BooRadleyThe Pigeon
Hatching
- Dec 6, 2019
- 1
- 3
- 7
Hello friends and fowls!
I am new here but have been reading your boards online for a while now.
I rescued a young pigeon ( approx 25 days old) about 6 months ago who had been attacked by a dog (?) Mos of her tail feathers were ripped out and was missing 7 flight feathers from her left side and had a broken toe and a nasty gash on her left leg. I took her in and nursed her back to health with antibiotics and made a splint for her leg. She recovered quite well but lost her middle toe which was the worst of the lot. She wasn't using her leg at all but it was bending at the ankle in the correct direction. After having her for a few months after the gash on her leg had healed and the middle toe eventually fell off I went out of town for a wedding and had my sister and her family bird sit. They had owned birds before, chickens and Zebra Finches so I felt like my Boo would be in good hands. When I returned from my trip I saw that my pigeons leg was bending backwards at the "ankle" I was very stressed out and saddened and took her to the vet because I thought it might be dislocated. The vet took X rays and said that nothing was dislocated and that it could be a slipped tendon.
I m wondering if anyone has encountered a similar issue or knows anything to help.
I was doing physical therapy with her after the vet visit by pulling her leg back out straight in order to get it to bend a little bit in the right direction but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. I sort of gave up on physical therapy a few weeks ago as it wasn't seeming to improve her range of motion of all and only would work on her leg a little bit every week. She seems to be a happy pigeon and spends most of her time out of her "apartment" to get plenty of exercise around the house. Her leg is still bending in the wrong direction at he joint and I always feel so bad about it. If anyone has any advice n the matter I would greatly appreciate it! She ( I am now questioning if she is a girl because she has gotten dramatically more aggressive towards me around her 6 month birthday) doesn't seem to mind the leg too much, she just moves on with life but I can see that it is difficult for her to prance around or to get a firm balance on some things due to only having one good leg.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Boo Radley is about 6 months old.
I found her when she was about 25 days old.
Injury noticed end of July this year and Vet appointment was the following week.
I am new here but have been reading your boards online for a while now.
I rescued a young pigeon ( approx 25 days old) about 6 months ago who had been attacked by a dog (?) Mos of her tail feathers were ripped out and was missing 7 flight feathers from her left side and had a broken toe and a nasty gash on her left leg. I took her in and nursed her back to health with antibiotics and made a splint for her leg. She recovered quite well but lost her middle toe which was the worst of the lot. She wasn't using her leg at all but it was bending at the ankle in the correct direction. After having her for a few months after the gash on her leg had healed and the middle toe eventually fell off I went out of town for a wedding and had my sister and her family bird sit. They had owned birds before, chickens and Zebra Finches so I felt like my Boo would be in good hands. When I returned from my trip I saw that my pigeons leg was bending backwards at the "ankle" I was very stressed out and saddened and took her to the vet because I thought it might be dislocated. The vet took X rays and said that nothing was dislocated and that it could be a slipped tendon.
I m wondering if anyone has encountered a similar issue or knows anything to help.
I was doing physical therapy with her after the vet visit by pulling her leg back out straight in order to get it to bend a little bit in the right direction but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. I sort of gave up on physical therapy a few weeks ago as it wasn't seeming to improve her range of motion of all and only would work on her leg a little bit every week. She seems to be a happy pigeon and spends most of her time out of her "apartment" to get plenty of exercise around the house. Her leg is still bending in the wrong direction at he joint and I always feel so bad about it. If anyone has any advice n the matter I would greatly appreciate it! She ( I am now questioning if she is a girl because she has gotten dramatically more aggressive towards me around her 6 month birthday) doesn't seem to mind the leg too much, she just moves on with life but I can see that it is difficult for her to prance around or to get a firm balance on some things due to only having one good leg.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Boo Radley is about 6 months old.
I found her when she was about 25 days old.
Injury noticed end of July this year and Vet appointment was the following week.
secondly those are some pretty awsome xrays! It must have been a feat to get boo to stay still long enough to take them. At a first look I'd have said it was broken and healed incorrectly but they are no calluses from healing. So I'd definitely go with dislocated or tendon damage. The tendons that control the claws and lower leg run down the back of the leg toward the foot. When you tried physio on him what did you do? I had a chicken that I rescued that had a broken leg and had healed incorrectly. She also had tendon damage. She lost the use of her toes and doesn't have full range of movement in that leg. I tried doing stretches with her. I carefully held her and pulled her leg toward fully stretched position. If the tendons have popped out of the groove on the back of the knee then the stretch should help manipulate them back to where they should be. I also had a pigeon with a broken leg but that healed fully on its own without much intervention. You can also get proper splints for pigeons but are only good for broken legs not tendon damage.
