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I WAS SURE she was dead.... eyes closed, motionless, hanging upside down by one foot, she looked so very very dead.
(She would "stick" to me, therefore I named her Velcro)
A very happy carefree Voorburg Shield Cropper.
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It was a bit later than usual, dark when I went out to close up the Chickens and Pigeons in the thunder, lightning, and pouring rain. Everyone was there except for my sweet Velcro. She would never stay out on purpose so I feared the worst. This is my prize Pigeon, my friend, my companion, my treasure…we’ve been thru a lot together... It seems she has 9 lives but she's already used up 4. With flashlight I looked everywhere, several times, no sign of her. I was about to give up and hoped she might return the next morning. Then, for no good reason, I shined the light at the top vent high in the back of the aviary, and to my amazement, there she was, outside, hanging upside down by one leg, motionless, eyes closed, looking so very very very dead, I was sure she was dead.
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I grabbed a ladder and with the light in one hand and heavy rain pouring down… with my light shining on her, her eye twitched so then I knew she was still alive, but a very short time longer and she certainly would have died. I think she was there for a few hours. I lifted her totally limp unconscious body and was attempting to free her foot when the ladder started to sink in the wet soil and would very soon tip over. I was afraid if I dropped her, her leg would twist and break... the ladder continued to tip. The hole was small and I could not reach past her body to free her leg. The ladder was about to fall so I quickly pushed her back into the opening without freeing her leg and hoped for the best. Success, when she fell inside (just a 4" drop to the nest roof) her leg was freed.
I ran inside the aviary and she was laying on the nest roof, eyes closed, exhausted and motionless, only semi-conscious and near death. But, her leg did not appear to be broken. I held her in my arms on the couch and she promptly fell sound asleep... or ... was she dying? I held her for hours and hours, hoping she’d survive.
WHY? Did she go out the vent ? It seemed strange, she never had before and the aviary door was wide open anyway. But the next night, our Tuna cat desperately wanted to go outside, so we let him. It was because there was a neighborhood cat returned to the scene of the crime. Velcro had managed to escape, but got trapped hanging upside down on the outside. Tuna promptly chased the cat away. Tuna pays no attention to the Pigeons, Chickens, or Doves, ignores them, but he doesn’t like stray cats.
The next morning Velcro’s leg was badly swollen and steadily getting worse so I took her to the vet. The Vet said she would likely lose her leg, it was totally limp and no control and no sensation at all... nerve damage? But she gave Velcro an exam and an x-ray. There were no fractures but then the vet said there was a 75% chance she'd lose her leg. By then I was so very upset, the vet hugged me to comfort me.
Velcro's life partner, 2.5 a white Homer Pigeon, was so very upset, frantic, and desperate to see Velcro… she didn’t know what to do, cooing loudly and continuously pacing back and forth in the outside aviary. She seemed to know that Velcro was in big trouble. The minute I put Velcro’s cage outside on the deck, 2.5 immediately flew up from the aviary to be near Velcro. I could see that 2.5 was greatly relieved to see Velcro alive.
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The next day Velcro showed signs of being able to control her leg just a little bit, but not her toes (dangling) so there was a bit of hope. When she walked she’d fall on her face. By that evening she was able to use her leg just a little bit for support and could limp with great difficulty but still falling. By the third day her leg had much improved and she seemed to be able to control her front toes just a little tiny bit. By evening, she could sorta walk but with a very severe limp, NO pressure at all on her toes and foot, still no control of her toes.
Later I brought Velcro in the house and before I could even close the door, 2.5 had flown inside to be near Velcro. The bond between those two birds is so amazing, so complete…. They truly love each other so very very much (Pic = happier days).
The forth day Velcro was doing so much better I decided she could be free inside the aviary to be with her lover 2.5. For the entire day, they hugged and kissed and coo’ed and coo’ed. So much happiness.
The fifth day she still limped badly, but it seemed she would be able to fly free and lead a mostly normal life so I let them both outside. It was a pleasure to see their happiness. They were jubilant to be together again, much continuous hugging and kissing. They flew around the neighborhood all day and spent a lot of time on the roof, so happy to be reunited and free to fly. I could see it was a great sense of relief to 2.5. Velcro was still limping badly but otherwise seemed in pretty good shape.
This is such a sweet video.
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BUT THEN that evening when I went to the aviary late in the day, I discovered Velcro laying in a very large pool of blood. She was bleeding to death and hadn’t the strength to get up to the nest, SOoo much blood lost. She was laying on the aviary platform instead of up high by their nest as usual. She was covered in blood and I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. I finally discovered that she had NO control of her back toe and had been walking with her toe folded under her foot all day and the knuckle was bleeding badly. I cleaned her up some and got the bleeding to stop. We taped a cotton ball on her foot to restrict movement and protect the wound. I was afraid it may start bleeding again. From lack of blood, she was again mostly unconscious so I held her in my arms for many hours again and we both slept soundly into the night. I was hoping she hadn’t lost TOO much blood, and that it wasn’t too late, or ... maybe she wasn't sleeping ... Again, maybe she was dying in my arms?
The next morning I made a splint… a cast… of styrofoam and gauze patches, carved with deep grooves to keep all her toes in place. She still limps badly but could now walk on her leg fairly well and didn't seem to care about the splint, it was working well.
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I’m hoping that when we remove the splint tomorrow (Fri) that her back toe stays in the right position… then maybe… a day in the aviary and if that’s successful, then Saturday she and 2.5 can be free to fly together again. I’m hoping.
= = = = = = = UPDATE 6/4/10. The 7th day started out great. Removed the splint and Velcro was happy and in good spirits (as usual) and walking pretty good with but with a serious limp, but with all her toes where they should be. I let her loose in the aviary and watched her closely for many hours and it looked very promising. Her back toe was always straight behind her all day long. She doesn't have perfect control of her leg yet so stumbles occasionally but overall, doing quite nicely.
BUT by evening, she was walking with her back toe under her foot again so we immediately put the splint back on and confined her to a cage. Will check again in a few days, but I fear it means she cannot control it at all, and then her back toe may have to be amputated ???
...Another potential problem. Her leg is still quite swollen and feels hot to the touch, she gets daily medication for it. I was hoping it would be normal by now. Also her digestive system is not right. Her droppings contained far too much fluid. That means all is not well, but maybe that's to be expected under the circumstances... lots of stress. Otherwise, she seems healthy, alert and very happy (as usual).
UPDATE 6/11/2010 12 noon, The 8th day she is doing well except that she still has almost no control of her toes. The problem is that her rear toe continues to fold under her foot then she walks on it and it bleeds. The splint prevents that but if she's to get muscles and control back, her toes need exercise without the splint. I'm taking her back to the vet this afternoon for some advice and more pain medication. I'm still keeping her confined but loose in my office. She just now managed to land on my arm while I'm typing this.
GOOD NEWS update 7/9/2010 - Success. Nearly one month later and almost 100% recovered. All her toes stay in place and her limp is barely noticeable.
4/20/2009 More Good news update months later - She's fully functional, back to normal, same old happy carefree Velcro, my sweet little feathered friend.
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Bev Letard... just for your info... Can be another (final) story about Velcro
Terrible news 5/20/2014. Today a hawk killed her as she was flying to the deck to visit me.
http://bertthemensachicken.blogspot.com/2014/09/this-is-not-sunset-picture.html
