No rest for the wicked

Two more sick pigeons (from the park) today.

One didn't make it, passed away in a matter of minutes. He was a very young adult, just skin and bone, very dehydrated, with a lump in his crop. As it was an extremely hot day, I didn't warm him, just gave him some hydrating solution, but I could tell that wouldn't be enough. As I can't do sub-q, I was about to try the emergency hydration through the vent I read about in PT once, but there was no time. :(
It's so strange... I found him 'roosting' in the middle of a narrow street, where he had just missed being run over (the car's wheels passed either side of him). I had taken that as a sign that it wasn't his time to go, but I was wrong.

The other one, also a young adult, can't walk or fly much. The wings are okay, but one of her knees is very swollen. I couldn't feel any fractures, so it might be Salmonella. She can eat and drink by herself, but has a little difficulty swallowing. I put her on Baytril, Flagyl, and (once a day) Metacam for the joint inflammation. Does that seem alright? She's on a soft mattress and I've called her Penny.

I'm sorry to hear about your incoming and the passing of one, Teresa.
It sounds like it might have been a bad case of canker, given the lump in the crop.

Glad to hear Penny is holding her own.

Please do keep us posted on how things are coming along.

Teresa, so sorry again. One should think that as someone who takes care of so many creatures you should be used to death just like in a hospice for people who are dying from cancer or aids. But I think despite everything you can never get used to death even if this is part of all life. It remains difficult to accept and it is painful - always...

Teresa...I'm so sorry.
How is Penny doing today?

Penny is eating and drinking well, she's more aware of her surroundings and she's moving about a bit more -- but she's cheating, using her wing for extra support and favouring her swollen knee.
Here she is. Sorry the photo isn't very clear but I didn't want to intrude too much. The sore leg is the one facing us.

This was the state of my baldylocks, Lillith, a few days ago:


and this was taken 2 days ago, when she moved to larger quarters:


Today she was flying much better. Although you can still see bare patches, she can fly 3 metres or more straight from the ground. I may release her soon, as she's getting so impatient to go I keep having to cover her cage to stop her attacking the bars.

Here she is (earlier today) playing musical chairs with Piper:

Teresa wrote:

Today she was flying much better. Although you can still see bare patches, she can fly 3 metres or more straight from the ground. I may release her soon, as she's getting so impatient to go I keep having to cover her cage to stop her attacking the bars.

I love your photos, Teresa. for sharing them with us.
Attacking the bars is a pretty good sign they feel they are ready to go.
Whether they really are or not is the question.

This is Paul, victim of a severe string injury that had already cost him two toes.
I found him in the park at lunchtime and he fought me all the way home trying to break free. One feisty customer! :)


I managed to get all the fine nylon string and the callous skin it was embeded in more easily than ever before by following the advice of using sterile vaseline to loosen them. (I wish I'd known this when I treated Merlin, it would have saved us both HOURS!)




As he was totally freaked out at being indoors and there were no wounds or bleeding, I decided to release him after applying some antibiotic cream. He stood ( ) on the scaffolding outside for a few seconds, then whoooosh!

Fancyfeathers wrote:

I love your photos, Teresa. for sharing them with us.
Attacking the bars is a pretty good sign they feel they are ready to go.
Whether they really are or not is the question.

I totally agree! Madam is convinced she's Wonderpidge , but I'd rather give those feathers a little longer to grow!
(She must have read this, as she started throwing her seeds around! )

They really are something else, aren't they? :That\\\'s so f

I think that's a good decision, to keep her a bit longer.
SHE may not think so!

You did a great job on taking care of Paul's foot. I know he was ever so grateful.
They may not act like it, but deep down, they are.

You're so right about Lillith!

Fancyfeathers wrote:

You did a great job on taking care of Paul's foot. I know he was every so grateful.
They may not act like it, but deep down, they are.

The poor thing was so freaked out, you could tell it had never been indoors, and he probably had a mate waiting for him. Besides, in spite of the Metacam, the treatment would have been at least very uncomfortable.
Heck, if a big creature picked me up, made me a prisonner and started poking at my feet, even for my own good, I definitely wouldn't act all sweetness and light! :eek:

Teresa wrote:

The poor thing was so freaked out, you could tell it had never been indoors, and he probably had a mate waiting for him. Besides, in spite of the Metacam, the treatment would have been at least very uncomfortable.
Heck, if a big creature picked me up, made me a prisonner and started poking at my feet, even for my own good, I definitely wouldn't act all sweetness and light! :eek:

Oh boy, this is admirable Teresa, that you are still capable of seeing a couple of things with humour. No matter how these pijjies are panicking I have the feeling they know exactly what you did for them.

After I had all these problems with my pijji family and their treatments I thought they would hate me for catching them and forcing them to eat terrible things but to my big surprise - they had forgiven me after 5 minutes and came back to eat from my hand.
I find this truly amazing...

pigeonwriter wrote:

After I had all these problems with my pijji family and their treatments I thought they would hate me for catching them and forcing them to eat terrible things but to my big surprise - they had forgiven me after 5 minutes and came back to eat from my hand.
I find this truly amazing...

That's brilliant, they must really trust you!

Penny's knee is still giving me cause for concern. It's still very hot and swollen, and part of it has an unhealthy, yellow colour. That means infection, right?

Earlier on I took some photos. Does this look like a Salmonella lump on her knee or do you think it's broken?


Tonight she stood for the first time, but you can see she's not putting any weight on her right foot:


Otherwise, she seems a lot better. She's put on a little weight, she's fighting fit and she's been preening for the last couple of days. I'm just worried that her knee could be broken and, if that's the case, what can I do?

Teresa...I don't know. Let me email to Cynthia for an opinion. It does look like it is filled with pus. Does she have any other lumps on other joints?

Oh boy! That joint really is swollen. Bless her heart.

Given that the affected area is right on the joint, it could represent a few things.
Infection or inflammation come to mind.
Generally a broken bone will produce swelling but not necessarily heat unless there is an infection of some kind going on.

Just a shot in the dark here, but do you think she could have been bitten by some kind of insect or spider?

Best wishes to you both for a speedy recovery.
Please keep us posted.

I would treat for infection with baytril (that would treat paratyphoid if that is what is causing the swelling) and give metacam which is an anti inflammatory as well as a pain killer.

Teresa, if you can't get these meds in Portugal, please send me your address, I will post some. So far whatever I have sent abroad (Germany, India, Italy) has arrived without challenge.

Cynthia

Cynthia wrote:

I would treat for infection with baytril (that would treat paratyphoid if that is what is causing the swelling) and give metacam which is an anti inflammatory as well as a pain killer.

Teresa, if you can't get these meds in Portugal, please send me your address, I will post some.

So far whatever I have sent abroad (Germany, India, Italy) has arrived without challenge.

Cynthia

That's great, Cynthia.

Cynthia wrote:

I would treat for infection with baytril (that would treat paratyphoid if that is what is causing the swelling) and give metacam which is an anti inflammatory as well as a pain killer.

Teresa, if you can't get these meds in Portugal, please send me your address, I will post some. So far whatever I have sent abroad (Germany, India, Italy) has arrived without challenge.

Cynthia

Thank you, Charis, Cindy and Cynthia, you're !
She has been on Metacam and Baytril from day 1, and also on Flagyl (just in case, as we've had so many nasty cases of canker lately), as my first suspect was joint Salmonella, but I was really worried that she might have hit that knee and broken it, in which case I wouldn't have known what to do. I've also been rubbing a little bacytracin/neomicin cream on the swelling (very gently!) and even trying Reiki. It's never worked on pigeons before, only on cats (no idea why) but it doesn't hurt to try as an extra!

There aren't any other swellings anywhere else. As for bites, the worst possible scenario would have been a bee or wasp sting. The most common pests are mosquitoes and pigeon flies, but I think we can rule them out, and our spiders are pretty harmless.

She was very underweight and very subdued when caught, but her weight and feistiness have improved a lot. I hope this means the treatment is working.

I 'm thinking of keeping her on Baytril for two weeks, and if the lump hasn't improved much, change over to Clindamicin, as the last serious case of Salmonella I treated responded very well to this sequence of antibiotics. What do you think?

OMG, She's a squeaker! I knew she was young, but I didn't realise how young!
I had to interrupt my posting when I heard her fidget. She was half walking, half dragging herself out of her mattress to the end of the cage, trying to get out!!! :eek: (Another bad reference for my hospitality!)
I thought that was a good time to clean the mattress properly, rather than just scrape away the poops from under her tail... but when my hand went in the cage I got two loud sqeaks of protest and a hearty wing-slap!

Yep, she's getting better!

Lillith-1, Teresa-0

Yes, I caved in, she got her way. It had got to the point that she was throwing herself at the bars so hard (even when the cage was covered) that I feared she would injure herself seriously.
So, with my heart in my hands, I decided to let her go. As a precaution, I took her in a carrier to the part of the park where I had found her and where there were lots of places to perch less than 5m off the ground. What followed was truly unbelievable: she took off with the greatest ease, climbing rapidly, right across the park, across the street, over the tall buildings, then described a circle and landed on one of the buildings overlooking the park, facing me. A perfect flight of over 200m horizontally and 30m vertically!
From that distance, I couldn't see her face, but I bet she was gloating...

Teresa wrote:

Lillith-1, Teresa-0

Yes, I caved in, she got her way. It had got to the point that she was throwing herself at the bars so hard (even when the cage was covered) that I feared she would injure herself seriously.
So, with my heart in my hands, I decided to let her go. As a precaution, I took her in a carrier to the part of the park where I had found her and where there were lots of places to perch less than 5m off the ground. What followed was truly unbelievable: she took off with the greatest ease, climbing rapidly, right across the park, across the street, over the tall buildings, then described a circle and landed on one of the buildings overlooking the park, facing me. A perfect flight of over 200m horizontally and 30m vertically!
From that distance, I couldn't see her face, but I bet she was gloating...

Great job, Teresa.
Fly safe, Lillith.

It sounds like Lillith had a mission in mind.
You did a , Teresa.

Here's a little revision of the Pigeon's Prayer for sweet Lillith.

Please watch over me while I fly,
Keep me safe from the predators that share the sky.

If I have any problems in any way,
Please lead me back to Teresa's where I am welcome to stay.