Prosthetic Leg Ideas For Injured Dove

[MGG]

I found this Eurasian Collared Dove on Christmas, he has severely frostbitten feet. He put up no fight when I tried to catch him, despite being able to fly. He had a solid ball of poop frozen on his bottom, so I'm guessing he was pretty constipated. He ate and drank eagerly when I brought him in.
I've had him since then and he's been doing really well. He lost half of his bottom beak the other day though. I'm not sure why, I hadn't noticed anything wrong with it previously but I'm guessing it got frostbite too.
I'm trying to think of options for prosthetic feet or caps after he loses his legs so he can still get around without infecting or tearing open his stumps. I'm looking for ideas. I know someone with a 3D printer, but haven't mentioned this to him yet. I'm not sure if he would be willing to help or not.


I'll attach a few photos, I washed the feet off for ease of taking the photos so that's why they look wet.
Warning, graphic.

Thanks in advance for any ideas, I really want to help this little guy out. He's so sweet and friendly, it's like he understands I'm trying to help him. I plan on letting him live with my pigeons long term.

 

[ChanP]

Sorry to hear that. Good luck and hope he recovers.

 

[MGG]

Sorry to hear that. Good luck and hope he recovers.

Thank you!

 

[MGG]

@Allsfairinloveandbugs , I remember reading Matilda's story a while back. Do you have any ideas?

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Hi @MGG , your new dove is very lucky that you found him/her. On Matilda's thread, about a year ago (December 2021-January 2022), Matilda's stumps got pressure sores due to the fact I didn't have them wrapped and padded well enough. I asked for suggestions on her thread and got many great ideas. If you go to her thread and start reading forward beginning December 2021, you will see those suggestions. Since a dove is a much smaller bird than a large fowl chicken, you may not experience the same problem I did.

There are youtube videos showing birds fitted with 3d-printed feet, with various levels of sucess. Some on byc have recommended an etsy seller that makes custom 3d feet, but I haven't yet seen even one video of a bird that was able to walk well using their "mail order" feet. I called that seller myself two years ago asking for video(s) I could watch, but never heard back. (At that time, 2 videos links on his website didn't work.) I know of one person here on BYC that ordered from that etsy seller for her bantam Polish pullet last year, but soon discarded them in frustration. I believe that seller has good intentions, and 3d-printed feet can certainly work, but a proper fit requires numerous fittings and adjustments. Otherwise, they will be awkward and painful to use. Here is a video of the best 3d feet I have seen. The video also shows the effort that went into getting the fit right.

If you want to try actual prosthetics and not simply pad and cushion the stumps for comfort, I would start by researching Human prosthetics, because you may learn information that you can adapt to your pigeon. I looked into the issue 2 years ago while considering prosthetics for Matilda, but in the end decided to wrap her stumps and let them be. Birds adapt very well to missing feet, but I hope that someone will come up with something better.
Maybe that someone will be you!

I am tagging @RoostersAreAwesome . They have a pigeon that lost a foot, & may have some good ideas for you.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I found this Eurasian Collared Dove on Christmas, he has severely frostbitten feet. He put up no fight when I tried to catch him, despite being able to fly. He had a solid ball of poop frozen on his bottom, so I'm guessing he was pretty constipated. He ate and drank eagerly when I brought him in.
I've had him since then and he's been doing really well. He lost half of his bottom beak the other day though. I'm not sure why, I hadn't noticed anything wrong with it previously but I'm guessing it got frostbite too.
I'm trying to think of options for prosthetic feet or caps after he loses his legs so he can still get around without infecting or tearing open his stumps. I'm looking for ideas. I know someone with a 3D printer, but haven't mentioned this to him yet. I'm not sure if he would be willing to help or not.


I'll attach a few photos, I washed the feet off for ease of taking the photos so that's why they look wet.
Warning, graphic.


View attachment 3390959View attachment 3390955View attachment 3390954View attachment 3390956View attachment 3390957View attachment 3390958



Thanks in advance for any ideas, I really want to help this little guy out. He's so sweet and friendly, it's like he understands I'm trying to help him. I plan on letting him live with my pigeons long term.

I’ve seen many stories of pigeons and doves missing one or both feet/legs and I’ve never heard of anyone using a prosthetic. I’m not saying it can’t be done, just that I haven’t heard of it happening before.

My one-footed pigeon, Rubber Band, does get scrapes on his stump. I routinely catch him to clean his stump, apply antibiotic ointment, and occasionally wrap it. However, it’s not ideal since his stump gets dirty and his wraps do as well (they also get wet because pigeons and doves bathe in water). Whatever I do his stump still ends up with sores (on his good foot too due to the extra pressure), and I’ll eventually be moving him inside when I have the time to properly care for an inside bird.

I would recommend that you keep the dove as an inside bird. Unlike a chicken, a dove like this will be very hard to catch in an aviary to replace wrappings and check for sores. It will also be hard for him to perch. He will thrive if kept inside on soft surfaces, and will probably become tame as single indoor doves tend to do.