? broken leg

[twinacres2]

I am so worried right now. I went our this morning to feed my guys and clean their cage and I noticed one of them is holding their leg at a weird angle. Not sure what happened as he was ok last night. What can I do for him??

[finchmix22]

I would remove him and check the leg. If it appears to be broken, you can carefully splint the leg with the tape they use after you give blood, which is sometimes colored and looks textured. I don't know the name of that type of medical tape, but it does not pull off feathers and is strong enough to use as a splint if you wrap the leg straight and carefully. Then, put him/her in a small cage to reduce the need to move around and place a shallow dish of water and seed near him with a small perch on the floor. I usually use a plastic perch that is used when you sell finches at a mart. It is about 5 inches long, plastic and can be hooked to the side at the bottom of a cage. If you don't have these items, you can make adjustments based on your supplies.

If the bone is sticking out, you need to give antibiotics. You may need to amputate the leg, if the leg can't be stabilized in a splint. Don't worry, finches get along fine without a foot or part of a leg. I have one finch who doesn't have any of the right leg, but a tiny stump. She still flies and perches. It's amazing how adaptable they are. Good Luck!

[Sally]

And if the leg can't be repaired, many finches live long lives with a handicap. I have a little male Strawberry finch that was injured as a baby when I accidentally knocked their nestbox to the floor. One leg sticks straight out to the side, and he has lived with this for 6 years now.

I also found one finch hanging from a wicker nest one time. He had been that way for some time, it seemed, and when I freed him, his leg stuck straight out behind him. He could not bend it at the knee at all. I put him in a small hospital cage with some heat, food and water low as finchmix22 has suggested, and a little more than a day later, he was back to normal.

[MiaCarter]

I had a similar experience to Sally's finch who she found hanging from the wicker nest.

In my case, it was a spice finch. His entire leg was sticking straight out at an odd angle and he was hopping around the cage bottom.

I called the vet and got an immediate appointment. I dug out and prepared the little transport box and by the time I got back to the cage, he was just fine!
I think he got caught up somehow and dislocated it?

I had another finch -- a nun named Harry -- with an actual broken leg. He was at my friend's pet shop when he broke it. She paid to have his leg wrapped up by the vet and she offered him to us (many of our pets have special needs/disabilities, so we're known in local rescue/pet circles as the people who will take anyone! LOL).
The vet did the exact same thing as described above -- wrapped up his leg with some sort of adhesive splinting material. That stayed on for a number of weeks. He was good as new once the splint came off.
Harry's toes on the bad leg never gripped as well as the other foot (nerve damage?) And the leg was a bit thicker at the point where it had broken. But otherwise, he was okay and he lived a normal life for 8 more years.

Really, most animals adapt beautifully to disability, whether it's temporary or permanent.
And with small birds like finches, you really have nothing to lose by splinting because the only real alternative is to euthanize. (I mean, I suppose you could amputate, but that would likely be quite expensive. I imagine it's too small to repair surgically.)

Best of luck with your birdie! Hopefully it's something simple like a dislocation that self-corrects.

[Angela&Shalamar]

vet wrap or coflex wrap makes a nice splint just make sure you don't pull it to tight and cut of circulation.

[twinacres2]

Thank you all so much for the advice. The leg is splinted and he is resting quietly in the "hospital" cage.