A Heavy Heart

I have been preoccupied, consumed, for the past week with concern and care for one of my sweet little pigeons, Gideon. A Beautiful creature who was given to me this summer, I had treated him for a respiratory condition after bringing him home. His symptoms subsided after the recommended course of therapy and eventually he and his two companions were introduced to the loft with my other birds.

I began to notice he was lethargic and lacked interest in food, so brought him inside where I could observe and care for him if need be. I discovered then that he was vomiting up his food and passing abnormal droppings. Given his overall lethargy and myriad symptoms I decided there was nothing for it but to find an avian vet with experience treating something other than lovebirds, if one could be found. I did locate a good vet within an hour from home and made an urgent trip out to see her.

She did fecal and crop swabs and identified a large # of bacteria as the likely cause of his condition and put him on injections of Baytril (CIPRO) twice daily for 3 days, but by the third day he had lost all his strength and that evening he passed.

I am really devastated by losing him, he was a beautiful bird that I admired instantly on sight and for him to pass away at such a young age is heart-wrenching. I am indebted to the good people at Pigeon-Talk for all their support and help in my clumsy efforts to sustain this young bird through a crisis, and I am posting this message and some pictures here as a memorial to a beautiful fellow that I desperately wish I'd had a chance to know better, and more, that fate had dropped into more experienced hands.