Little Dove

This morning a man called Rob, who lives in some flats a couple of miles from here, telephoned to say he had found a cat caught dove. He said that he actually found it with the cat sitting next to it and it looked fine, but on closer inspection he found blood on its back. This is the second his second rescue in about a month...very nice lad!

The wound looked more like a scrape and I wonder if the cat picked it up and carried it, wounding it accidentally.

It was quite warm, but I put it under a heatlamp anyway and that seems to have perked it up a bit...I hope so! I am just waiting to give it some rehydrating solution, but as it was warm I decided to give it 1/4 synulox immediately to get to work on any pasteurella as soon as possible. I hope that this was OK!

Its legs seem pretty strong, even though he hasn't stood up yet, so I don't think he has a calcium deficiency.

I asked Rob to keep an eye open for the second baby, as the cat could have taken this one out of the nest, it looks a bit young to be fully fledged.

I will post a photo later, I want to send Rob one. This one will probably go to the Haven . ..but I need to think that out as they rescued one of their own survivor doves from a sparrowhawk a few weeks ago.

At them moment it is in a heat tank in my downstairs cloakroom, where I can keep an eye on him..

Cynthia

Unless something unexpected surfaces, it sounds like he'll do OK.
The cat certainly could have done a lot more damage.
Given it was sitting next to the dove, not attempting to hurt it, it's possible he had been trying to get the dove out of harm's way. I know it's not probable, but it is possible.

Looking forward to a photo or two.

Please keep us posted.

Cindy

Quote :

I know it's not probable, but it is possible

I agree. Some years ago my moter was walking my terrier Ruthe in the woods when she heard Ruthe barking in the undergrowth. She couldn't reach her, but eventually Ruthe surfaced with a baby wood pigeon in her mouth. The woodie was unharmed except for a scrape on her leg which must have been caused when she struggled to get out of Ruthe's mouth. I know that Ruthe realised that something had to be wrong with the bird and carried it to my mother for safety.

The baby was fine.

Cynthia

This is the little sweetheart in his tank...he is well enough to perch now:

Thanks for posting the photo, Cynthia.
What a little darling.

We will never know, but I'd like to think the cat saved the little dove's life.

I love the story about Ruthe. Thanks for sharing it.

Cindy

Any word on another baby?
What is synulox...another name for clavamox perhaps?

I instruct rescuers to clean any scrapes, no mate how small, with diluted peroxide [ 10 to 1 ] or a

wound wash. Most people don't have the latter. Often it is some time before I get the bird and can

begin antibiotics. The wound cleansing does increase the odds of survival especially with baby

Pigeons/Doves and smaller birds.

I sure can understand your reluctance to takw this baby to the shelter.

I know the baby is in the very best hands with you.

This afternoon I got a call from the vet's surgery to say that two baby starlings had been handed in at reception, and they asked if I could take them. I telephoned A Wing and A Prayer and asked if they would take them as I have no experience of songbirds, they agreed to take Peanut too. By that time she was already warmed through and rehydrated.

I had to explain as soon as I got there that the fact that the surgery referred to them as starlings didn't mean that they were actually starlings, which was just as well because they turned out to be a blackbird and a dunnock!

I hadn't examined Peanut properly, or cleaned her wounds because I wanted her to be warmed through first, but they turned out to be quite nasty.

The place is really great, a cheerful hospital room and lovely big aviaries. They want to build two massive aviaries for unreleasables, with a garden inside them so that it is as natural an environment as possible. That was once my dream too, but they have the land and the contacts to do it. I hope that John and I can help the project in some way, it sounds really worthwhile.

They also had two dovecotes in the garden for their rescued tipplers (a tragic story of human cruelty that I won't repeat!) and there was a hand raised tippler that followed us around. Heaven!

I asked about the sparrowhawk and unfortunately it is still around, but they are providing food for the owls that they have released and are using the same feeding station to leave food for the sparrowhawk and the magpies, so hopefully the hawk will be too well fed to prey on the doves and songbirds. The problem is that nowhere is sparrowhawk free now, I have had them in my garden, in the park and even outside the city centre office building where I used to work so the little dove would be at risk wherever it was released.

Unfortunately I went without a mask and spent too much time in the hospital room , so my lungs feel rough at the moment. Diane, who runs the sanctuary with her husband also has been diagnosed with HP, so I felt I couldn't make a big thing about it and leave the room when she was in there working with the birds every day. She said that she usually suffers from a reaction when she has a collared dove in.

Cynthia

Another call from the vet this afternoon, this time they had a bluetit which turned out to be a Great tit...but it gave me the opportunity to see my dove again. On the last visit I had told Diane how well doves get along with woodies, so was pleased to find it sitting on a perch in a cage, snuggled up to a baby woodie.

Cynthia

How adorable. I'd love to see a picture of that.

Cynthia wrote:

On the last visit I had told Diane how well doves get along with woodies, so was pleased to find it sitting on a perch in a cage, snuggled up to a baby woodie.

Cynthia

How cute that must have been.

Cindy