Near Drowning (cuz of MY bad memory!)

This is just an FYI or heads-up post.

As many of you know I have quite a few special needs pigeons. One rescue who goes by "Pogo" has only one foot. She's a tiny thing but manages fine in her way and now has a mate and (I hope) a pretty content life.

Now for the warning...last weekend I put their litter-box baths down in the coop. As usual the birds react like it's Christmas morning and I let them enjoy their soak. However...I forgot to go and collect the tubs from the coop later, I forgot all about them until the next day when I went down to feed and water...and found poor dear Pogo cold and stiff in one of the tubs. Apparently her disability prevented her from hopping or climbing out of the bath and she'd been trapped floating in the water ALL NIGHT. My fault.

Well, pigeons do float...maybe all birds do, up to a point. When I got to her i saw that she was still struggling to keep her beak and nose barely above the water. I thought she was a goner, gasping wetly as she was, her eyes rolling up in hr head, I assumed she'd inhaled plenty of water and was going to die in my hands. She didn't, and I put her in a box with heating pad and warm dry towels. Later I put fresh dry towels down and later still she was standing up and I left her a drink and some seeds.

24 hours later she was right as rain, feisty and strong and I put her back with her flock.

When I picked her up her legs had gone stiff and her entire overall appearance was of a deceased bird. When I realized she was actually not quite gone, I was convinced she was about to expire. I know we've all seen them recover from terrible wounds and illness but I have no experience with drowning and am just shocked that she recovered with just a little rest. She apparently was near completely exhausted and no doubt would have drowned if I hadn't found her when I did.

I consider myself pretty careful with my birds, but anybody can make a mistake - this is just a note to share caution when allowing those with special needs their bath time - best to keep a close eye and remove the water right away when they are done.

As for the mechanics of it; I mean to inquire of my avian vet next visit. Does anyone know? Perhaps if she had inhaled some water her body was able to absorb it? I had a concern that she might develop pneumonia if she did inhale some water, so am keeping an eye on her health for a while to make sure she's OK.

Thank heaven for this good ending. I can imagine your shock when you realized what had happened. Your little Pogo is really a fighter!

I thought a couple of times about buying some deeper bathtubs in order to give them more fun. I won't do and leave it as it is with rather shallow tubs now. As I often leave the bathtub on the balcony for a couple of hours and not observed all the time I think it is much safer to go with the current solution which is only about 2 1/2 inches deep:

Hello, my friend. Good to see you here.

I apprecitate you sharing your experience ... it's one we all can learn from. You and Pogo are very lucky you found her in time. ...must have had an angel on your shoulder.
If she were here, I would start her on antibiotic as a precaution.

Through the years, I have lost 2 disabled birds to drowning. The first was a one winged dove, that was apparently spooked during the night and drown in her drinking water.
The other was a splayed leg adult pigeon that drown in the bath water that the house sitter left down, at night.
It's also important to remove water, at night, from cages with young birds or sick birds.

What a frightening experience to go through! :eek: I'm so glad you found her in time.

The stiffness and other symptoms you described make me wonder if she was suffering more from the effects of the cold and damp than anything else. In addition to that, her exhaustion and fear must have taken their toll. I think at the point you found her she was just going into shock.

Something similar happened with one of my cats who was run over. She managed to get into the garden and promptly collapsed at the kitchen door, totally stiff and with her eyes rolled back. Not knowing what else to do, I shoved her inside my jumper and ran all the way to the vet's. I thought she was dead, but wouldn't accept it. Ten minutes later I felt her go floppy, her eyes opened and she purred at me. The vet laughed, 'The warmth, your heartbeat and the sound of your voice were exactly what she needed to come round.' It turned out she got away with just a few bruises.

Teresa - this is really interesting. In any case - the heartbeat of a loving person seems to help any creature in pain or shock.

I completely missed this thread.
Oh my goodness!! What a frightening thing to have happen to you both.
I'm glad to hear there was a good outcome, Snipes.

Fancyfeathers wrote:

I completely missed this thread.
Oh my goodness!! What a frightening thing to have happen to you both. :Very sad:
I'm glad to hear there was a good outcome, Snipes.

I agree...it must have been terrible frightening.