Severe string injury 14 months later

This was a rare oportunity to see the extent to which a feral with a severe string injury healed over a period of 14 months.

The first time I caught him, I removed the string and, as there was no bleeding (old injury) I removed also the callous material that had formed under and around it -- after giving him one drop of Metacam for the pain and inflammation. As the bird was acting very stressed at being caged, I released him after applying only an antibiotic ointment to the feet. This was the only occasion a bird with a major injury was released so soon, but I feared he might injure his feet further as he was trying to climb up the sides of the cage, even when it was covered.

Recently I caught him again, when he was looking under the weather, puffed up and not eating. He recovered well after being medicated and wormed, and he's been released.
Here are the photos:

1st September 2009, after string removal:



Right foot:



Left foot:




15th November 2010:



(The ring is on his right leg)

Thanks for sharing the photos and info, Teresa.

I often see the callous material in pigeons that have had foot injury of some kind, be that from string or an old pox sore. The callous is actually old poop that has built up and actually started to grow into the foot and can take over the foot making it impossible for the bird to perch. Often it can't be removed, which is very sad because it must be very painful. Removing callouses that are just beginning can cause a lot of bleeding.
The fifth picture looks like a callous that is just beginning.

I hope this little guy does well. It's great that you can track your rehabs through the bands.

Good photos, Teresa! Thanks for sharing!
It is always a worry when birds don't settle down in their cages - some cause feather damage, rip off a toe nail or damage their beaks. I find that the longer-term pigeon patients start to get fed up with being in their cage - they want to leave and start jumping about. It can be a very difficult.

Matilda wrote:

I often see the callous material in pigeons that have had foot injury of some kind, be that from string or an old pox sore. The callous is actually old poop that has built up and actually started to grow into the foot and can take over the foot making it impossible for the bird to perch. Often it can't be removed, which is very sad because it must be very painful. Removing callouses that are just beginning can cause a lot of bleeding. The fifth picture looks like a callous that is just beginning.

Thanks, Charis! I've seen callouses before on pigeons but didn't know why they had them. I wonder why the poop grows into the foot?

Rev...it may have something to do with soft poop that sicks to the foot and toes and any fungus that may be in the poop. Pigeons can't clean their own rootsing sites and we all know that pigeons nests, are often just one big pile of poop.
I see this condition in crows, too.

Teresa and Charis, thank you very much for these photos. It looks as if the deep cuts have closed to some extent.
Regarding the callouses - I am not quite sure what you mean with these - is it dead stuff? - I am glad that I continued to remove apparently dead parts from Rudi's feet so that it could heal properly. It is a blessing that he lives with Pina in our appartment so that I can get access to him whenever neccessary. Also I still bathe his feet once a week in warm water to clean them completely from poop and other stuff. So I can see whether he has new injuries etc.

Now I know that my instinct was right to continue with this treatment n

Matilda wrote:

I often see the callous material in pigeons that have had foot injury of some kind, be that from string or an old pox sore. The callous is actually old poop that has built up and actually started to grow into the foot and can take over the foot making it impossible for the bird to perch. Often it can't be removed, which is very sad because it must be very painful. Removing callouses that are just beginning can cause a lot of bleeding.
The fifth picture looks like a callous that is just beginning.
I hope this little guy does well. It's great that you can track your rehabs through the bands.

You mean the poop-covered callous on his left foot, don't you? This one was not as bad as it looked, because after taking the photos I cleaned his feet and managed to get all the poop off, together with a very thin layer of dead skin, and there was no bleeding at all. So I guess it hadn't started growing into the foot yet.

Is there a safe way to remove a callous that would bleed? Can it be soaked and softened day after day until a point when it can be removed, like the callous (caused by string constriction) that Petra finally managed to remove from Rudi's foot?