Rescued dove from cat. Now what?!

self | January 26, 2011 | self

[Excellence]

I tied two bells to one of our cats to keep her from going after cats, but she still got one this morning. I rescued the bird, but now he can't really fly. He let me pick him up and put him in, ironically, a cat carrier. So I'm looking for advice. He's resting comfortably now. How soon should I try to feed him? What about water, small cup or big bowl? He's mostly white, with a little bit of grey.

[driftdiver]

There’s a bird rescue group in Sarasota FL. Come on down but they are funded on donations.

[Thinkin]

Google “Wildlife rescue” to see if there is a shelter in your area....We have one here in Columbus Ohio....they will take ANY hurt wild critters...
Good luck..

[Excellence]

Thanks. He’s up and eating by the way.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

May I suggest a nice stew?

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

My apologies for my very snotty remark. I just get so frustrated when I hear about ill pets/animals. Please forgive me.

I don’t live in the U.S. so things are no doubt different here.

The Vet is coming back to my house tomorrow early (6:00 a.m.) to apply another injection.

I realize e-mail is no way to take care of a sick animal; but if you would give me some details about its injuries, I will ask him for advice. In fact, I would be glad to put him on the phone to you (calls to the U.S. are no longer expensive), but he only speaks Spanish…

Let me know how I can help.

Again my apologies for being so nasty.

[Excellence]

Nobody local to me. Son’s gone to buy bird seed.

[TruthConquers]

That is good.

I have had to take birds for help when they are alive but can’t fly. I would keep them quiet in a shoe box with water and some bird food until I got them help. One didn’t have a broken wing, it had some kind of bird pox. I always use oven mitts to pick them up with, and then wash them well, just in case the bird is carrying something.

[TruthConquers]

Oh.

I found this place when I tried to find help on-line. It seems, at least in California, it is illegal to help wildlife. Maybe other Freepers will know more.

[Ditter]

We have quite a few birds hit our windows, some live some die. Keep the cats (or dogs) off of the bird until it recovers and flies away or dies.

I am a little worried about your cats. You said they were outside cats and wore bells. I guess that means they also wear collars to attach the bells onto. I don't like to see outside cats wearing collars because climbing trees and wandering in the bushes they can get caught and possible die as a result.

Our neighbors cat got caught in my yard, by her collar, and almost died until I heard her crying and released her.

The law of unintended consequences is what I think it is called. There is no shortage of birds, I'd rather keep my cat safe.

[Conan the Conservative]

Release the bird outside and let nature take it’s course. You are messing up natural selection. If you help this bird survive in 50,000 years the world will be filled with inattentive doves who are easy prey for any predator. What do you think happened to the DODO?

[Excellence]

I'll keep looking. Meanwhile he's happily perched on the edge of the food bowl eating apples, carrots and lettuce.

[azishot]

The first time I saw a hurt bird I called our vet who put me in touch with several animal rescue people in our area. I’ve taken several hurt birds, rabbits and even a very small turtle to them. Since it’s voluntary, I usually give them a few bucks to help with their expenses.

[two23]

I used to raise ring neck turtledove and they wouldn’t eat anything but cracked dried corn (scratch feed) and laying mash. Which we are able to buy at the local supermarket.
In the wild, our mourning dove don’t eat anything but seed
(maybe an occasional bug) but they hang around fescue pastures and weedy side of the road places.
If you can pick some dried corn out of a wild bird seed mix and crack it into smaller pieces that may work better than veggies.
Also chipping dry dog or cat food into small crumbs.
Don’t force feed.
Do you have neighbors that raise these birds maybe?
The mourning dove that come to our feeders love the finch food which is mostly thistle seed and millet. They prefer the millet over the thistle seed.

[ErnBatavia]

Those things will probably provide all the moisture the dove needs....we’ve got tons of ‘em here in the desert, and they really don’t tend to head for the water when the sprinklers go off - they do enjoy the wild birdseed that we set out for our quail (see my homepage).

[Cowgirl of Justice]

Just tell them it is a Mexican dove.

Free healthcare, free housing and free education.

[nina0113]

My brother-in-law set up a bird feeder about a foot above and two feet away from the windowsill my cat liked to sit on. The cat thought it was an hors-d’oevre tray. He’d just reach out his paw (Maine coon cat, a BIG boy) and swat them down.

[Cowgirl of Justice]

We used to have birds hit our picture windows. I put post-it notes on the windows and have not had one hit since then.

[two23]

My daughter was out walking one day and this little guy with chick down and no tail had fallen from a 30 foot pine tree. It would probably not survive the time it would take before it could fly. Road, catch basin cats--She brought it home. Look at those cute little head feathers! It's a mockingbird...feisty little creatures..she had to feed him 5+ times a day. Mushy canned dog food + fruit pulp and water. He was very demanding, but was also thriving. She stopped feeding him with her hand. He's growing She started taking him back outside and getting him used to nature, but it didn't stop him from begging He likes pieces of fruit Baby feathers are gone! This guy is almost ready to kick the tires and light the fires Now he is spending more of his day outside but supervised. Working up to the release day Almost ready to go. I think this was our last photo session before he took off. He did not keep coming back but we have had mockers living in our shrubs were we never had ANY before. They are still here, dive bomb us once in awhile, or stop by the feeder and peck some seed. All in all, raising Rudy too my daughter almost a month and she did a great job.

[two23]

OMG so sorry for the lack of formatting...the preview pane is not WYSIWYG!

[Excellence]

We live in the high desert. He’s really eating up a storm.