*GRAPHIC TEXT** another UPDATE Injured peacock.

[bockbock2008]

About 2 weeks ago one of my young (10 month old) peacocks flew across his enclosure and into a wall. It was almost dark and I'm not sure what he was thinking but he flew over 20 feet before smacking into it. I thought he had instantly broken his neck as he flopped around on the ground like he was dying. About 5 minutes later he was up and, although wobbly, he was walking around. After a few days he started loosing his balance. A few more days and he wasn't perching on his own in the evening so I would put him up every night. 2 nights later he couldn't stay balanced on the perch so I left him on the ground so he wouldn't fall any more. I went out of town on Friday. My animal caretakers (family) let me know they would be putting him down Friday night because he wasn't doing well at all. Not even able to stand up. I got home yesterday and he was still alive. He had started bleeding from his ears which apparently relieved pressure. He is up again and drinks on his own. We are having to force feed him small amount of cracked corn, layer crumble and safflower seed 3 times a day. His head is swollen but I'm not sure how much is internal vs. being picked on by the others. He is now separated from the rest of the flock in a horse stall and I gave him 2 cc of tylan 200 orally last night. Is there ANYTHING else I can do for him.

UPDATE 6/1/2016 Last night I got a catheter tube, 2 oz. syringe and some baby parrot food for crop feeding. I gave him 2 oz of "formula" and another 2cc of tylan 200. He was definitely doing better this morning, standing and a preening himself. I gave him 3 oz of food this morning since I won't be home to feed him again until 5pm. I have also decided that any bleeding from his head was external from being picked on. Since he is now separated I have not noticed any more bleeding. Although his head still looks puffy and was warm, I don't think it was AS swollen. I"ve also been spraying his head with Vetricyn spray and putting Vetricyn opthalmic eye gel in both eyes, as they are matting shut. We will see what tonight brings. Has anyone given their birds aleve or anything for inflammation? Just wondering what product and dosage.

 

[Garden Peas]

Oh dear, that's awful! If you have a vet available, that would absolutely be the best thing.

In his condition, perhaps tube (crop) feeding with an easily digested food would help support him. I don't know if anything will help him, but might be better to not feed the harder foods like corn and seeds while he is ailing. His body has enough work to do just trying to stay alive. Drinking on his own is a good sign. Kathy (@casportpony ) can teach you how to crop feed him.

Separating him from the others was smart. Does he have any visible external injuries? You may have to peer through feathers with a flashlight to examine his head. If he has any external wounds on his head, apply some antibiotic ointment (not one with pain reliever though). Lately I've been using Ente-Derm, which I get from my vet -- it's a wonderful combination of antibiotic, steroid & antifungal that works very well on wounds, but you can use neosporin or anything else that doesn't have the pain relief component.

You also might see if he will drink some pedialyte -- that can help support his electrolyte needs.

If you can possibly get this guy to a vet, I would do it.

Good luck with him

It sounds like you've done well by him so far!
GP

 

[casportpony]

The only anti-inflammatory I know about people using in birds is meloxicam. I would not suggest giving Aleve or anything else that people use.

-Kathy

 

[Trefoil]

Aspirin is an antiinflamatory.

The dosage is 5 (325 gm) tablets crushed and mixed in a gallon of water.
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/medicine-chart
has more and also dosage information for aspirin.

 

[casportpony]

Aspirin is an antiinflamatory.

The dosage is 5 (325 gm) tablets crushed and mixed in a gallon of water.
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/medicine-chart
has more and also dosage information for aspirin.

Warning, that link has dosing errors on quite a few medications.

-Kathy

 

[Garden Peas]

With bleeding and possible brain injury, I don't think I'd give this particular bird in this particular case anything that could cause or worsen bleeding except on advice of a vet. So I would be afraid to use aspirin on this guy. But I'm not a vet. Pain relievers in general aren't the same from humans to dogs and cats even, so I'd be uncomfortable even discussing what to use - I simply don't know what's safe & appropriate.
I did just have a really scary episode with one of my dogs; vet had me give steroids which reduced swelling and restored neurological function - but idk if birds can use steroids either. The entederm ointment that I've been using on bird wounds has a steroid component, but that's a topical, not an internal med.
The bird has been making good progress, so the best thing I can suggest is keep on keeping on with the supportive care and giving it time to heal. And getting a vet to look at it if progress stalls or it worsens.
Owner is doing a great job with this one yay!

 

[Garden Peas]

Oh, I also meant to ask about the matted eyes... does there seem to be any discharge? I wouldn't have expected that necessarily. Wondering if there is some infection, either as a result of the injury, or perhaps even a sinus infection that predated the injury? That could have something to do with why the poor thing flew into the wall to start with, maybe?
Is there any swelling around the eyes or below the eyes? What does the discharge look like? Are the eyes red? Any nasal discharge? And are you seeing any change in eyes, discharge, redness, swelling etc with the Tylan and antibiotic eye ointment?
Peas do get sinus infections, which are often first noticed when one or both eyes become swollen.
I'm so glad he's improving!

 

[bockbock2008]

He doesn't have any nasal discharge or swelling like I have seen before with a sinus infection ( I have dealt with that in the past too but no current episodes). The eyes aren't red but last night when I was wiping them, I noticed only the inner lid would close to cover the eye when he would "blink". The outer lids didn't close ?? He is gaining strength because he is starting to fight me on everything!

 

[Garden Peas]

He doesn't have any nasal discharge or swelling like I have seen before with a sinus infection ( I have dealt with that in the past too but no current episodes). The eyes aren't red but last night when I was wiping them, I noticed only the inner lid would close to cover the eye when he would "blink". The outer lids didn't close ?? He is gaining strength because he is starting to fight me on everything!

Glad no signs of sinus infection -- that could have explained a lot -- but that makes me worry about neurological involvement. Sounds as though he is making progress, that's good news!

I wrap mine in a towel to give meds -- keeps both of us safer...

Do you have access to an avian vet? Or perhaps a wildlife rescue person? It does sound as though the after effects of the head impact have been pretty prolonged and significant. I'm wondering if a course of steroids would help, but that would definitely be a consult-the-vet first thing to do. If there is internal swelling that needs to be reduced, that would be something for professional advice on how to go about it for sure. How's his vision? Can you tell? From your earlier description, it sounded as though he was having balance issues and possible sight issues? All very much neurological sorts of things. He was lucky to not break his neck, but he may have bruised the nerves and/or given himself a significant concussion.

Hope this helps! So glad he is making progress!!!

 

[bockbock2008]

WARNING ** GRAPHIC TEXT** 6/7/2016 Another update. Last Thursday (6 days ago) I noticed how swollen his head still seemed. About a quarter sized area behind his left ear and about a dime sized area above his ear, towards his eye. The outer skin had now hardened but there was now a pocket with the edge open all around his ear. I decided I should rinse that area with Vetricyn spray. When I started spraying, maggots started coming out. For the next 45 minutes I rinsed and dug maggots out of his head in this pocket of dead skin around his ear. I could push on the "swollen" parts and more would come out. I also filled a syringe with Tylan 200 and used the needle to get to the back of the pocket and rinse it with antibiotic. The next morning I flushed it again and only got about 10 maggots out. Since then there have been no more maggots and I can tell it is healing. He still gets 2cc of Tylan orally every night and I plan on stopping that tomorrow unless someone tells me different. Tomorrow will be 10 straight days of antibiotic. The past 2 days I haven't been able to crop feed him because his crop is FULL. He is eating on his own again!! Since I found the maggots and flushed them out I have been applying tri-care (made by farnam for dogs and horses) all over his head and about 3 inches down his neck. I'm still not sure if all of this scabbing is from flying into the wall or from being picked on before we moved him out but the skin is healing and all the scabbing on his neck is flaking off. I did have to pull some of scabbing off of his left eye so we could get that one open again. I have left it closed for the most part since we found the maggots so it could heal from inside since there was a maggot pocket so close to his eye. Overall, I am amazed he has survived all of this but he appears to be over the worst and on the mend. Thank you Garden Peas for the crop feeding recommendation! I think that was a huge part in getting him this far! Now I just need to put some weight back on him. Hopefully his diet of safflower seed, cracked corn and medicated chick crumble will do the trick but any other suggestions are very welcome!