Rudi's Story - severe string injury

pigeonwriter wrote:

Thank you so much Cindy.
* Here is another little video I made already in September - it shows how it looked like when Pina started to fall in love with Rudi while he was still confined in his box and they could not touch one another.

** So just imagine the cover of Rudi's box was closed when Pina was always climbing behind his box and communicating with Rudi through the plastic walls...

* Cute video, Petra.

** I bet that was driving Pina nuts.
But as she has found out, the wait for the cover to come off was well worth it.

Those are very cute videos Petra. That's too bad that Rudi's feet are still stiff. I think you are right in being concerned about them. He does pretty well, but if the flock were to go perch somewhere where he needed to hang on, he wouldn't be able to stay with them. That could be a problem. Maybe in time, they will improve.

pigeonwriter wrote:

Matilda wrote:

I don't know if you have DMSO in Germany and if you do, it may help to rub some of that on Rudi's stiff toes.
Elli has the same trouble because of the surgery he had done to his foot and his foot is clubbed. At time he looses his balance and he can't perch with that foot.

Charis - thank you very much for this tip. Yes, I would have access to DMSO 98% solution via Ebay - but I am not sure how I am supposed to use this stuff which is quite dangerous if not used properly from what I have read. Can you tell me how I have to use this? I really don't want to make things worse and even burn Rudi's feet.
Btw - you did not say how it helped really with Elli? Can you describe some?

You would want to put a very small amount on the frozed toes and rub it in.... wear gloves when you do or you will absorb it and have the odd taste in your mouth.

I have not used it on Elli but I did use it on Matilda's sore foot and it did help.

I can understand your concern about Rudi's toes, Petra. When the injuries are very severe there may be some permanent loss of sensitivity and even deformation, but the main thing is that he's managing very well considering how injured he was before.
As Charis said, massage will help him with regaining sensitivity, and DMSO has the particularity of deeply penetrating tissue (without burning, don't worry) to stimulate the circulation. It's the liniment of choice for leg injuries in horses. I don't know how much should be used though.
If you're buying it from Ebay, how is it getting to you? Because the problem is that DMSO is marketed as a thinner, and as such cannot be posted air mail, because it's flammable. I can't get any because of that, and I wouldn't want anyone to get into trouble by trying to post it to me, against the rules. Second best is Arnica gel, which is easy to obtain and it's pretty good at improving circulation and reducing swelling. Not as effective as DMSO, but a big help.

Dear Charis and Teresa,
thank you so much for your quick answers. I will order it definitely and try it and let you know about it.
Regarding your concern Teresa, I can order a small quantity and as it is shipped per truck there is no problem.

Today the DMSO arrived and I treated Rudi's feet for the first time. I used a q-tip to apply the liquid and then gave his toes a little massage.
How often do I have to do this now? Daily? Or rather every couple of days? I applied the stuff pure without diluting it in any way - I hope this is correct. I don't want to do anything wrong.

I've heard of other people using it daily, and using it neat, as you did. But someone with personal experience of using it will be able to give you better advice.

Best wishes to dear Rudi!

pigeonwriter wrote:

Today the DMSO arrived and I treated Rudi's feet for the first time. I used a q-tip to apply the liquid and then gave his toes a little massage.
How often do I have to do this now? Daily? Or rather every couple of days? I applied the stuff pure without diluting it in any way - I hope this is correct. I don't want to do anything wrong.

I don't have a definate answer for you Petra but I doubt one time would make a difference. I would evaluate daily to see if he is acting differently. I'd do the same for 5 days at least.

Sorry for the later answer but I had a severe computer problem - my RAMs not working any more due to broken soldering on the pins - so I was without computer for a few days. Now it has been repaired and my 8 year old laptop is working like a charm again.

Rudi's feet continue to improve. I cannot say yet that the stiffness has improved by applying that DMSO stuff but I have the feeling that it also helps with new tissue growth i.e. the parts which were hardened by pus and dead tissue are falling off now, i.e. I can carefully remove them now.

I have to shoot some new photos so that you can see the difference from the original condition. It is amazing how good it has healed already in comparison to what it looked like at the beginning. I am sure that if I had not been able to catch him he would now have only a stump on one leg and would be missing 2 toes on his other foot. And Pina would not have such a sweet mate.

Btw - although Rudi does not like to be touched he is an extremely uncomplaining and calm patient and each evening he goes to bed all by himself like a trained poudle. I wonder what this is with all of our pijjies who start to behave like trained poudles although I did nothing for it . It is so funny

Nothing really new from Rudi and Pina besides that they are sitting again on eggs (plaster to be)....
But I finally have some new photos from Rudi's feet:

Here the original condition:



and this is now:















This was one of the last abominations I pulled out of his feet a couple of days ago:



And this is when he enjoyed the last november sun on the balcony:



I can only say I am more than happy. Happy for Rudi, happy for Pina and myself!!!

Thank you so much for the update, Petra.
Rudi's feet look wonderful.
You've done such a good job of caring for him.

And I agree happy celebrations all around.

Wow, what a difference! That's just the best outcome I've ever seen for such a severe injury!
I'm SO happy for you and for them!

Cindy and Teresa - thank you so much. But if I had not met you guys I would not have known what to do. I am grateful for having the internet and being in contact with people who are so generous and where I can learn tons from.

Rudi has taken a piece of my heart as well. He is such a lovely character and such a patient patient (geez - what a word combination ). And he has learned to love his home here!

We have constant "pigeon pets" here now (Pina and Rudi) or should I rather say lodgers with a luxury accomodation (i.e. 3 nests - one under my working table, one on the closet and one under a chair) who can go out whenever someone is here to open them the door and they come back when they want. What a pair and what a wonderful "contract". I think it could not be better.

I only wonder whether they will leave one day - I have no idea. It will be a very heavy event for me but I don't want to think about it now...

Your pijjies do indeed have the best of two worlds, Petra.
And I know they are ever so grateful for everything you have done, and continue to do, for them.

Lucky pigeons!

Hi Petra,

I finally managed to upload the 'before and after' photos of Paul's string injury:

http://www.pigeonangels.com/pigeon-and-dove-illness-and-injury-discussion-forum-f21/severe-string-injury-14-months-later-t2377.htm#33505

Thank you so much Teresa - this is a great insight!

Haven't been around for a while because of much work but thought you might have a little update. Hope you all had a nice Christmas and a wonderful change into the New Year!

Christmas Eve was actually not so quite lucky with us: Rudi got stuck with his toe on his bad left foot and tore it completely - it was heavily bleeding and I was sure it was broken. Already a few days before it became heavily swollen again and he started to limp again. I started treatment with DMSO again because I was sure that he was in pain again. But it did not get better. I was quite worried especially because I observed him how he got stuck various times with this toe. And then it happened on Christmas Eve.

The only thing I could do was stopping the bleeding and treating him with DMSO (which also serves as painkiller) again and bandage his foot so that nothing worse happened. I also kept him inside of course. I was quite sure that he would lose this toe.
On Christmas day, when I changed his bandage, I already noticed that his toe was turning an unhealthy dark colour and confirmed what I was fearing. I really could not decide what to do whether I should help him by amputating his toe which seemed to be connected only through a few fibers of the bone - which was actually a horror thought - or just let it go all by himself.

I decided to bandage his single toes and his foot. At least he did not seem to be in pain any more and he could walk quite well with his bandages. Looked sort of funny.

The next day I watched him how he desperately tried to remove the bandages with his beak, tearing and pulling nearly the whole day - so I decided to remove everything and let him out again. The toe was really dark in the meanwhile and was starting to dry up. So I thought it would fall off eventually. The rest of the foot looked quite okay.

In the early afternoon he came back, apparently in very good mood, chasing Charly around and then he climbed over the feet of my chair, somehow stumbled and then I realized that there was something lying under my desk:

you probably can guess my horror - it was his toe. After this initial shock I realized that Rudi apparently was glad to be free of this unnaturally swollen thing and he started to walk normally again. There was no bleeding and the next day I saw that the wound was already closed and healing.

In the meanwhile Rudi can walk and climb much better than before and I can say that this accident ended in a happy ending. I have also realized that he has apparently more feeling in his remaining toes - maybe the nerves are now regenerating.

He is running along the balustrade as he never did before, dancing and courting with any female he can get access to including his mother-in-law (Winnie) and his gandma-in-law (Emily) but Pina is still his real mate of course. Rudi is in great shape with his 7 toes .
Now he has entirely stopped to get stuck with his toes and I need not be afraid any more that something bad happens to him outside where I cannot help him.



Btw - I kept his dead toe (warning - it is really gross):

I sympathise entirely with how you must have felt... The same happened to me with Merlin, ages ago, when I saw him standing on one toe that was only hanging by a thread!

I see from the photo that the toe was barely attached by the time it fell off. So Rudi is much better off without it!
Amazing creatures, pigeons! Imagine how handy it would be for us to just let go of a non-essential part of the body that's just causing us problems!

Thanks again for that BEAUTIFUL Christmas greeting! A very happy 2011 to you and yours!

Yes Teresa - you are absolutely right. I only hope that this is it now. He's had enough problems now.

I am so sorry to hear about Rudi's misfortune, Petra.
I'm glad he's made a good recovery.

It's truly incredible what these birds can withstand.

It was great to read the update Petra


You do know that if anything terrible is going to happen it usually does over a holiday!

I'm so to read that Rudy hurt his toe but very happy to read that it seem to have taken care of itself & that the wonderful Rudy is up and running no worse for it!