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Question

My four year old male homing pigeon is sick. He is weak, eats little, so lost quite a bit of weight, his droppings is watery, and he seems to prefer solitude. Crows drink from the same water trays, also wash bones, meat and soak bread in the water. Could thay have passed some virus?

Submitted: 1091 days and 14 hours ago.
Category: Pet
Value: $9
Status: CLOSED
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Optional Information

Optional Information:
Age: 4; Male; Breed: Homing pigeon

Already Tried:
Did not know what to try, just keeping him indoors with seeds and water near by.

Accepted Answer

Hello. I will tell you right up front, I am not an expert on pigeons, not by a long shot. But, the symptoms of an ill bird are pretty much consistent from one species to another. Their instinct to mask those symptoms from us is also the same, and for the same reasons. By the time we see symptoms such as you describe, our birds are really sick. If he is being exposed in any way to outside birds, yes, he is absolutely in a lot of danger of picking up something from them. Wild birds carry all manner of diseases, parasites, infections and so on. From your description however, a bacterial infection would be on the top of my suspect list because is sounds like he is basically having to drink from really nasty, fouled water. A huge no-no for all birds. You need to get him to a good avian vet right away for a diagnosis and treatment. It may very well be that this is something you can clear up with a 10 day course of antibiotics. But, you must not delay. You need to get him to the vet tomorrow because he has been a sick little guy for several days now. In the meantime, definitely keep him inside and make sure he does not get chilled. The closer to 80F you can keep him, the better. Keep him as quiet and stress free as possible also. I'd cover the top and three sides of his cage and for the most part, leave him undisturbed until time to go off to the vet. I hope this helps but if you have more questions, let me know. I'll do my best for you. Patricia

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Expert: Patricia
Pos. Feedback: 99.9 %
Accepts: 
Answered: 11/27/2006

Parrot C&onsultant

Published author, free lance bird behaviorist, adviser to the parrots at Sarasota Jungle Gardens.

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