Another sick feral

Another sick feral pigeon showed up aon Friday night t the usual triage location, looking for help. He was sitting on a ledge a few feet off the ground, standing on one foot with his eyes closed and so fluffed up, he almost looked round. I tossed a T-shirt over him and he reacted very strongly to try to escape. I stuck him in a box with a heating pad overnight, and on Saturday morning force-fed him corn & peas. He drank water on his own. I gave him a spartrex tablet, assuming he had canker. I fed and watered him three more times on Saturday and he seemed a little better Saturday night. This morning (sunday) I gave him another spartrex and fed him more corn and peas. He was pretty resistant to eating and only drank a little water. I fed him again around noon, and he only ate a few pieces of corn and peas. He threw those up a few minutes later. Now he's sitting around all fluffed up again and kind of hunched over a bit.

Here are pictures of the patient:




This is his poop Saturday morning:



And Sunday morning:



I have some doxycycline liquid from March 20 that I have kept refrigerated. It was prescribed for this pigeon when he was vomiting:

https://pij-n-angels.forumotion.net/feral-pigeons-and-doves-f3/baby-ferals-t1352-45.htm

Should I start treating this new guy with the doxycycline, or would it have lost its potency by now?

As always, any advice would be appreciated.

Looks like a little hen. Do you have any worm medicine?
How about Pepto Bismo? Applesauce?
You know where I'm going with this , don't you?

I have applesauce babyfood and mediworm.

I assume I take a syringe and put drops of applesaue in her mouth (how much?) and then give her a mediworm tablet. Actually, I guess I should give her the mediworm tablet first, and then wait a few hours before the applesauce, right?

What are the instructions on the mediworm? I'm not familiar with it

Here's all the details on Mediworm:

http://www.jedds.com/-strse-510/MEDIWORM-TABLETS-100-ct/Detail.bok

MEDIWORM TABLETS 100 ct (Medpet)

SKU: MED034

A broadspectrum deworming tablet for pigeons, raptors and galliforms. Mediworm is currently the only broadspectrum single dose, combination tablet, known of in the world. Highly effective against Roundworm, Hairworm and Tapeworm.

Extremely safe, causes no regurgitation and is very economical. The small size of the tablet makes it easy to dose. Mediworm is the golden standard in routine deworming.

Composition:
. Pyrantel Pamoate 20mg
. Praziquantel 5mg

Dosage Treatment:
. May be used in the breeding and racing season.
. Dose one Mediworm tablet per pigeon. The tablet must be dosed on an empty crop.
. In case of severe worm infestations, it is advisable to repeat the treatment after 14 days.

If you have Pepto Bismo, I would give a drop of that and then the wormer if the bird's crop is empty.
The bird may be ill with several things more as well.

You sure do have your hands full, Jim.

I hope you are able to get the vomiting under control.

I would continue to offer him the heating pad, leaving an area for him to move off it if he so chooses.

Please keep us posted on how things are coming along.

I gave her a mediworm tablet, and she seems to have kept it down.

I waited about 5 hours and tried to get some applesauce babyfood into her. It was quite a bit of a struggle, but I probably got her to swallow about a teaspoon and a half. I also got a feww cc's of water in her by putting a drop at a time in the end of her beak. (She took a healthy drink of water about 12 hours ago, but has been very resistant to eating or drinking anything since then.) Right after the applesauce feeding, I put her back in her box and she pooped a small amount of bright green liquid with a dark green center:



Her feathers got mussed up a bit as she struggled to get out of the T-shirt I had wrapped her in, and she is not preening or putting them back into place. When she stands on one leg to scratch, she has to catch her balance.

I'm keeping her heating pad on as Cindy suggested, and she is standing on it.

Any updated advice and/or suggestions are welcome.

My thought on the loss of balance and consistency/color of the droppings might be due, in part, due to starvation.

Realizing she has been vomiting some, and it's hard to get anything to stay down, she really does need some nourishment.

Were you able to give her a drop of the Pepto Bismol?

I agree with Cindy about the stavation poop. Pepto Bismo helpful too.

I would keep her on the applesauce for the rest of the day. ...5ccs of slightly warmed applesauce to begin and feed her everytime her crop empties, increasing the amount of applesause by 2 ccs each feeding and working up to 12 ccs. If she can keep the applesauce down today, then maybe defrosted peas tomorrow.
You will need to check her crop frequently to see if it's emptying. I'm hoping the applesauce will move through quickly.

Please do keep us posted, Jim.
We will all do our best to help you along.

Fancyfeathers wrote:

Please do keep us posted, Jim.
We will all do our best to help you along.

That's a promise.

It would be helpful to see another poop picture after a few feedings.

Matilda wrote:

It would be helpful to see another poop picture after a few feedings.

:Yes:

Matilda wrote:

I would keep her on the applesauce for the rest of the day. ...5ccs of slightly warmed applesauce to begin...

May I ask what the applesauce does?

joyful_pigeon wrote:

Matilda wrote:

I would keep her on the applesauce for the rest of the day. ...5ccs of slightly warmed applesauce to begin...

May I ask what the applesauce does?

Applesause is easy to digest, easy on the crop. In the case of sour crop, it changes the PH balance and helps to get things moving.

Matilda wrote:

Applesause is easy to digest, easy on the crop. In the case of sour crop, it changes the PH balance and helps to get things moving.

Ohhh, I see! Good to know! for the info, Charis.

Fancyfeathers wrote:

Please do keep us posted, Jim.
We will all do our best to help you along.

I don't know much about medical stuff, but I will try to help by doing this:



Cheering you on, Jim!! Hope your feral rescues have a speedy recovery.

How is she doing JIm?

I personally love applesause. :Yes:

After following the applesauce regimen for all of Sunday, her poops began to look normal. But only the first few right after she ate -- then the poops went back to alarming-green.

I've been using a feeding syringe like this one:

https://www.juliespetmarket.com/images/lx00482_hand-feeding-syringe.jpg

to squirt small amounts of applesauce in the front of her mouth, while she's wrapped in a T-shirt. She usually swallows a lot of it, but throws quite a bit around, shaking her head.

I gave her another dose of applesauce this morning and she was a lot more receptive. She still didn't like having her beak forced open, but seemed eager to swallow the applesauce once it was in her mouth. After some obligatory head-shaking and applesauce-throwing, she started pecking at some of the applesauce that had landed on the T-shirt, near her head. I put a few more glons of applesauce ther, and she pecked those up too. I crumbled up some corn bread and put that where the applesauce had been and she ate that too.

About three hours later, I offered her some more crumbled up cornbread and she ate a lot. While I was reaching behind me to get more cornbread, she managed to get out of the T-shirt in my lap and jumped onto the table in front of me. She was very weak and had a little trouble standing and walking. We reached an understanding though, because she ate a bunch of cornbread out of my hand and didn't try to get away. She also drank a bunch of water. I've been keeping a pile of crumbled cornbread in one corner of her box and offering her water every hour. She pecks at the cornbread occasionally and eats a bit, and she's been drinking a little water everytime I offer her some. Also, she doesn't try to get out of the box anymore when I take the cover off. I'd like to think it's a sign of trust, but more likely it's a sign of illness.

Her first poops after a cornbread meal look fairly normal, but then, after a while, we go back to green poop. Here's a picture a couple hours after she ate her fill of cornbread:



And here's a close-up of the poop:



You can see the first, comparatively normal-looking, poop in the lower left corner.

She still seems pretty weak, and spends most of her time in extreme-fluffy mode. I think she's better, but probably still not out of the woods. Suggestions?

Thanks for the update, Jim.

If you aren't already doing so, you might want to add just a pinch of salt and sugar to a cup of water and give that to her. This will help to keep her electrolytes in check. After making sure all is dissolved, you can then pour the water in the container you are already using. I believe I would have water available to her at all times, unless there is a specific reason not to.

I'm glad to hear she has taken to the applesauce.
Since she has also taken to the corn bread, you might want to try putting a few seeds down and she how she does with those.

Do you have a heating pad available for her to stand/lay on? If so, please make sure there is a space for her to move off it if she so chooses.

Please keep us posted.

Did you start the baytril? ...1/2 pill one time a day for 10 days.

If she is keeping the applesause down you need to feed her the defrosted warmed peas.
I know you know how many each time but for the benefit of those that will read this thread in the future...30-40 peas everytime her crop empties and seed and water always available.
You can also feed more peas if she wants them.


Here are the pre-written instructions...

If you are seeing bright green poop, it could be the bird isn't eating enough on his own and may need to be hand fed. He also could be ill. Often the young birds will try to eat the seed and so folks assume they are eating when they really aren't.
It would be great if you could post a picture of the poop so we can give you a better opinion.
You can hand feed defrosted corn and peas. Run some hot water over them until they are defrosted and slightly warmed. Put the bird on your lap and hold it next to your body. If it helps, you can wrap a towel around it or put it in the sleeve of a tee shirt, with the head out the wrist. That confines them without hurting them and makes it easier to handle. Gently open the beak and pop the piece of corn and peas at the back of the mouth and over the throat.
You will need to feed 40-50 per feeding and every time the crop empties until you know the baby is eating on his own.
This is a wonderful method for teaching babies to eat because they feel the whole food in their mouth and it’s soft and easy to pick up and hang on to. The next step… seeds.
The crop is located right below the throat and with food it fills up like a little balloon. The peas and corn make it lumpy and squishy.

Matilda wrote:

Did you start the baytril?

I started it today --or at least I think I did. She shook her head and spit it out a couple of times, but I think I finally swallowed it -- at least, I couldn't find it laying around anywhere.

She wasn't interested in cornbread this morning, so I gave her another meal of applesauce an hour or so after the baytril. I dind't want to risk peas and possible vomiting until I was sure the baytril had been absorbed/digested. I'll try some peas when her crop empties.

She hasn't thrown up any of the applesauce...right? You should be fine feeding her the peas...not the corn...just the peas and if she keeps them down you can add corn tomorrow.