Gray Catbird attacked by Cat

[niapet]

Hello all,

About a half hour ago found a gray catbird laying in the yard. The poor thing had been bitten by the neighbor's cat on the wing. The bite looked pretty nasty and was bleeding, but Lexi managed to hold the poor thing in a towel and keep enough pressure on it to stop the bleeding.

Anyway the wound doesn't appear to be life threatening anymore, other than possible infection, but the wing may also be broken, we dont know. At the moment the poor thing is resting in a comfy box with lots of air wholes and towels for bedding. S/he has a cup of water and a couple blueberries to eat with him/her as well.

Do any of you have any advice? I called the local wildlife rehabber and was referred to someone with birt experience, but am still waiting on a call back. I would really like to save this poor little guy but want to make sure the wing heals properly and does not get infected.

PS I hate cats...

[astra]

cat bite will be fatal if not treated with ABs. do you have any ABs?

Psychobird is an amazing bird person - send her a pm.

[niapet]

Well I don't have any bird AB so the bird is going to die.

[Scooterzmom]

Do you have at least any polysporin? Until you can get your hands on ABs you might be lucky and it just "might" help keep the infection at bay :(

[niapet]

I have 2 amoxicillin 500 mg pills, can I do anything with these?

[astra]

amoxi might be useful.
BUt I won't know - psychobird is the bird person. Have you been able to conatct her?

[psychobird]

So sorry I missed the pm's
Don't panic, clean the wounds best you can, flushing with dilute betadine right away is a good start
Really check him over from head to toe, lifting feathers, rarely is there just one wound when it comes to cats
I will look up dosages in the morning

[psychobird]

Ps, I don't hate cats, I hate people that allow cats outdoors

[psychobird]

Is he still alive? Did he go to the Rehabber?
Do you still need amoxy dosage?

[psychobird]

Oh! Your in mass, me too! what town r u in?

[psychobird]

well, the silence is telling me the bird must have died

[niapet]

Sorry I haven't checked in.. Actually phen is doing quite well. I divided the amoxy by a pill diluted in 10mg of filtered water and have been dosing him with roughly 25 mg every 6 hours (calculated based on him weighing about a lb and dividing the human dose by 100). This is a higher dose I think but should be safe. He was barely moving and seemed to have given up yesterday but today he is more alert and seems to be doing better.

I have also been giving him a lot of water by dropper when he gets his meds to make sure he can process it and stays hydrated. Force-feeding a bird liquid is a lot easier than a squirrel =P.

The only thing that worries me is if he is eating at all. there is some seed and blueberries in his box but I don't think he is eating much.

PS I will tell you where we are located in MA but only by PM.. just to be safe since harboring wilds is technically illegal here...

[pappy1264]

Jodi is cool, you don't have to worry. She is licensed and knows her stuff, esp. birds! She has taught me alot.

[psychobird]

and you may be closer to a rehabber than you know, pm it!

[niapet]

The people from tufts told us not to clean the wound, since it could "distress him". After your suggestion we cleaned him up.. I'm glad we did, we got off some old blood and wrapped the wing in a bandage with generous amounts of neosporin with pain relief. I am thinking this plus the amoxy, and hopefully your help, will save this poor little guy.

The wound isn't as bad as we thought.. what we thought might be bones look to be just feather stumps.. but that is ot to say it is not a nasty wound... it looks like a hole under his wing near where it meets his body... I am not qualified to know if this needs stitches.

[psychobird]

not good to stich puncture wounds from a cat, traps in all that nasty bacteria
sent you a pm with a link to rehabbers out your way
put a couple of calls in to see who is out there, i'm on the coast
here's the link again
http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/wildlife/rehab/wildlife_rehab_cvd.htm

[psychobird]

lynne bowden, julie ann collier and judy pasko are bird rehabbers i believe

[niapet]

The closest rehabers only do birds of prey and I havent heard back from the further ones yet.. is there any way to tell if the wing is broken?

[psychobird]

you can look at him, see if both wings are hanging exactly the same, look where the "shoulder's" are, are they even
then feeling is the best way, feel each bone in the wing including the joints, does it feel the same as the other side
when you extend his wing does it close up the same as the other when you let it go

[niapet]

Just wanted to let you all know we took Phen to Tuffts emergency veterinary hospital to be evaluated... It was a bit of a drive but we were really concerned about the possibility of his wing being broken... Unfortunately i fear we may have sentenced him to death. They said he would be given AB and pain meds tonight and the wildlife people would evaluate him in the morning.. but i am concerned they are just going to say he isn't worth the effort and euthanize him..

Also the student that evaluated him called him a Dove, so I may have been wrong about him being a catbird.

edit: I looked at pictures of gray doves and that is definitely him, phen is a gray/mourning dove. Also he is probably a she.

[psychobird]

Tufts is good, if his wing is repairable they will do it
As far as medical attention for wildlife they are the best
They know what they are doin, I can call in the morning and offer to do the after care if they need me
Did they say she was a baby? Btw, can't tell male and female modos apart without DNA
Sometimes if 2 are together the males are slightly bigger

[niapet]

That would be wonderful if you could do that... If he needs it and is non-releasable we are willing to build him a special living area and take care of him...

If you do the after care we will drive to you to pick him up so he can be released in the yard and find any mate he may have.

PS He was the probably an adult. His body was about the size of my fist with wings folded and excluding neck nad head. With wings spread he is probably 1 1/2 - 2 feet.

[psychobird]

Sadley if he is non releasable he will be euthanized
It's federal law, only way around it is getting him placed in an educational program and sadly it seems the only birds educational programs want are raptors

Lets try to think positive until we know what they find, cross our fingers and say a prayer

[bobby taylor]

As far as I am concerned cats are nothing but killing machines. I put them in the same class with fire ants. They love to kill anything they can get their mouth on and do it for the heck of it. Now this is my opinion. I hate it when people that have cats put up bird feeders, you cant have both.

[psychobird]

It's true, the longer I rehab the pissed off I get about cats
I don't blame the animal for being an animal, I blame the humans that allow the slaughter
Cats get taken by coyotes, fisher cats and cars here
The owners should have loved them enough to keep them safe and not let them mutilate everything
They are the most destructive invasive species after us

[niapet]

The worst part about this cat is it is my next door neighbor's cat...who happens to be my mother...She wont listen to me about keeping him inside, she thinks That would be cruel to him!

I hope Phen will be okay..I really started to like the little guy. Who even knew we had mourning doves living in the yard?

[niapet]

I couldn't get a hold of anyone at the wildlife clinic today due to the holiday... I hope Pheny is okay.. I really hole they gave him some pain meds.

[Scooterzmom]

The worst part about this cat is it is my next door neighbor's cat...who happens to be my mother...She wont listen to me about keeping him inside, she thinks That would be cruel to him!

I hope Phen will be okay..I really started to like the little guy. Who even knew we had mourning doves living in the yard?

Can you get her to at least put a bell on the cat's collar? Soo the critters and birds can hear him approaching?

[niapet]

That is an excellent idea. I will make it so.

[Scooterzmom]

That is an excellent idea. I will make it so.
Make sure the collar is a stretch one though, so it can release if it gets snagged i onto something - kitty (whose only sin after all is just being who he is...i.e. a cat) should not get strangled if his collar gets caught on or in something.

Try to find a bell that really rings, not just a little weak jingle bell. It will probably drive kitty nuts the 1st few days but hečll get used to it eventually. And, of course, check regularly to make sure that he still wears it :)

[niapet]

I am sorry to report that Phen didn't make it. His wound was too severe and he became septic and died overnight... It makes me sooo sad..I really cared about this little bird that I only knew for a few days.

PS My mother is being quite reactionary and defensive about her cat. She is mad and offended that we are "attacking her" and refuses to keep him inside and wont even talk about the bell. Anyway I told her if she can't be bothered to put a bell on the cat, I will make sure to injure it enough so it will never hunt again next time I have to pull it off of an animal it is torturing..

Like I said.. I hate cats.

[Scooterzmom]

I am sorry to report that Phen didn't make it. His wound was too severe and he became septic and died overnight... It makes me sooo sad..I really cared about this little bird that I only knew for a few days.

PS My mother is being quite reactionary and defensive about her cat. She is mad and offended that we are "attacking her" and refuses to keep him inside and wont even talk about the bell. Anyway I told her if she can't be bothered to put a bell on the cat, I will make sure to injure it enough so it will never hunt again next time I have to pull it off of an animal it is torturing..

Like I said.. I hate cats.

I understand your frustration but PLEASE ... don't take it out on the cat. He's just being all that he knows to be... a cat. It's not HIS fault. :grouphug

[psychobird]

Agreed, don't hurt kitty, not his fault
U just can't thru to some people about thier cats
I actually refused to take a bird once from someone who refused to cOnsider keeping thier cat in, it was the 4th bird she had brought me that spring
No donation, just dump them on me
Told her to save it, I was so mad, it was near the end of a busy cat related rehab season and I was as burnt as could be
I still feel guilty over it, the bird sounded like it needed to be euthanized anyways, I should have taken it, and she should have just humored me
Sorry bout the poor dove, it's so sad, they are such sweet birds

[niapet]

I didn't mean I would kill the cat.. I could never kill an animal. But If it happens again I Intend to take the cat and have it de-clawed so it can't hunt.

PS I know what you mean about them being such sweet birds. Little Phen never tried to peck me or scratch me or harm me in any way. It was almost as if he knew we were trying to help: very unusual for a wild animal (that't not a squirrel of course =)

[psychobird]

The hose works pretty good for keeping them out of the yard