Cat bought home a baby bird, still alive

Beckyy

Our cat just dived in the kitchen window with a baby bird in it's mouth. I thought it would be dead, but ti was still alive.

It had a small cut between one wing and leg. I dabbed it gently and it stopped bleeded. Managed to feed him a few drops of water with a dropper. RSPB website said scrambled egg was an okay temporary substitute, so he's had a pea sized amount of scambled egg, and it now in a shoe box (with lid half off) with lots of tornup kitchen roll in our bedroom cupboard (warm in there).

I would be very suprised if he survives the night, but if he does, what do I do? He has some small feathers and little wing feathers, but not all of them, and is about the size of a very large hens egg.

I think it's a starling.

Beckyy

He survived the night!

I checked on him at 6ish expecting the worst, and he was nice and cosy. I got his box out at 7ish and I've never seen a beak open so wide! He had some scrambled egg and a few drops of water, done a poo then went back to sleep. Since then he's had a few more drops of water and couple more iittle pieces of egg, and 2 more poos! He's opened his eyes a little this morning, but I think he must only be about a week old. Certainly not old enough to go back outside on his own, and I can't see any nests nearby.

I'm going to go into the pet shop this afternoon and see if they can give me any advice on what to do with him and some more suitable food to give him for now to see if he survives all the stress.

He's been chirping though and seem fine considering the trauma of last night.

Fridaycat

Well done for saving the bird! :j Our Harry cat just caught a baby bird who wasn't so fortunate, it is already dead and Harry won't let us anywhere near him to get it from him (he's outside).

Have you thought about calling your vet to see what they would suggest? I think they'd perhaps be more knowledgeable than pet shop staff?

Beckyy

Thanks Fridaycat. I was a little concerned they may say he'd be better off being pts, and I already feel terribly guilty but the vets is a good idea. I'm hoping I've not done him a disfavour by rescuing him (if that makes sense?) as I'm not sure if he's got much chance of being wild now that he's been handfed and indoors.

He's beautiful though! I think I need to replace the cats ittle bell with a cowbell!

By the pics on this website: http://www.starlingtalk.com/inthenest2.htm

He looks about 9/10 days old.

krlyr

Does he have any wounds? It's often the bacteria from a cat's mouth (thriving in it due to the nature of eating meat etc.) that finishes off a bird if the shock doesn't so it could be worth a precautionary course of antibiotics, a local wildlife place may be the best bet as they'll know what they're doing and have staff that can feed and monitor him around the clock.

helenut

First of all, thank you for trying to save this baby!

You will need to pass this bird on to someone more experienced. Have you tried calling the RSPB? All you can do is keep him warm, fed, and hydrated. In the long run continuing with scrambled egg mixed with water will not give it all the nutrition it needs. Although it seems a very good sign he's still got a good feeding response, Starling's are little fighters.

The parents wont reject the baby if its been handled then put back into the wild, this is a myth, it is just usually if you see a baby bird fallen out the nest it is because the parents have already rejected it. You have improved his chance of survival as you do not know there the nest is and just leaving him out he would be eaten.

Handfeeding a bird indoors does not make it tame. If you hand it over to a wildlife centre they (hopefully!) will have experience in this, feed it the proper food, get him strong and heathy then release him.

As krlyr has said, if the cat has broken the skin of the bird then the saliva may be fatal and he will need to see a vet asap.

Best of luck, I know how stressful it can be with baby birds when they're so young. You've done the best you can to save him, which I can only thank you for

Ninasmum

Def ask your vet and check the yellow pages for a wildlife sanctuary. Over the years I've done both- we had house martins nesting over our door and their nest has collapsed twice. The first time I took the two not quite fledglings that fell to the ground to the sanctuary a half hours drive from me. The second time I was unable to drive at the time owing to a back injury and rang my vet. They gave me the number of a nice lady who successfully reared another fledgling- she was able to come and get and help mine too. Good luck whatever happens and well done for at least trying. It often doesn't go well but at least you gave it a shot.

sidbee

Hi Becky,
Best thing is to phone a wildlife rescue centre that looks after wild birds. Most will give phone advice, some will take the bird from you and treat and rehabilitate it too. It might need antibiotics. The British Wildlife Helpline lists the contact details of wildlife rescue centres all over the UK. I can't post a link as a Newbie, but you can work it out from this:
www britishwildlifehelpline com/centres

If you live anywhere near Sussex/Hampshire, call Brent Lodge on 01243 641672. St Tiggwinkles near Aylesbury also has an emergeny number and will give advice, and also can help point you to a more local centre for you - 01844 292292

Good Luck!

sid b

Beckyy

We're in Scotland and I'm not really aware of any wildlife centres locally, but I'm going to try and pop into the vets this afternoon and see if they can recommend the next steps. I'm trying not to get attached to the little thing, he's happily eating, drinking and pooping every 45min/1hr now.

Beckyy

I'm afraid he died during the night last night.

I went into te vets yesterday and they were useless. I only got to speak to the nurse who just told me to phone the RSPCA. Couldn't even suggest a food to feed him. So I found the number for a lady who ad rescued quite a lot of birds locally and was going to phone her this morning, but found that he'd died when I went to give him his first feed.

I think he'd shuffled during the night as the tornup kitchenroll that was covering him had come off and I think he'd got too cold. I feel terrible that I didn't check on him through the night, and feel very guilty. But at least we tried and I know he didn't die such a traumatic death as he would of if I hadn't found him Thursday night.

Thank you for all your replies.

gettingready

Ohhhhhh poor thing - at least you tried to save him...

The one Teddy proudly produced to me few days ado as I was calling him back home from the garden was "dead on arrival".

Teddy was so proud of himself coming up to me, dropping the poor dead baby bird at my feet, looking up at me and purring like "look mum, got us dinner, do it well done for me pls"..... Yukkkkkkk

But my cats do nto do collars, tried few times and they lasted one day - lost in transit.. pity as would like the ones will bells to stop them getting to the poor birds