Sick Morning Dove Found

[Dentoid]

My wife and I just found a morning dove in our backyard that is very lethargic and apparently sick. It's alive, but doesn't respond much to our touch. We have been able to examine it and have found no physical problems. Is there anything we can do to help it? It's heartbreaking.

 

[BEELZEBOB]

it may seem callous, but i have issues watching things suffer.

sometimes its best to put it out of its misery as quick, and humainly as possible

 

[Varga]

antibiotics may help.

when I was a kid I found a half dead hawk! gave him antibiotics left over from our cat's visit to the vet. the thing was healthy in a week, tried to poke my eyes out so we let it go

 

[Dentoid]

it may seem callous, but i have issues watching things suffer.

sometimes its best to put it out of its misery as quick, and humainly as possible

Not going to happen!

Varga, I have access to antibiotics, but don't have a clue to the dosage. We are getting it to drink water from a soaked piece of wheat bread.

 

[Dentoid]

It died!:cry1:

 

[goldenmean]

:angel3: Poor Thing.

 

[SubRosa]

Handle with care!Several nasty diseases(Legionella,Psittacosis for example)pass freely from birds to humans.Good luck!

John

 

[Varga]

Subrosa is right, I have heard pigeons can carry some horrible diseases.

I would just give it a little antibiotics, like 1/2 tspn twice aday.

 

[JWarren]

That's too bad Scott!

First thing to do when you find a bird that is not doing too good is to eliminate the possibility of it being malnourished. Some laying mash mixed with water to a flow-able state in a 50 cc syringe with a tube placed into the stomach of the bird, will do wonders. Years ago when I had homing pigeons I would get calls from people that had found my tagged birds. First thing I did when I went to pick them up was feed them this way. Fill um up till it overflows back out the mouth, then you know they were full bellied.

Sorry about the bird and not getting in here earlier.

 

[Dentoid]

Thanks John. My wife was holding it and giving it water on a piece of bread, it was interested. After about 20 minutes it flew up to the roof of the house. We went to look for it and found it dead on the roof. It went really fast. I think it's heart could not take the burst of flight energy.

 

[Royalscott]

I am so sorry.

 

[JWarren]

Scott.

Their metabolic rate is very fast, not as fast as humming birds, but fast just the same. The frightened state of the bird was probably burning up what it was consuming while your wife was holding it. So, you may be right that the flight to the roof sealed it's own fate. But hey, it's a wild bird and it's just following it's natural survival instinct to get away from what it thought was danger. Don't take it too bad, you did all you could do with the short time you had to do anything with.

I applaud you and your wife for your efforts! There are way too many people out there that will just, run over the turtle trying to cross the road; I'm glad you guys are not one of those people!

 

[Octoman]

Scott, like John said, be cautious of disease. Just make sure you sterilize everything it touched. You do have west nile virus in VA, you can report the bird, but I don't think they will test it...

How to Report Dead Birds

 

[Octoman]

And make sure you wear mosquito repellent. I don't think you can get WNV from the bird directly unless you have contact with blood. But if it was an otherwise healthy looking specimen, it may indicate it is in your area, so you may want to be extra vigilant about mosquitos.

 

[Dentoid]

Thanks guys, I didn't handle the bird, my wife did! She washed up well.

 

[Triggerjay]

lol,.... you guys worry about disease too much.. you can contract more diseases from your house cat than a bird.. Oh yeah, and the myth that you can get lice from birds... Un-true. Most birds do have mites, but they will not host to a human. I have rescued several wild birds, rehabilitated, and set free, and have never had any issues. The chance of contracting a bird disease is very small. I'm not going to say it can't happen,... but the chance is small.

Jason
former owner of http://www.exoticbirds.us