Our cat brought in a bird, help

kevandkeira

Hi, on friday our cat brought in what seems to be a female adult blackbird. We managed to get the cat away from her & on inspection saw that there was a small wound on her back. We put her back in the garden but noticed she couldn't fly, we thought maybe because of shock so we put her in our cat box (type you take pet to vets in) overnight.
We tried again saturday morning, but she still wouldn't fly, we checked her wings & they seem fine. So we put the cat box (door open) in our conservatory in the hope that if left alone she might try to fly, but she didn't.
We have just tried again today & she still wont fly, does anyone know of what we can do. We dont really want to set her free outside, because our evil cats will bring her straight back in.
Any help would be appreciated, Thanks

BeenieCat

I know this isn't ideal and i wouldn't want to do this myself but you need to kill the bird really and put it out of it's misery. If you or someone you know is quite tough then they just need to break it's neck or similar to allow for a quick death.

denice37

oh! I couldn't do it! I'd be out digging in garden for worms and seeing if it would eat and persevere a little longer but then i'm always looking for the silver lining.

peachyprice

Sorry to say this, but the best thing you could have done is let the cat get on with it (outside of course!) I know it seems cruel, but that's what cats do, hunt.

Paradigm

BeenieCat wrote: »

I know this isn't ideal and i wouldn't want to do this myself but you need to kill the bird really and put it out of it's misery. If you or someone you know is quite tough then they just need to break it's neck or similar to allow for a quick death.

Why would you do that?

If it seems to be ok apart from the small wound then keep it in a quiet place & make sure it has water, try feeding it.

Blackbirds will eat tinned dogfood or bacon rind amongst other things.

I've rescued loads of birds from my cat &, granted, some have died but a good % have survived small puncture wounds.

kevandkeira

I defianatly wont be killing the bird as it does seem in good health. Obviously if it was in pain the I wouldn't think twice about putting it out of its misery (although I couldn't do it myself).
It is wandering around in the conservatory, I put a bowl of water in & it has been splashing about. It just doesn't seem to be able to fly, even though his wings appear to be fine, no breaks & it doesn't act as though they hurt when they have been touched.

olias

The trouble is, what looks like just a small puncture wound can just be the tip of the iceberg. Birds bones are very light and fragile and can fracture easily, it could also have internal bleeding, have knocked it's head whilst flailing around or develop an infection which may not be obvious, even if the small wound heals. All of these can lead to a slow painful tortuous death for the bird, even if you think its healed and it flies away.

The kind thing to do to prevent suffering is to kill it. If you can't face doing it yourself or do not know how to do it painlessly and instantly, then most vets will do it for you free of charge.

Olias

YorkiePud_3

kevandkeira wrote: »

I defianatly wont be killing the bird as it does seem in good health. Obviously if it was in pain the I wouldn't think twice about putting it out of its misery (although I couldn't do it myself).
It is wandering around in the conservatory, I put a bowl of water in & it has been splashing about. It just doesn't seem to be able to fly, even though his wings appear to be fine, no breaks & it doesn't act as though they hurt when they have been touched.

If it has been wondering about and having a good splash, then it sounds promising, although birds do tend to have the knack to make you think they are ok when they aren't.

Apparently it is instinct .. the weaker bird (or one injured) will get bullied by others, so it's in their best interests not to show any injury if possible.

I think I would be tempted to give it another day or two then try it again to see if it can fly. You never know, you may get up tomorrow to find it flying about your conservatory!! Let's hope!!

It could just be it is still in shock, or perhaps has more internal injuries that you can't see ... but then at least you would have given it a chance, and whilst it isn't showing any outward signs of being in distress, I think that's the right thing to do!

Krystaltips

Maybe it likes the special treatment and doesn't fancy flying away lol... It sounds like you're doing the best you can for it at the minute, I'd just carry in as you are... Last time I tried to take a bird to the vet they told me if it didn't fly away on it's own they would just put it down... I probably won't bother them next time...

Only one of my cats brings birds in... I've rescued about 4 from her so far... Apart from Friday night when the first I knew about it was when I spotted a beak and an eye on the living room carpet... At least she had the decency to clean most of her own mess up though...

Paradigm

olias wrote: »

The trouble is, what looks like just a small puncture wound can just be the tip of the iceberg. Birds bones are very light and fragile and can fracture easily, it could also have internal bleeding, have knocked it's head whilst flailing around or develop an infection which may not be obvious, even if the small wound heals. All of these can lead to a slow painful tortuous death for the bird, even if you think its healed and it flies away.

The kind thing to do to prevent suffering is to kill it. If you can't face doing it yourself or do not know how to do it painlessly and instantly, then most vets will do it for you free of charge.

Olias

Anything is possible! In my experience a severely injured bird dies within hours, they can be pretty fragile. This one however sounds to be ok apart from it's wound... it could just need time to recoup, the shock on it's own could be enough to prevent flying.

Killing it now is denying it a chance, yes it may die anyway but then again......

Tinasmummy

Hi,

It's really good that you have given this bird a chance , thank you:T

I've rescued birds in similar circumstances and whilst it hasn't always gone the way I'd have liked it to, sometimes it does.
I had a rescued pigeon that was with us for two weeks before he flew away.

Just a suggestion, why don't you take your bird to your local vet, as it's a wild animal the vet will look it over free of charge and is obviously the best person to give advice.
Least if the news is bad then you can be sure you did the right thing.

I hope it goes well and good luck