. Often they just scatter it. How do his droppings look now? Pictures?


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## beltron13 (Nov 12, 2018)

Hi guys

The bird is okay but still turns his neck in weird position and looses his balance. I believe this happens mostly when he is stressed but I'm not able to help ease his stress as I've to pull him out every alternate day to clean him up because he gets poop all over his head, body, beak, feathers.

Any suggestion to keep him clean ? I wet up a piece of cotton cloth and moisten up the dirt and clean it off. Takes around 15-20 mins. Also he has some injury in wings which I couldn't notice in initial few days. I clean it up and apply soframycin (antibiotic ointment). It has healed up.


He eats a decent amount I believe, poop has turned brownish which is of a healthy pigeon as I assume from the pictures here on the forum. 

If he's unreleasable, I've no issue. He can continue living in my balcony and I'll make some more arrangements for him but just need him to be okay and not so afraid. Any help/suggestion welcome .


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

The twisting of the neck and losing balance will still continue for quite a while. I've only cared for 1 PMV pigeon so far, and her symptoms were at its worst during week 6. By week 8 she was fine, but I decided to keep her and not to release.

Does he have a perch to sit on? Even a brick will do. Maybe that will help with the droppings.


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## beltron13 (Nov 12, 2018)

Marina, how do I decide if I should keep this kid or let it go? I mean, it totally looks like he wants to go away and probably I'll be the happiest if he flutters up and flies away someday in the meantime he can have all the attention he needs, just that he seems to scoff on every bit of attention and also seems petrified by every bit of it 

Anyway, I read in thread here about brick for perching, have given him one since beginning but he hardly ever sits atop. Only time he's on it when I open the cage, to run away as far as he can.


Should I let him be dirty or clean him up regularly as I'm doing currently ?
He seems very stressed by cleaning but I doubt that if I don't keep him cleaned up maybe the feathers will matt up and so will claws which have way too much of poop layerd & crusted on them. 
The kid keeps on shivering for quite some time after the clean up.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

If he is disabled in any way, then he cannot be released, as he wouldn't be safe out there, and easily caught by predators. Even if he isn't showing symptoms anymore, the symptoms can return in times of stress. So if PMV, then he isn't really safe to be released at all.


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

You can keep on cleaning him, but just make sure he's in a sunny spot to get dry. He will be scared of you, that's normal. How large is your balcony? Any chance of building him an aviary or closing off the open part so that he will have more space when the worst of the symptoms are over? You can always adopt another pigeon to keep him company.


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## cwebster (Dec 11, 2010)

Would keep and not release the bird as he is at a complete disadvantage in the wild.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

I used to use a hair dryer, set on low warm, to get him mostly dried off. He didn't like it much, but he did get used to it. I have had others that have liked it. Just don't let it run too warm or too close to him and do it as quickly as possible.


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## beltron13 (Nov 12, 2018)

Yes i use a hairdryer too on low setting to dry him up a bit before moving him to his cage which is in bright place. I clean him up early in the day so he has the entire day to dry up & be warm.

His eye has healed up and opens up wide than being almost completely shut like it was at one point of time but there is swelling, kind of a little bulge besides the eye, slightly reddish. Any thought? Image attached below


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

That's going to take time. You can if you want, apply an antibiotic eye ointment to it. Won't hurt.


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## Paul Steffen (Feb 20, 2017)

Sometimes euthanasia is the best option. I'm not in favor of allowing animals to die a lingering and painful death. Keeping them alive is too often just that. There is a time to die for all of us. You have obviously poured your heart into a heroic effort to save this bird and I applaud your tenderness and sensitivity to the life of another. ps


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## Marina B (May 5, 2011)

No need to have this pigeon euthanized. When they have PMV, they are not in pain. The seizures and attacks that they get is horrible to watch, but it will pass and he will get better.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

No need to euthanize a bird that has a virus that will pass in time. He can still live a good life once the virus passes. If he had no quality of life, or was going to be always in pain, then I would agree that sometimes euthanasia is the best option. But that doesn't have to be the case here.


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## beltron13 (Nov 12, 2018)

Since last one month the kid had no fits and looked sad being in a cage. I thought over it for a few days and last week finally opened up the cage.

I'm very very happy to let you know that after being a bit cautious for initial few minutes he flew up nicely and took his place with the others pigeon who perch near our house.
It has been a few days and he's perfectly fine going around with the group although now I'm a bit confused if i identify the right one among the 15-20 of them that put up here.

It took 4 months to recover completely from the deadly looking PMV symptoms. It was very difficult looking at such a frail bird struggling for life but all this time it was well worth the effort.
Heartfelt thanks to all the members who shared their experience especially Marina B & Jay3. I wouldn't have been able to care for the kid if not for you and this community.

Pictures of the kids attached. Thank you all


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