3 week old zebra finch scratched by cat urgent help!!!

[nat1710]

I'm in the uk and most shops are closed.

Babies left nest today and my cat scratched one through the bars.

It has a nasty wound that I thought to super glue but have just left it.

I have put it in the cage but the parents are ignoring it.

I'm worried they won't feed it. Can I give it sugar water to give it energy or anything at all to feed it?

Any help would be so appreciated

 

[BYCforlife]

I have no experience with those types of birds but if it is urgent, I'll try to help. I think you should wash the wound, put a very small amount of hydrogen peroxide on the wound, clean it again, and then put tissue or gauze over the wound and secure it in place.

Good luck, and sorry if this doesn't help!

 

[nat1710]

It's so small (the bird) that I don't have anything small but it's under the wing so covered by that. I cleaned it I don't have the hydrogen peroxide.

I'm just worried about it starving now too

 

[nat1710]

Thank you for your message too

 

[nat1710]

The parents tried to eat it so now I'm it's mummy and I have no food!

 

[BYCforlife]

Oh dear... Try giving it some room temperature milk to drink. Perhaps that will nourish it enough?

 

[JaeG]

Look online for home made hand rearing foods. See what you've got and what you can cobble together to make something. It will be suspicious of you trying to feed it at first because the taste will be unfamiliar. Just keep trying. It's a good idea to have a small amount of hand rearing food in the freezer (where it keeps long after it's best before date) for situations such as this. I've ended up raising quite a few finches recently due to first time parents. My latest disaster was a mouse getting in (despite my mesh having only ¼ inch gaps) and killing two newly hatched Java finch chicks and chewing the toes of the other four. I've been hand rearing them since then.

 

[curtislee]

Cats carry a bacteria under their claws and in their saliva called pasteurella and that can kill small animals within 24hrs if antibiotics aren't started. If you can get it to a vet, it might have a chance of being okay, but a lot of times the bacteria has already caused horrible damage. This is part of why cats cause so many problems with wildlife.

 

[curtislee]

Also, don't give it (or any other bird) milk. Birds cannot digest milk and it can cause issues with their digestive tracts or kill them

 

[ChristineR]

Did it survive? Cat scratches and bites are nasty. In your situation, I'd probably have cleaned it, put a tiny bit of antibiotic ointment on the scratch, and hoped for the best.