My Finch Had an Incident and Im Not Sure What To Do

Question

Injury Spot on Male Fi   Dear Jana Connell,

Please forgive my re-sending this question... I neglected to complete all the info previously before accidently hitting "send". Thank you so much for offering this service, especially to those of us who, for whatever reason, can't get to a vet right away. Here is what happened:

The incident:
My 4-year old male zebra finch has been traumatized by an escape from his cage followed by a nasty chase from the house cat. It happened a couple of hours ago. Gigabyte, my finch, didn't "appear" to be badly injured but I'm not a vet and can't tell for sure. He lost a patch of feathers on his back (which must hurt or be very sore) and is now very still in his cage. He won't sing, and hasn't eaten or had any water. He's not socializing with his mate and just stays put on his perch looking a bit puffy and lopsided. When I come by to talk to him -something he always enjoys and responds to-he just winces. I don't believe his wing is broken because I saw him fly from the floor of the cage to his perch, and then again to another perch to get away from his mate pecking at his sore.

My questions: What can I do to help him out and hopefully make him feel better? Should I put anything on his new bald spot where the feathers are missing? (see picture) How do I distinguish the effect of trauma from the effect of physical discomfort? Is there anything in particular --physical or otherwise--I should be watching out for? Do finches get over trauma? I'm not in a position where I can go to an avian vet, and so I want to be as helpful to him as I can... I would be deeply and greatly appreciative for ANY advice you could help out with...

Again, thank you very, very much...
Sincerely, --Royce

Answer
Hi Royce,
You know I am not really in a good position to answer this question as I am not a bird expert.
The thing is, it's hard to tell if he is in pain or not. Chickens don't have any nerve endings on their skin so a tear or poke they can't feel, but that doesn't mean that finches are like that.

He should get over the trauma but if he doesn't start eating by tomorrow, call a vet or a pet store.

Other than that, you should re-post this in the Bird Expert area.

I hope he recovers quickly.