diamond dove neck twisting around/backwards :(

[tinysparrow]

for the past week or so i have been observing one of my diamond doves twisting his neck around in really weird positions. can anyone help?

his symptoms are:
-twisting his neck around (kind of like the girl from the exorcist movie) but instead of twisting from side to side, literally upside down, so he looks at me upside down and backwards
-not perching really at all, and for the few seconds that he manages to perch, he twists his neck upside down to look around and falls backwards off the perch right onto his head and neck again. then he flaps all around when he's upside down, freaking out the other birds, while he tries to get back on his feet. this happens many times a day. because of this i have moved the perches to one inch off of the ground so he doesn't hurt himself.
-falling over when he is standing. he will literally do a backwards summersault and flap all around to try to right himself.

i feel like he may have hit his head on the top of the cage really hard. my diamond doves are pretty mellow, but once in a while they do get spooked, and fly straight up in the air. i tried to get a picture of this behaviour, so i posted a few below that i took a few days ago. they aren't the best, but you will see the weird head position. it actually gets much worse than this when he falls off the perch and flaps around, trying to right himself. could this be some kind of twirling, or maybe neurological damage? the first time i saw him do this i thought he had broken his neck and that he was dying

[Sally]

Sorry I can't help you with this. It does sound like a neurological problem, though. I don't know if doves can develop twirling, but it does sound very much like it.

[lou]

Amy,
Watch the dove when it eats and see if it misses the grain, I'd separate it for good measures.
has it been in contact with other other foreign birds? seen any mice dropping around? It could be a few different probs.
pmv, samonala (sp) blowm ear drum
good luck
lou

[L in Ontario]

Awww poor dove! I agree with Sally - neurological / twirling possibly from hitting his head too hard as you say. It's hard to watch them like this, isn't it? I hope it resolves for you Amy.

[tinysparrow]

thanks for the help everyone.

lou, he has not been in contact with any foreign birds. he lives with his brother, his mate and his baby, all together in a community cage right now. i haven't seen mice around, they are in my bedroom, so i sure hope there aren't any mice should i treat him for anything in your opinion? and if so, what should i give him?

any sally and liz, yes its hard to see him like this he is a good daddy, and a good mate to his partner. i hope that the condition will not worsen. i thought it was twirling when i saw it the first time, as i watched a video that another forum member had posted on it and it looked similar, although it was not as severe. i will continue to monitor him and hopefully he will improve.

[Angeldov222]

for the past week or so i have been observing one of my diamond doves twisting his neck around in really weird positions. can anyone help?

his symptoms are:
-twisting his neck around (kind of like the girl from the exorcist movie) but instead of twisting from side to side, literally upside down, so he looks at me upside down and backwards
-not perching really at all, and for the few seconds that he manages to perch, he twists his neck upside down to look around and falls backwards off the perch right onto his head and neck again. then he flaps all around when he's upside down, freaking out the other birds, while he tries to get back on his feet. this happens many times a day. because of this i have moved the perches to one inch off of the ground so he doesn't hurt himself.
-falling over when he is standing. he will literally do a backwards summersault and flap all around to try to right himself.

i feel like he may have hit his head on the top of the cage really hard. my diamond doves are pretty mellow, but once in a while they do get spooked, and fly straight up in the air. i tried to get a picture of this behaviour, so i posted a few below that i took a few days ago. they aren't the best, but you will see the weird head position. it actually gets much worse than this when he falls off the perch and flaps around, trying to right himself. could this be some kind of twirling, or maybe neurological damage? the first time i saw him do this i thought he had broken his neck and that he was dying

hi, im wondering if he did hit his head.............i had found a seagull that was hit by a car displaying the same symptoms..........keep us posted

[L in Ontario]

Ooooh! I just noticed "somebody" has a birthday cake under their avatar today...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!!

Okay that was a little off topic... sort of.

[tinysparrow]

Thanks Liz!!

[lovemyfinch]

No help here other than what Sally and Liz have suggested

But I do want to wish you a happy happy Birthday Amy

[cindy]

Happy birthday Amy!!!!!

[DanteD716]

I wish I knew, but I have seen this behavior with other birds at petsmart (the doves) and when you tap mon the glass they go back to normal... I hope it is not a serious matter and he is just looking for a new perspective of life. btw happy B-Day!!!!! Today was my friends birthday in school!

[tinysparrow]

thanks so much everyone for the happy birthdays!

i just ate waaaaaaay too much birthday cake... but hey that's what birthdays are for right? oh and it was chocolate peanut butter mousse cake with evil brownies inside

[Meagan83]

Watch him very closely. I saw this behavior in one of my diamond doves before he passed away. Upon close observation I notice him having small siezures. He would stay upright and they were brief. But as days passed they got worse and he died. I also lost 2 juvenile canaries to the same fate within a day or two of the dove. This all happened in the same flight cage. It was clean. The birds were in an office. No exposure to any chemicals. No other birds became ill. I have still never found out the cause.

[tinysparrow]

i took some more photos of my dove today. he doesn't look any better unfortunately after watching him some more, i do think that he may have some kind of brain damage, or maybe some kind of inner ear problem (causing him to completely lose his ability to balance)

i picked him up and held him and he can't balance in my hands at all, and he can't perch on my finger without falling off. if he goes on the perch in the cage (which is really low), he flaps all around and falls off backwards onto his head.

i feel so bad for the little guy

[lou]

Ah Amy, You know this has happened to one of my finches and to several of my pigeons before, you can take it to a vet and hope for the best , or you can put on a black hat. I had birds for most of my life and most times I wind up putting on the black hat. I look at it like this, it's a 15.00 bird, no vet has ever been able to help the birds that I had with these symptoms. Amy I'm sorry for sounding so numb and harsh
lou