Golubiatko's new life: a diary of a PMV pigie

Capuccino wrote:

This is a pic of Speckles, PMV pigeon, who has the 'strange eye'. As you see, the pupil is misshapen and dominates the lower part of the eye. Not sure if this affects her vision.

John

Oh! Speckles is so lovely and so kissable!
Thanks for the input: now I have more info to play with. I have not looked up the eye distortions on the Mighty Bible and Universal Best Library yet (Google, so to speak).

Speckles looks very much like a Pigeon I received yesterday. Very pretty little bird.

Speckles is our "Matriarch". I don't know if she is older than our other hens, but she has been in the aviary the longest, 8 years.

Cynthia

Hi Peter,
We've got a great team here and working together I'm confident things will turn around for you and Golubiatko.

It's interesting about the 'eye' issue.
As with Golubiatko and Speckles, our Dumpling also has one 'underdeveloped' (for lack of a better description) eye.

I've often wondered what caused it.

Matilda wrote:

Peter...how is Golubiako doing?

April 15, 2009: for the first time, I saw Golubiatko wondering around her cardboard box and trying to peck some corn kernels. But she did not eat it: it appears that she now can see kernels but is still unable to eat them. She tried about 4 to 5 kernels, but they ended up still on the floor. I remembered I did not tube-feed her this evening: perhaps she is hungry but apparently she is still unable to eat on her own despite her first attempts.
Another thing: the stomping of her feet is definitely sign of nervous system problems (can not be mites or worms - that was taken care of a while ago). The only explanation for her feet stomping is partial lack of feeling in her body, including feet. Thus, she is stomping trying to get a feel of the surface she is on. She gets feedback of her stomping through her hearing: her hearing is one sense that is more or less unaffected by the PMV. She is stomping just like I was stomping when I sat in some weird position and my leg went numb - I stomped that leg trying to get the feeling back. So, the stomping should go away, in a month or two, as her nervous system recovers.

Thanks for the update, Peter.

Have you tried moving your finger in front of her face to see her reaction?

Fancyfeathers wrote:

Thanks for the update, Peter.

Have you tried moving your finger in front of her face to see her reaction?

Yes, today there was a change in her reaction, for the first time: she attempted to defend herself when I tried to finger her beak - she weakly tried to peck my finger, once (thinking it was some fat pink snake, of course, that was trying to attack her). In the past, her sight was so poor she barely noticed anything. As to her damaged eye, it is too early to do any tests for several reasons:
1. She should rest as much as possible and avoid any stress. This ensures speediest recovery.
2. There will be definite and more reliable way to test her bad eye when she recovers: there will be no way of confusing the results of any tests with symptoms of PMV.

Quote :

She tried about 4 to 5 kernels, but they ended up still on the floor.

Thanks for the update.

Did she manage to pick the the kernels up? Does she have seed in a deep dish?

Cynthia

Cynthia wrote:

Quote :

She tried about 4 to 5 kernels, but they ended up still on the floor.

Thanks for the update.

Did she manage to pick the the kernels up? Does she have seed in a deep dish?

Cynthia

Seeds are on a very shallow plate and some on the floor - from her previous attempts to eat them. She barely can pick the kernels - they fall from her beak when she has them about one inch from the floor. So, she is very weak or/and dis-coordinated. But she is getting stronger: she jumped down from the cardboard box already about three times this morning, walked around but got right back on her perching place, immediately. She is definitely getting better but very slowly.

Matilda wrote:

That's good news, Peter. I have no doubt she will recover with you as her care taker. Every ill pigeon should be so fortunate. You are doing an amazing job.

The correct treatment and care is 95% proper diagnosis, and only about 5% of it is .... well ... the rest.

Peter,
I would suggest putting the seeds in a deep dish, rather than a shallow one.
The chance of her actually 'getting' some seeds is much greater using a deep dish.

Fancyfeathers wrote:

Peter,
I would suggest putting the seeds in a deep dish, rather than a shallow one.
The chance of her actually 'getting' some seeds is much greater using a deep dish.

Well, I have not told you: she does have two dishes: one is deep and another one is shallow. She picks kernels and seeds just fine from any of them, and especially she likes to pick seeds/kernels from the floor (being a Portland State University educated bird, eating near the food carts there and all). I concluded that the shape or form of a dish does not make any difference to her. Her problem is different one.

If there's enough of a decline in the pigeon population in a specific area to be noticed, you can bet something is amiss.

How is Golubiatko doing, Peter.

Peter has been updating his first post on a regualr baisi and I think we have all been missing it.

Matilda wrote:

Peter has been updating his first post on a regualr baisi and I think we have all been missing it.

No, I haven't missed any of his posts.
It's been about a week since he last posted.

Well...I have.
He updated his first post yesterday, sent me an email to tell me so and then I realized he had been up dating his first post rather than to make new posts.
I'm very sorry I missed them. I'm on track now though.

Matilda wrote:

Well...I have.
He updated his first post yesterday, sent me an email to tell me so and then I realized he had been up dating his first post rather than to make new posts.
I'm very sorry I missed them. I'm on track now though.

With that said, yes, you're right, we all probably have been missing them.

Peter,
We really look forward to your updates and don't want to miss any.
Please do start a new post when updating.

Cindy

Peter, even if she never regains her sight, she can be taught to eat seeds out of a dish. Maybe Cindy will comment on that some more as she has a blind Pigeon whose name is Ray Charles.

Oh, I am not worried that she is not going to learn to eat again. She probably will, after 3-4 months.
I am only reporting on her progress or lack of it (so far). I read on pigeons.biz that one pigie recovered from PMV after 3 months and started cooing and got attached to the caretaker. If she starts cooing at me we will be happily live ever after even if I can not let her fly again (can not let her fly with one eye - too many hawks that can approach her from the blind Half-Of-The-World).

Matilda wrote:

Peter, even if she never regains her sight, she can be taught to eat seeds out of a dish. Maybe Cindy will comment on that some more as she has a blind Pigeon whose name is Ray Charles.

I agree...she never will be able to be released with only parctial sight. Still...she can be taught to eat on her own.

Well, I have been cooing to her all day long while working/studying. 24 hrs - 10 hrs of sleep = 14 hrs of cooing. So, when she starts cooing back we will live happily ever after, Golubiatko and I.
Coo coo coo.

Matilda wrote:

I agree...she never will be able to be released with only parctial sight. Still...she can be taught to eat on her own.

Peter,
Our Rae Charles is completely blind and does wonderfully.

My husband and I have had her 6 years.

She learned quickly where her grit, seed and water dishes were.
She is in her own cage within the aviary and loves it.

I placed a flat perch the width of her cage and close to the floor, then place her grit, seed and water dishes right in front of the perch. I would tap the seed dish against the cage until she discovered what direction it was coming from and stepped on her perch. She learned quickly that whenever she steps on the perch her food and water are right there.

It's interest, she will dip her beak in each dish until she finds the one she's looking for. e.g., She may dip her beak in her grit dish but she wanted her seeds, so she will move her head to the right just a bit to where her seed dish is.

This isn't the best photo but you can get an idea of her setup. She's standing right behind her perch.
She actually has a lot more room then it appears. Must be the angle that I took the picture.