My 2D homies

[Jade]

I'm so sorry, Louisabell! Thank you for trying, that must have been so devastating. I know wildlife rehabilitators usually won't take pigeons because they are non native species. I guess I have to be very glad that the vet she took the pigeon too was very glib (the vet said - "looks like you have a homing pigeon!", meaning her own little pet) and yeah, this little one will eventually be able to get around fairly well, but being as she is still barely fledged (you can still see the yellow hairs on her head, and she peeps!!) she is still learning body coordination in general. But she is so tame. We let her out of her cage earlier and she flew right up into my hands. Most of my other animals come from situations of neglect and still don't trust me that much, heh.

There is one avian vet in town, I was considering taking her in, but skeptical for many reasons (I have had mixed experiences with vets... uncommon animals aren't easy) so I'm glad to have the heads up to call before I just bring her somewhere.

That sucks if they still charged you.

I took my little rat Graham into the vet, he had pneumonia which had escaped our detection because rats usually have upper respiratory infections first, and that's obvious because of sneezing, wheezing, etc. They vets insisted on getting an xray so that they could "see the progress as it heals" (so completely unnecessary for diagnosis) and they scared my fragile little rat so badly while holding him still for the xray that he had a heart attack and died in the xray room. They still charged me.



This is Graham 5 minutes before he passed away. He was moving around and alert. If they would have just cut us the script for the meds we would have been back home nursing him to health about half an hour later. After this experience, I ordered antibiotics online and for obviously recognizable and treatable ailments, I treat my own animals. I trust in my own healing skills and it's just such a risk to introduce such a stressful situation into an already sensitive and ailing animal who is scared of strange humans. The group mind of the internet is often just as helpful as the general knowledge of a vet, especially for exotic species (not cats and dogs) and especially my chickens. The antibiotics I ordered from a pigeon supply store are illegal to give my chickens because they are "food animals". "Farm" animals don't get the same kind of care from vets that "pet" animals do. So yeah. Call me a bit skeptical already about taking the animals in my care to the vet, unless absolutely necessary, for this and several other reasons from personal experience.