How to make an injured bird feel comfortable.

[cindy]

I wrote a while ago about the gold breast getting into it with a female owl in the flight. The owl was sitting on eggs at the time and I saw the GB actually latch onto the owl's face and pull her out of the nest. The owl fell, she was bloody on the face, she also broke a few wing feathers, the wing itself was not broken. I cleaned up the wound and she cotinued to sit on her eggs.

Her flying was ok but last week she must have not been in control and landed a little off and possibly fractured her leg. She was bleeding, I cleaned her up and splinted the leg, first applying neosporin to the wound, a tiny piece of gauze then wrapping it in a tiny piece of Curad Ouchless Tape (it streched and sticks to itself, it also allows for the wound to breathe). She also broke the remainer of her wing feathers off on one side. She was placed in a hospital cage with food water and lots of warmth and I hoped for the best.

The toes still have a tiny bit of movement in them and the limb survived and healed but she seemed to be failing and she would call for her mate in the flight next to her little cage. I could hear her in the middle of the night I decided to help her out a little.

First I cleaned the bottom grates of the flight really good, then lined them with long sheets of paper towels, added a little tube nest with cozy comfort and made a tiny mound that sloped a little from the inside of the nest, sort of like a ramp. Put all low dishes full of dried eggfood, pellets and seed, water, added several water tubes the she could hop to to drink from. A heat lamp was added to the side of the cage right near the entrance of the nest so she can sit on the soft cozy comfort and get warm if she likes.

She was placed in the flight and right away the tail was twitching and she made herself at home, she roosts and rests in the ground level nest and is doing a little better. It will take time to see is she fully recovers, she is one of my older owls. I also noticed she is not as fearful of me coming near her and is very calm as I add new food and water right next to her. She is not coming out as much today, the leg looks like it mended but time will tell.

At least she can live the rest of her life with her friends and mate in her own cage. The rest of the come down and eat with her and sit over the perch near the nest. She is almost 4 yr old, hope she will be ok. I noticed to day that her mate was down near her nest, eating and rinking with her, preening her.

[L in Ontario]

I don't think she could find any better comfort than that Cindy. Best wishes for her to recover completely in time.

[cindy]

Thank you Liz, I know her age is a little against her right now in determining how well she heals and recovers. The male has encouraged her out and she is pigging out in the food bowls right now.

[dfcauley]

Best wishes for your little owl Cindy!

[cindy]

Thank you Donna.

[lovemyfinch]

I hope she heals completely for you Cindy
She does look comfy

[cindy]

Thanks Janine, it took her a while to come out this morning and sometimes she dozes in the warmth of the bulb or falls asleep in the food dish but she hops around, the cast is off but she is still stiff. My poor girl, she was also starting to produce a few young (the gold breast got to those to).

Hopefully with her mate incouraging her she will be with us for a while longer. I figured instead of her getting depressed away from familiar surroundings and her firends it might brighten her a little to be back in the flight.

[G8love4finches]

Poor little thing!....Hoping she makes a full recovery!

[6finchfriends]

How wonderful of you Cindy to make her comfortable back at home with her mate and friends! So sorry she was injured and I do hope she fully recovers

[cindy]

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I don't know if she will make it, she is sitting just outside the ground floor nest, resting her head against the bars and very close to the heat lamp. she is breathing very hard.

She was hoping around earlier this afternoon and eating, but went quickly to the spot she is in, the male is flying back and forth over her and checks and preens her.

[cindy]

Thank you everyone for the well wishes, she fought a good fight but she passed away tonight in my hands, she was seizing a bit so I held her in a cloth and she quietly passed away.

[MRobinson]

So sad. Sorry for your loss.

Mary R.

[Sally]

So sorry for your loss, Cindy. You certainly did all you could to make her more comfortable. I'm sure she appreciated that nest on the floor, since Owls love to be in a nest at night--very thoughtful of you.

[monotwine]

Cindy so sorry for your loss. You did the best you could for her.

[debbie276]

So sorry to hear that