# the bird needs to eat!



## DJbird (Aug 14, 2005)

*the bird needs to eat!-more questions we need help on below!*

We found a sick pigeon with crusty oozy stuff on its eyes and the one eye so swollen its almost closed. We've cleaned the eyes, and we've been applying an eyedrop medicine for humans in the eyes. The puss is gone but the one swollen eye is not getting better at all(this is day 2). We've given it water and its been drinking, but not as much today as yesterday. Its not eating at all. We're not very confident it will make it- particularly if it won't eat. We're considering getting an eyedrop or something and feeding it. This is only our second bird that we've picked up off the street so we're still very inexperienced with such things (the first one got better and flew away after one month!). We're not sure what to give it to eat. And what else we might do for its eyes. If its just dying, what can we do to comfort it? Any thoughts appreciated!!


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

If it is an adult pigeon, he should be eating seeds.
If he refuses to eat you can feed him with a syringe, or easier you can feed him for now soaked puppy chow. Start off by feeding him five pieces at a time every few hours depending how quick the crop empties. Make sure he drinks water.
As for the swollen eye he will need antibiotic eye drops or ointment (which is more irritating, that's why I prefer the drops).
Another alternative which I found to work well is colloidal silver, purchased from the health food stores. It is a natural antibiotic and it it did clear a stuborn eye infection in my bird. The dose is one drop in the eye twice a day.
If the eye infection doesn't clear or at least starts getting better in a couple of days he might be in need of a vet exam and maybe even an antibiotic by mouth.

Please let us know how the bird is doing.
Thank you for rescuing this little guy.

Reti


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## Feefo (Feb 8, 2002)

Hello and welcome! Thank you for caring for the little one.

When dealing with any sick animal you must remember that although it is rare for humans to pick up diseases from animals it is a possibility and sensible precautions must be taken.

If a bird has a discharge from its eye or beak then treat it much as your dentist treats you  ...wash your hands thoroughly after handling it and wear a mask or bandana while you are handling it if it is sneezing. 

Cynthia


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## DJbird (Aug 14, 2005)

*about to try feeding him*

Thanks for your quick responses! Based on miscellaneous info on the internet, we purchased a syringe and made a little rice puree with a pinch of electrolytes for humans and some fruit juice for sugar. It's the consistency of ketchup at the moment. Is this too thick? Since its Greece and a holiday, our options for finding pet stores until Tuesday are non-existent. The pharmacist recommended a little human antibiotic. Is it a good idea to add a tiny bit to the puree?
We're also quite nervous about how to feed it. He's alive but not so responsive. He's pretty calm when we hold him to put the eyedrops. How do we get the beak open? Should we just put a little food in the beak and see what happens? Should we rub the beak or the crop while we feed it? Where exactly is this part of its anatomy? Is it ok to hold it face up like a baby or better to have it sit normally on the palm? Also its night now here and he's pretty sleepy. We feel he should have something in his system but maybe we should wait until morning?

He's definitely an adult. Although he seems to have drunk some water on his own, we don't think he's eaten anything at all. 

He's very sweet and we want him to eat a little. He seems to like music.

Thanks for any responses!


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Hello and welcome to pigeons.com

Thank you for helping this pigeon

The bird may be need to be stabilized first and allowed to rest. He cannot digest anything until he is stabilized.

You should make sure the bird is kept in a quiet somewhat dark secluded area, no drafts, and set it on a towel, with a heating pad under the towel, set on low. Keep the bird there for 20 to 30 minutes. 

After that you should try to rehydrate the bird with Pedyalite plain without flavoring, or make one with a cup of water and a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar. Stir real well, and allow the bird to drink that. If he doesn't drink then you can syringe a litle bit, 5 cc's every two hours.

Then offer it some seed and see if it will eat and drink.

Treesa


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi djbird,



Make sure the Eye medicine is anti-biotic, get the "eye" version from any pharmacist or use something like 'Neosporin' untill you can get some.

If this is a young bird, you might be able to tell better roughly what it's age is by refering to the images at 

http://www.speedpigeon.com/baby_racing_pigeon.htm

Rice water and fruit juice will not be a very god thing and may cause problems.

Likely the Bird is emaciated from not eating for some time since it was having these eye problems.

If it is a young Bird it may respond well to being fed in the ways which young young PIgeons like to be fed.

More info later on that...


For now, keep the Bird out of any drafts or air conditioning and away from other pets or children. figure out some way to keep the Bird warm if you can, 'warm' as in something like the temperature of your wrist or so...not more...and not much less.

Good luck...


Phil
Las Vegas


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

DJbird said:


> .... The pharmacist recommended a little human antibiotic. Is it a good idea to add a tiny bit to the puree?
> 
> **I'd wait and see how he perks up to electrolytes or sugar/salt mix and then food.
> 
> ...


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

pdpbison said:


> Hi djbird,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## DJbird (Aug 14, 2005)

Hi Phil and Treesa, thanks for the info!
We think the bird is "stabilized". For the last two days he's been in a quiet little cage that we've made on the balcony for the last pigeon. Its summer in Greece and around 90-105 degrees everyday, so we don't think the heating pad is appropriate. Because of your advice, we'll try to protect him more from drafts. The eyedrops are indeed anti-bacterial but we're wondering if they will be effective- could it be that he has the virus avian pox? The one eye hasn't gotten worse since we cleaned it and put the drops, but the other, the bad one, seems very bad indeed. It is very swollen and there seems to be something like an extra skin growth or a shell-like knob, or, I don't know how to describe it, on one side of the outside of the eye. The better eye also has a small amount of white in the eye itself.
The little guy has moments of seeming strong and alert but most of the time he's pretty out of it.
We followed your advice and gave it some water with a little salt and sugar and it took a couple big gulps. That was nice. We also tried the oohing and rubbing its beak with warm water that I read in another post of yours?, Phil? It was calm while we did this and swallowed a miniscule amount of the food. He looks really really sick, though.
Its midnight here. Should we get up and give it the sugar/salt water every few hours through the night or just start again in the morning?

Thanks again for the advice. How wonderful to be able to consult this site! We've become pigeon lovers after helping our first bird. Now we see how beautiful they are all over the city!

D and J


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

Hi there,

Is there anything analogous to an avian rehabber in your area?

fp


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## DJbird (Aug 14, 2005)

Hi Feral Pigeon,
thanks so much for answering all our questions. Thats very helpful. There is a little volunteer rehab place that we took the last bird to for a visit, but unfortunately everything, and I mean everything!, is closed until Tuesday. So we are hoping to keep him safe and hopefully not worse and worse until then.

D and J


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi DJBird,


Have you been able to determine if this is a young Bird? Did you use the link I provided above to examine the day to day images of their growth from hatchling to sub-adult?

Is this in fact a young Bird or an adult? 

Adults will have "white" Wattles, the fleshy area where their Beak meets their forehead, but, in some illnesses the 'white' becomes moist grey looking or putty like.

If it is a youngster, I can send you some feeding guidelines.

This Bird NEEDS TO EAT or to be fed one way or another to regain it's strength to fned of whatever illness it has. This is serious...!



Let us know please...

If you like, if this IS a young or juvenile Bird, I can send you some info about feeding and formulas, in an e-mail, off site, for which e-mail me directly at

[email protected]


Phil
Las Vegas


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## DJbird (Aug 14, 2005)

Hi Phil,
I had looked at the site but didn't know what to look for. Now I know about the wattles. Although our impression has been that this is an older bird, it doesn't seem to have the wattles at all so maybe we our incorrect. In this case, it is a full-sized young bird. He's still with us this morning, so we will try to give it the sugar salt water every few hours as treesa recommended. We'll also try to find puppy chow, but the problem here is it is a major religious holiday and everything is closed until tomorrow. Any advice about home-made feeding remedies would be appreciated. We'll email you. I hope you'll be getting up early!


Thanks again for the info

D and J


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi D and J,


I am usually up...Lol...

Get some people-baby-bottle type Rubber Nipples...any drug Store should have them on the shelves, and almost any grocery store should also.

Get some 'Malto Meal' ( NOT 'choclate', just plain)...get some Corn Meal...get some Graham Crackers...get some small Bird Seed like what is sold for pet Finches or Canaries.

Combine more or less equal parts of each, dissolve stirr and warm in a cup, in a pan of water, (DO NOT MICROWAVE TO WARM THEIR FOOD) what will dissolve in enough water to make a sort of medium thin gravy...follow the instructions I sent you as for how to initially offer to feed them and then to feed them with the food being 'tepid'.

This sounds lika an older Juvenile Bird, who will have no real anything where the wattles will later be. They should respond well to the overtures I outlined, and to being fed for now in these ways.

Once they are eating in this manner, you may ( as in the instructions) guide their Beak into a container of small whole Seeds for them to 'gobble'...

Soon they will acquire the knack for pecking effectively on their own, and you should peck with them useing your crook'd index finger on a white or light colored Towell, so it is easier for them to get a grip on the Seeds.

Meal or coarse flower of Chick Peas or other Peas or Lentils or the likes, would be fine to use as an ingredient also. I do not know where in the World you are to guess the kinds of things a regular store would have, but you should be able to find things which will be more or less 'meals' or coarse flowers made from 'Seeds' that are not Beans.

If you have a kitchen blender, you can make your own coarse flower or meal easily.

Get on it..!

For now if all you have is say 'Malto Meal' or 'Roman Meal' (so called Hot Cereals) then use those...

Corn Meal is available just about anywhere in the World...as are various kinds of things similar to 'Malto Meal' or 'Roman Meal'...as are Canary Seeds or Finch Seeds sold for pet Birds...

Regular flower of Wheat is no good...do not use, it will turn to paste in tgheir Crop.


Feed them untill their Crop seems to be sticking out a little, and it will feel mushy. If it later feels firm, offer them Water.

Their food is best to have the husks ground up with the Seed body, so if you have a blender, consider to do what you can with any kind of Birdseed you can get, and add to it some Graham Crackers, Malto Meal, corn Meal and so on. YOu can add some Cilantro or Parsely also, dried or fresh into the Blender to make it into the flower-meal also...

Good luck!  


Phil
Las Vegas


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## DJbird (Aug 14, 2005)

Hi Phil,
we just sent more info to your email where we described our attempt to create your feeding recipe with the things that are in our house at this moment (oats, lentils, polenta, pine nuts, parsley- ground together into meal). 

All methods of creating voluntary eating scenarios seem to be failing. What can we do?


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## DJbird (Aug 14, 2005)

If he's under 3 months, is he not eating because he doesn't know how to eat on his own yet? Again, the bird is full-sized but doesn't have the wattles. Since we don't have access to the baby nipple, do we need to feed him under some pressure i.e where we can squeeze the food towards him? We've got this little syringe minus the needle which has a small plastic tip and we can push the food at him, but he wont open his mouth and when the food gets on his beak he shakes his head and most of it goes flying all over. Only a tiny tiny bit gets inside.

We're pretty scared about forcing open the beak because the syringe is clumsy and we're nervous and don't want to suffocate him.

We're very concerned.... Help!


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi D and J, 


Try the alternate method I replied off site about, the little sandwhich wrap 'pocket' in a tight "Okay" sign...

Otherwise, if that does not work...then really there is not much you can do for now.

I will be back soon, I am working about ten feet away.

Untill they are decent enough fliers to accompany their parents on grazing forays, these Birds do not tend to learn to eat on their own or to ever see Seeds nor to have any occasions for doing so.

In our care, they can learn to peck and eat on their own while quite young...but this can be complicated with injury or illness and so on...

One thing you could do - 

Take whole Seeds, 'lentils' or the likes, or several small whole Seeds at-a-time, and gently opening their Beak, making sure to do so withour side stresses, put a single Seed in to it as far back as you can so they swallow it. The Seed(s) need to be put in about half way anyway for their tongue-barbs to catch it to pull it back for swallowing.

Set up a little pile of such seeds, maybe 50 or a 100 of them, and if necessary, gently wrap the Bird in a small hand towell to do this and have someone help you...do not hold them TOO tight, but just enough so one of you can open the Beak, and one or the other of you put a Seed or several small Seeds, into it...and do that untill you have got about 35 ml or a fluid ounce or so of volume, of Seeds done.

That will work well also, and is a good standbye for occasions when nothing else is practical to do...



Phil
las vegas


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## DJbird (Aug 14, 2005)

We tried the seran wrap pocket method and he nibbled a miniscule amount but then started shaking his head again. He does drink the sugar salt water. Thanks everyone for your responses. We've found a bird sanctuary on an island and we're taking him there now because we think he needs medicine and possible tube feeding- which I don't think we can do. If we learn anything more we'll let you know.

D and J


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Hi D and J,


He should have his Beak opened in a good light for you to look into his throat for signs of Canker - any small, angular or little lumps of yellow clinging to the sides anywhere.

If the food is not warm enough, they will tend to taste and shake their beaks also.


Phil
Las Vegas


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## DJbird (Aug 14, 2005)

Hi everyone,
we took the pigeon to a wonderful place on the island of Aegina in Greece where they do primarily bird (but also some other animals) rehabilitation. We recommend bird lovers make a visit (and donation!) to this place where they rehabilitate all sorts of birds back into the wild where possible or keep those who won't be able to fend for themselves. They have rare or near extinct birds and wonderful owls, hawks, eagles, cranes, and pigeons!

They removed the big thing from the one eye, gave it anitbiotics and medicine and tube-fed it water until its crop was lovely and full. He was quite surprised to be able to see out the bad eye again. They said it was not avian pox- which we had been afraid of. Probably salminella. They will keep it for 4 or 5 days and if all goes well we'll take it back and nurse it until its strong enough to fly away.

We were very happy when it finally got nourishment!! Thanks everyone for your advice. The little bit of food and water we were able to give him these last few days, thanks to your advice on recipes and procedures, probably kept him going.

D and J


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

Thank you for the wonderful update. 
Lets hope for the best for this lovely bird.

Reti


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