Toe barely hanging on— amputation?

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I caught a feral pigeon with stringfoot (a condition where string or hair gets caught on a bird’s feet) and one of the toes is barely hanging on. I gave it a week to see if the toe would heal or fall off on its own and it hasn’t. It obviously causes the pigeon a lot of pain (he hops around on one foot) and I’m worried leaving it on his foot will cause infection.

The local wildlife rehab center will probably euthanize this pigeon so I won’t take him there.

The joint on the toe has been destroyed, the string was probably wrapped around it for months. Should I amputate the toe? If so, how?

 

[sourland]

Well done on saving the bird. Apparently there is a good blood flow to the toe looking at the color. If it is non functional (joint destroyed), I would remove the toe. It's going to bleed. That can be stopped with silver nitrate or some product used when trimming dog toenails. I would use a dull pair of scissors or hand shears. Dull rather than sharp to hopefully minimize the bleeding. Good luck. I think the bird will become more mobile once the toe is removed.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Well done on saving the bird. Apparently there is a good blood flow to the toe looking at the color. If it is non functional (joint destroyed), I would remove the toe. It's going to bleed. That can be stopped with silver nitrate or some product used when trimming dog toenails. I would use a dull pair of scissors or hand shears. Dull rather than sharp to hopefully minimize the bleeding. Good luck. I think the bird will become more mobile once the toe is removed.

Thank you for the advice!

I don’t have something to stop the bleeding, but I can get it.

I’m glad I was able to catch him in time, he would’ve lost all his toes and one of his feet if I hadn’t.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Forgot to update this, the toe amputation went fine and the pigeon is learning to adapt. He has a cardboard shoe on to hopefully put his other toe (the back toe) into the right position so he can walk normally.