I have a pet dove.

Question
I know that doves are not exactly the same as pigeons, but you are the closest I can find that might be able to help.

I have two white doves as pets. I'm not sure how old there are, but there is one male and one female. They have a large cage, about 4 feet by 2 feet. I give them water and seeds and gravel everyday.


A few months ago, I noticed that the female was laying in the bottom of the cage a lot. I picked her up and discovered that she had hair wrapped all in her claw. I got my mom the help me, and we untangled the hair and got it out, but it appeared that her blood circulation had been cut off or something, and her feet didn't work, and she had some scabs on her foot. We soaked her foot in water for a little while, and after a couple of days, she seemed fine. Her foot didn't wrap around things quite like it used to, but she could walk and everything and moved around, so we didn't take her to a vet.

She had been fine since then, but recently I've noticed her sitting at the bottom of the cage again. She doesn't walk at all, so I picked her up to make sure there wasn't hair again, and there wasn't. But I noticed that the toe that is supposed to be behind the rest, in the back, is bent up towards the front and is adjacent to the other three. She's not moving much. I took her out of the cage and tried to soak her foot, but it didn't help. She can fly fine. She flew up onto the ceiling fan with the male bird.

We don't really have money to take her to a vet. Is there anything you can recommend?

Answer
Hi Andria

Unfortunatly, because I am not there to take a look at your bird, there is not a whole lot that I can do. I can suggest what you can try, though. I would visit a pet store and tell a worker there what is going on. He/she will probably recommend a universal medicine given orally to the dove. This helps to treat all kinds of minor ailments in birds. If this does not work, I would then suggest you visit a vet, but you stated that you don't really have the money to visit one. But I stress that you take her at least for a checkup so the vet can tell you what is wrong. Checkups do not cost as much as an appointment would, and if you need to buy medicine or give her surgery that is costly, I ask you to think about the bird. She might be in pain and you are her caretaker, and the least you could do for her is make her pain go away.

I really don't know what else to say, and I'm sorry I can't help you any more. But I hope she starts to feel better soon and I hope you find an affordable way to treat her.