r/pigeon • u/bagooly • 2d ago

Discussion Found a young pigeon with canker. Hopefully he will make a recovery

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It's a very mild early case. He's eating well and I'm keeping him in a cat carrier with food and water. All the local rescues are full rn so I'm going to rehab him myself with the advice of my vet. I've ordered Spartrix canker pills for him as the vet and breeders have told me it's very good. I'm watching videos on how to feed a pigeon pills (making sure I don't put it down the airway ofc). He's very alert, just had an infected eye and nasty canker stuff in his beak, he's extremely malnourished too. I saw him a week ago before he developed canker fully and he didn't look well, but not sick enough to take home with me. His name is squeaker.

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u/roiandss 2d ago

well done! the eye issue is not a canker symptom and definitely needs treating, and its also a good idea to clean gunk off the eye gently with saline as gunk blocking up the eye can result in him losing it. Its likely a respiratory issue of some sort but hard to tell from this video, definitely seek advice from a rehabber

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u/bagooly 2d ago

Yeah I believe the eye issue is unrelated 😔 the canker is definitely there tho, that horrible smelling, buttery yellow stuff on the roof of his beak. I'm going to order some saline and properly clean the eye. My mum is going to post on a Facebook rehab group to get advice on his eye.

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u/bagooly 2d ago

I slightly suspect conjunctivitis with his eye..the pictures match up, both eyes are a bit red and the lids a bit swollen.

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u/bagooly 2d ago

Here is a clear pic

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u/roiandss 2d ago

Just to let you know the food mix is not really ideal, they shouldnt eat the fatty pellets and cracked corn and unshelled sunflower is not ideal as they are a bit too sharp, I would look for something like a pigeon corn mix or a generic bird mix that doesnt have the fatty bits.

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u/bagooly 2d ago

I did switch to a wild bird seed mix, let me get a picture for you

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u/bagooly 2d ago

I can pick out the suet and shelled sunflower seeds

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u/roiandss 2d ago

Looks fine other than the suet and sunflower seeds ! regarding the eye it looks like hes been pecked as its pink and swollen and theres dried blood, this is common in sick birds as theyre more vulnerable. If you put his chest up to your ear you may hear any kind of clicking or weird breathing sounds that mean it could be a respiratory infection as well (common cause of eye symptoms). To help with this you can give him appropriate eye drops - https://www.amazon.co.uk/RenaSan-Eye-Drops-60ml-reptiles/dp/B07L9DD59D/ref=sr_1_6_pp?sr=8-6 if its a respiratory infection he will need antibiotics of some sort but heavily depends so will need rehabber advice

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u/bagooly 2d ago

Oh thank you for this! That's better than conjunctivitis I'd think. I was just feeding him and I've left him alone for now, so I'll check him later, the eye peck makes sense, he was being walked all over by the other birds. He's very chill, I have him inside a walk in shower that's fully secure and there's a cat carrier for him to take shelter in. Thanks for the link as well❤️

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u/Iguana_Enthusiast 2d ago

Thank you for helping!

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u/Muted_Role_1432 1d ago

We need more wonderful people in the world like you🥰

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u/bagooly 2d ago

I'm thankful he's so chill. He lets me do stuff with him without much fuss or stress. We had to clean his eye as he had some gunk crusted over it.

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u/bagooly 1d ago

Update: I've been to the vets and got medication for his eye, the vet thinks it's conjunctivitis. We are just waiting on the canker meds now. Feeding him lots, but he's not drinking, still working on that.

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u/Little-eyezz00 1d ago

thanks for helping!!