Sick dove..any suggestions please?

[moviemike]

Hi friends:

I just joined about 2 weeks ago. I have 10 lovely doves, and one of my doves, Pillsbury, seemed to be successfully getting over a breathing problem. Our vet had her on Baytrill. However, after 10 days, for 3 consecutive days, her breathing was getting worse.

We went back to the vet on Friday, where they x-rayed her. They showed me a picture of another bird (not a dove), and explained that the black image on the x-ray was air, and then showed me Pillsbury's, which had very very little black area, meaning very little air.

Pillsbury has not laid an egg in 6 months or so, I of course have mentioned this in the past to my vet. My vet said that she believes that it is possibly fluid that is taking the air space, but until we do more tests, of course we would not be sure. She did say that something is probably "leaking", or possibly an infection. On the worst end, it could be a mass-cancer that she sees on the x-ray.

We began on Friday by taking some fluid from the abdomen, and sent this to a pathologist, who will receive it on Monday.

Based on the results of the report, she then suggested our next move should be giving her barium, then x-raying to see where something may be leaking. I'm terrified, because they will have to use anesthesia, and with her limited breathing capacity, I'm afraid that she may not come back from the anaesthetic. The vet suggested while she is under to take blood for a blood test too. These other tests are slated for Wednesday.

Pillsbury is very strong, earlier today, and a few times yesterday, she was perched on my finger, and I was holding her by my face kissing her, and petting her, and she took off flying across the room to her cage. After landing, she breathes open mouth for about 10 seconds or so. In general, she is not weak, but when she does have breathing problems, it's scary. It goes from just her wings moving and tail bobbing, to when she's sleeping, she is slumped on the perch, and her entire body moves up & down. At the same time, last night she seemed to be breathing normal while sleeping.

She stays on her favorite perch and sleeps more than a normal dove does, but does,at times, act completely normal. The brething problem seems to come and go, although, last Wednesday, it seemed worse than normal for most of the day.

Pillsbury is 9 years old, and we have a very close relationship. For example, when I brought her to the vet when she began having breathing problems, they wanted to examine her upside down. I can just look into her eyes, explain what I need to do, and she allows me to hold her upside down in my hand. I'm not sure she's happy about doing this, but she trusts me.

I know without the results of the pathology report for starters, it's hard to ask for any help, but if anyone can offer any thoughts, or has been through a similar experience, I'd be forever grateful if anything can be shared.

I'm so upset, I just about can't think straight. I love this bird so much, and just want to be sure I'm doing the very best I can for her. I'll post any results that we get, and thanks in advance to anyone that may have be able to offer helpful suggestions.

Sincerely:
Mike Hurley

[Macawpower58]

Mike, I'm sorry she's having so many problems. I wish I had some advice, but you and your vet seem to have all the bases covered. I just want to send my prayers. I know how strong love for a bird can be. My heart aches for you and Pillsbury.

Keep us updated.

[Yambasticks]

prayers are with you, it can be anything. It may be nothing you can do, but love this bird until God decides that the bird needs to be his and she will cross the rainbow bridge. It may be a day, it may be two, it may be months, maybe years that you have her. Only God knows, and you know something is wrong and can limit her activites to keep her alive and as at least healthy and happy as she can be at this point. With love and prayers hope all does go well. We will wait for your results to be posted.

[moviemike]

Hi friends:

Thank you so much for your care & prayers. I took Pillsbury to the vet this morning, and our wonderful vet, noticing how close & loving Pillsbury & I are, suggested that instead of using anastethic, I try to have her calm enough, and they would attempt to do the chest & side x-ray with out anastethic. They gave her the barium, waited about an hour and a half-although she said it would take 4-5 hours to completely penetrate, she thought we could try after an hour and a half.

Pillsbury is so sweet and loving, I looked her in the eye, explained what they needed to do, gave her to them in the x-ray room, and in a few min's, they opened the door with her, said she did well, and after a few min's, said the x-rays came out fine. Just not using the anastethic took a large load off of my mind/

Dr. Topor (vet) showed me on the x-ray that the mass they were seeing was an enlarged liver. She also showed me that iin this x-ray, you could see she had more air in her lungs than originally thought when x-rayed standing up.

We are waiting til Friday, when the results of the pathologist come in, to see if it can identify why the liver is enlarged. Hopefully, an infection or condition that can be controled or cured, and hopeflly not something uncureable, like cancer.

They changed antibiotics from Baytril to Bactrim Suspension, as they found some parasite. Also, she has a yeast infection, due to being on antibiotic for so long, so she is on Difiucan. Both meds twice a day.

Please keep her in your prayers...for a speedy recovery and for it not to be fatal. I'll give more information as soon as we have results.

I'm doing my very best to keep her from seeing me upset, as she reacts to me. Although I know she is aware I'm upset about something...I keep noticing my other 9 doves staring at me, and 2 of them, Sid (Pillsbury's mate) and Tony are more chatty than usual, staring at me while cooing. I guess they are looking for answers, just as I am.

Mike

[Macawpower58]

I'm praying for her Mike.

[moviemike]

Hello friends:
Well, yesterday, we've completed the 10 days on the 2 medications, and on Tuesday, I brought Pillsbury to our vet to remove more fluid from her abdomen and to give her an injection of an antibiotic that our vet has had good results with.
They were not able to drain any fluid from the abdomen, and did not feel safe trying to remove fluid from anywhere else at this time, even though her weight had gone up some.
Dr "O" as many call her (if I try to spell her name, I'll get it wrong) who is another avian vet at the clinic, gave her an injection of an antibiotic, and told me that she would not feel well for about 24 hours after the injection, but would 'perk up' after that.
My poor little angel was so sick for that 24 hours, fluffed up and not moving from her perch all day, then woke up the next day feeling better. For the first time in weeks, I saw the light in her eyes that I'm used to seeing. She still slept alot that day, but obviously was feeling better.
The next day...even better!!! Still sleeping alot, but what a huge difference. Still not normal energy level, but she's cooing a little for the last 3 days...and is feeling much better. I finally feel that she will recover. I'll get the name of the antibiotic and list it here. Today, we've started her on Lacatulose, a liquid which is supposed to break down ammonia, and taking a load off of the liver.
I will need to bring her every week for one of the injections, but the doc told me that she won't have such a bad reaction to it in future weeks.
It is so good to see her little head perk up instead of being buried in her feathers....I just keep praying for continued recovery....which I believe we will have.
Thanks for all kind thoughts & prayers too. I'll continue to list updates about her recovery.
Mike

[Macawpower58]

I'm so happy she's feeling more like her old self. I can imagine your relief.

[Dirky47]

Based on your story, Your dove has lots of health problems. I suggest you to do what the vet. says. Your dove's life is our priority here. No matter how hurt it is, you must accept it.

[moviemike]

Hi All:

Well, Pillsbury is responding nicely to the antibiotic that the vet is giving to her. She's had it 2 weeks on, one week off, and back again for 2 weeks, so far. They may do as many as 2 more weeks. The one week that she didn't receive the antibiotic, they felt fluid in her abdomen, so they drained it, and since she was pretty stressed about it, they held off on the antibiotic. I am very fortunate to have found a really good avian vet. I live in Lakeland, Fl, and I have not been able to find an avian vet here, but the vet is about 40 miles away in Tampa, and DEFINITELY worth the drive:0)

I still give her the Lactulose twice a day, flax seed oil twice a day, and bene-bac (birdy yogurt), all according to the doc's orders.

She has days where she seems like a 2 year old bird, energetic, bright & cheerful, plenty of energy to fly, and others where she sleeps more, but the liver does take time to heal...if heal is the right word. At the time I did my first post concerning this, I was not sure she'd be with me for very long, but it appears that we're on the right road...and every day, I hold her and pray for a full recovery.

I'll post as we have more progress.

Have a happy dove day:
Mike

[davlin47]

Hello

If it's a wild dove, contact your local wildlife rehabilitator as they are the only qualified individuals to legally care for the bird. There are many out there and you can probably find someone in your area by searching online.

I've been a wildlife rehabilitator for two years and what you describe could be a lot of things. It could be head trauma which can take a full week or two to fully recover from. Could be a soft tissue issue where there's no obvious injury but the bird still can't fly. Or could be a fracture you can't feel, there's an internal coracoid bone that links up to the breast bone but is very difficult to tell if it's fractured without an x-ray. It could also be a poisoning issue. It's really hard to say without seeing the bird in person, these are all just possibilities.

If you've had the bird for 3 days and it's not eating, it really needs professional care ASAP or it will starve to death. Letting it starve to death is more cruel than being humanely euthanized. A vet won't take care of a wild bird or be qualified to unless they have the proper permits and experience. A wildlife rehabilitator will be able to tube feed the bird if it won't eat on its own. Typical wild bird seed mix is what they should eat with water they can drink on their own. But there's not much you personally can do if he won't eat it. And if it's a native wild bird in the US, it is illegal for you to keep it. Please contact your local wildlife rehabilitator or email me for further information on finding your local rehabber.



Thanks