URGENT - FIRST AID FOR INJURED PIGEON?

[solidsnake]

I have never had to deal with an injury like this, especially not on a bird, I'm hoping that others can point me in the right direction into saving this poor bird! Found it in my yard, dying, and I didn't want the dogs to eat it. I suspect the hawk attacked several pigeons and injured this one. From what I can tell, no puncture wounds. I clipped the feathers as best as I could around the injury. The wound is by the wing and right side of its chest, the right eye has some internal bleeding as well. Blood around it's mouth, I couldn't find any other injuries besides the main wound by the wing. If I can post better pictures of the wound I will try. It's breathing, but definitely is struggling and in pain. What can I do to help the little guy?

 

[azygous]

Have you washed and flushed the wound yet? That's the number one priority to head off bacterial infection.

Once the wound is well flushed, after five minutes of rinsing in warm clear water, then inspect it. Measure the diameter to give us an idea of the size. Next look for any loose skin flaps. Those will be very important. Do not trim those. Leave them. They will be skin grafts.

After the wound is clean and air dry, spread a generous amount of Neosporin on the wound, and if there are any skin flaps, lay those over the wound, "gluing" them in place with Neosporin or Triple antibiotic ointment on top.

Do this procedure every day, never letting the wound dry out. After about three days, the skin grafts will be anchored with new tissue growing outward from them. The entire wound, depending on the size will heal over in three to six weeks.

 

[solidsnake]

Have you washed and flushed the wound yet? That's the number one priority to head off bacterial infection.

Once the wound is well flushed, after five minutes of rinsing in warm clear water, then inspect it. Measure the diameter to give us an idea of the size. Next look for any loose skin flaps. Those will be very important. Do not trim those. Leave them. They will be skin grafts.

After the wound is clean and air dry, spread a generous amount of Neosporin on the wound, and if there are any skin flaps, lay those over the wound, "gluing" them in place with Neosporin or Triple antibiotic ointment on top.

Do this procedure every day, never letting the wound dry out. After about three days, the skin grafts will be anchored with new tissue growing outward from them. The entire wound, depending on the size will heal over in three to six weeks.

I have been flushing the wound with a saline solution. There appear to be no skin flaps, just a big open wound about 6cm wide. Does the wound look salvageable? (warning: the picture is very graphic)

 

[impr3]

I have been flushing the wound with a saline solution. There appear to be no skin flaps, just a big open wound about 6cm wide. Does the wound look salvageable? (warning: the picture is very graphic)








View attachment 2369757

The main wound appears to have gone through the skin but not the muscle. This is good. Is there a separate wound on the left or is that just some blood?

What I can see in the picture is healable. There are two main things which kill with wounds: bleeding (which usually happens right after the wind is made and appears controlled in this case), and infection.

Infection will be hard to prevent in this situation. Washing was a great first step. Now rub some soap between your hands to make bubbles (any soap, preferably unscented, preferably not dish soap but that is ok if it's all you have) and gently lather the bubbles over the wound itself and the surrounding feathers then rinse.

You'll need to cover it to prevent the bird from getting it dirty again. A wet dressing will help it heal faster but is also a higher risk for infection so will need watching closely. You can make a wet dressing out of gauze and a little vaseline (just enough to cover the part of the dressing which will be on the wound). Neosporin also works but has a higher risk of allergic reaction and doesn't actually help much to prevent infection...

It will be important to change the dressing at least daily, preferably twice daily. Mix up some dilute salt water (1tsp per pint/500ml) and use this to rinse the wound during dressing changes (a syringe with no needle or a turkey baster will help with this). If the wound ever smells bad, wash again with soap and cover with honey instead of vaseline for the next few dressings until the smell improves.

Guessing from how you describe it that this is a wild pigeon? That will make the above difficult. You'll need to keep it in a relatively small cage to help with catching it and prevent it from trying too hard to fly. Once it is recovered enough to make changing it's dressing nearly impossible, you can stop putting any dressing on the wound and let it dry out. After that it stands a good chance of recovering on its own.

 

[solidsnake]

The main wound appears to have gone through the skin but not the muscle. This is good. Is there a separate wound on the left or is that just some blood?

What I can see in the picture is healable. There are two main things which kill with wounds: bleeding (which usually happens right after the wind is made and appears controlled in this case), and infection.

Infection will be hard to prevent in this situation. Washing was a great first step. Now rub some soap between your hands to make bubbles (any soap, preferably unscented, preferably not dish soap but that is ok if it's all you have) and gently lather the bubbles over the wound itself and the surrounding feathers then rinse.

You'll need to cover it to prevent the bird from getting it dirty again. A wet dressing will help it heal faster but is also a higher risk for infection so will need watching closely. You can make a wet dressing out of gauze and a little vaseline (just enough to cover the part of the dressing which will be on the wound). Neosporin also works but has a higher risk of allergic reaction and doesn't actually help much to prevent infection...

It will be important to change the dressing at least daily, preferably twice daily. Mix up some dilute salt water (1tsp per pint/500ml) and use this to rinse the wound during dressing changes (a syringe with no needle or a turkey baster will help with this). If the wound ever smells bad, wash again with soap and cover with honey instead of vaseline for the next few dressings until the smell improves.

Guessing from how you describe it that this is a wild pigeon? That will make the above difficult. You'll need to keep it in a relatively small cage to help with catching it and prevent it from trying too hard to fly. Once it is recovered enough to make changing it's dressing nearly impossible, you can stop putting any dressing on the wound and let it dry out. After that it stands a good chance of recovering on its own.

Yes, it's a wild pigeon, I found it in the yard this way, I just figured if it doesn't need to die I should try helping it. Thank you for your advice, hopefully with this the lil guy will be okay. I don't have neosporin anyways, so I'll do the wet dressing. On another note, what can I feed a pigeon for when it gets better?

 

[azygous]

Great advice from @impr3 . The "wet" bandage may not stay. My chickens always figure a way to tear it off. I just gob heaps of antibiotic ointment on the wound, reapplying later in the day if it appears to be drying out.

I completely agree this is a wound that should heal, no problem. New tissue will grow over starting at the edges, growing toward the center. I've had some pretty gruesome chicken wounds that were that bad, and it's an amazing journey watching the granulation process that produces a ridge, gradually filling in at the edges, moving inward to the center until there's only a pinhole left. When that closes, the pigeon is good to go.

 

[impr3]

Yes, it's a wild pigeon, I found it in the yard this way, I just figured if it doesn't need to die I should try helping it. Thank you for your advice, hopefully with this the lil guy will be okay. I don't have neosporin anyways, so I'll do the wet dressing. On another note, what can I feed a pigeon for when it gets better?

Pigeons eat seeds (and a few insects) so your chicken feed should be fine (unless any of the dove keepers on here want to weigh in to say otherwise). You could also try egg, boiled and crumbled.

I'm afraid trauma care is more my area of expertise than pigeon food... Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can weigh in. In the meantime, I'd start with the egg and maybe some chick starter crumbles if you have them lying around.

 

[impr3]

Pigeons eat seeds (and a few insects) so your chicken feed should be fine (unless any of the dove keepers on here want to weigh in to say otherwise). You could also try egg, boiled and crumbled.

I'm afraid trauma care is more my area of expertise than pigeon food... Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can weigh in. In the meantime, I'd start with the egg and maybe some chick starter crumbles if you have them lying around.

You might find this thread helpful for food ideas. Apparently pigeons also need a quite deep water bowl, details in the thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/first-time-pigeon-caregiver.1420692/

 

[cooingdove]

poor pigeon! I think it should heal thought. yes chicken food will be fine, they like seeds better than seed powder, so if you have birdseed (like the stuff in bird feeders) that might be better.
wishing for a speedy recovery!
calli

 

[solidsnake]

UPDATE!
The pigeon has been successfully released back into the wild. He recovered very well and a big thanks to all the great advice, without it he probably would have died. Godspeed pigeon.