Sick Pigeon

[Lady507]

I have 10 classic frills. A few days ago I found one of my young males (he is about a year old almost 2) in front of his water bowl spitting up a clear liquid (I'm assuming water). My dad told me it was probably that he drank too much water. So I took away his water because every time he drank he'd get worse. This made him better so I put back the water. The next day he looked better and he spit a little when I held him. But other than that he could fly and looked fine. But yesterday I found him weak and spitting up the water again. This time he couldn't fly and looked bad. I immediately separated him and I noticed that he eats but only the smallest seeds. I've been searching the internet in hope of finding how I could help him. I found that it is useful to put apple cider vinegar in their water, so I added some. His poop is loose but green. There are no avian vet clinics around my house and the one that is, is very far and expensive. Please if you have seen anything similar please help me.

 

[biophiliac]

Not 'You tube' but this is from a site called Melbournebirdvet.com
http://www.melbournebirdvet.com/common-pigeon-disease-amp-treatments.aspx

Sour crop

In pigeons with sour crop, at least 90% have an internal canker nodule located at the base of the crop or within the glandular stomach (proventriculus). As the nodule increases in size, it squashes the windpipe making breathing difficult and blocking the crop outlet. This interferes with crop emptying, leading to bacterial infection of the crop and secondary starvation and dehydration due to the crop contents not being able to pass into the bird's system. Usually by the time the bird is noticed to be unwell, the condition has passed the point where it will respond to treatment. Deaths often occur due to the nodule growing through the stomach wall, leading to stomach contents leaking into the chest. Alternatively, the nodule can damage the heart or large blood vessels within the chest, causing sudden and severe bleeding. Such birds are often found dead on the floor with blood coming from the mouth. It is always worth attempting to treat valuable birds and I suggest :
• Manually empty the crop
• Give electrolytes in water
• Treat bird with 3 drops Baytril twice daily
• Treat bird with 1 tablet of Spartrix or a 1/4 Flagyl tablet or 0.5 ml Flagyl syrup once daily
• Separate unwell bird from loft mates

 

[jak2002003]

I think the above posters are all correct in thinking your bird has sour crop.

I have had a few birds get this over the years... and nearly all of them died, and they showed exactly the same symptoms as your bird... I also have no access to avian vets, and a very limited amount of medication for birds... I have to use what I can get, including human medication to treat sick ones... and so far have found nothing I can use for sour crop once its got to the stage the bird is not eating and loosing weight.

At an early stage you can add apple cider vinegar to the water, also gently massage the crop holding the bird downward to expel water several times a day. Feel easily digested food like small seeds and chicken feed, and mix natural yoghurt with this food, and home made apple sauce. Keep the bird isolated and quiet.

If you can't get your bird to a vet I am sorry to say the outcome will likely not be good.

I don't know what causes it in pigeons... but mine got it as I have the ciro virus in my flock... which means I loose a lot of young birds as they get weakened immune system... mostly losses to sour crop actually, at the age they are just starting to moult into adult feathers and come into breeding condition.

If you loose more birds I suggest you get in contact somehow with a university that has a section to train up vets. They will be able to take samples form your birds to see if they have this virus... also called young bird sickness. (That's how I found out what was going on with my flock 4 years back).

Good luck with your bird.

 

[Lady507]

Thank you and I am going to try it, ACV might not exactly prevent it but it can help keep them healthier which reduces the chance of them getting sick. I want to thank everyone for their help, I do not know what I would've done without you guys. I love all your hugs and here is one for you guys to thank you

 

[JaeG]

Yes, sour crop is what first sprang to mind. Poor thing. I did find this site that had some information but it looks like you will need medication to cure it. Crop stasis can be related to Canker which may be why he's only eating the smallest seeds - you'll need to look in his throat. This site has a link on the crop stasis page to Canker to show you what to look for. Good luck.
http://www.pigeonrescue.co.uk/cropstasissourcrop.htm

 

[biophiliac]

I was thinking of going out and buying a syringe and try to do it myself. I'm just scared of accidentally poking the wrong thing. But I am going to try since I think that is the best option here.

I tagged casportpony to give you some advice on this. If you have someone to help you hold him I think you should try as it will immdediately make him feel a lot better. I will try to get you a link to some tube feeding info to read first.
There are some great you tube videos about how to place the tube.

 

[casportpony]

Tube feeding should *not* be done if the crop is not clearing.

 

[biophiliac]

That is probably the best link I have seen I a long time!

I take that comment as a 'feather in my cap' lol.

http://www.poultrydvm.com/ ... this one has some interesting case summaries. .

 

[LamarshFish]

Hello, I wanted to give an update on the pigeon. Unfortunately, he died 4 days ago. Thank you for all your help and from now I would certainly add ACV to the water and try the garlic idea. Again thank you for your help, even though he passed away I now know exactly how to prevent this disease and cure them if they get sick again. Sorry for taking so long to answer (school started and it got crazy)

I'm sorry to hear about that. To be clear, I'm not sure ACV completely prevents sour crop, but I think it could help.

Best of luck going forward.

 

[biophiliac]

Here is a link and a copy of part of it -
http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/f27/silence-is-not-golden-pijs-life-threatening-ordeal-9128.html

Yesterday morning I noticed Pij wasn't as 'vocal' as usual & he wasn't real interested in playing our game of 'hand tag' but showed no signs of actually being ill. He walked about the top of his cage while I cleaned the AZ room & went back in his cage without any problems.

Chuck & I set off to drop off our taxes & do a couple other things while he was in town. When we returned home Chuck went to fetch a couple things he was going to take to his truck & I went to check on the birds.

I noticed Pij had a bit of droppings stuck to his under feathers, which was very unusual for him, so I picked him up to clean him off & all of a sudden my blouse was sprayed with water. I had no idea what had happened then looked at Pij & water was dripping from his mouth.

I quickly put him back in his cage & called our vet. She was booked solid however recommended an associate who is very versed in avian care. Called them & they said bring Pij right over.

The dr. suggested Pij was either crop bound or had sour crop. He started to check his crop very gently at which point Pij shook his head & water went everywhere, on me, the dr, the table. As the dr. took off his glasses to clean them he said, "This is great, Pij has just given us a sample of what is going on." Without missing a beat he reached over to a drawer, removed a slide & promptly put a sample of the 'water' on it & said he would be right back.

Pij had developed sour crop. The dr. explained he would need to aspirate the fluid out of the crop then flush it a couple times. With that said, we turned Pij over to them & in a few minutes he returned with Pij & a syringe with about 7 cc's of bile looking fluid.
I looked at the dr. & said, "All that came out of Pij's crop?" He replied, "No, there were 11 syringes." 70+ cc's of fluid was aspirated from that poor baby's crop.

Pij is a very husky pigeon (in fact he weighed in at 530 gr.). His crop did not look like it was enlarged. Although he showed no ill symptoms, I somehow feel extremely guilty.

I'm sure had we not gotten Pij to a vet when we did, he very likely would have drowned in his own fluid.

The vet & his staff was absolutely wonderful.

Pij is once again cooing, dancing & playing our 'hand tag' game.