Pigeon baby - what to do?

Question
I found a baby pigeon today, and he wasnt in good shape and there were nmo parents around. And so i picked the baby up and took him/her home. I've placed him/her in a box with hay for now, and have tried to feed him some cat food. he's not intent on trying to peck me, he just wants to rest. He still has yellow single strand-like feathers. But he's also loosing alot of feathers. Is this sfrom stress? or just him growing?
I phoned the RSPCA and they said there is nothing that they can do. And the vets told me to ring the RSPCA. So im stuck. No one really wants this poor little baby. But im happy to raise it. Will he survive if i feed him cat food, and how should i give him water? thanks, Rosie.

Answer
Hi, Rosie,

It's hard for me to tell how old this baby pigeon is from your post.  If it still has yellow down, it's probably about 2-3 weeks old.  It shouldn't be losing feathers...it should be growing feathers since it's a baby bird.  If it's losing feathers, it may have some type of illness.

This bird can't live on cat food.  You need to handfeed the bird with baby parrot handfeeding formula you can buy at your local pet store (or on the internet).  I use Kaytee Exact, but there are other brands.  You'll also need a handfeeding syringe, which you might also find at the pet store.  Follow the directions on the back of the package for mixing the formula.  Handfeed the baby whenever its crop is empty.  There's some guidance on my website for handfeeding baby parrots which would also apply to baby pigeons.  www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html.  

You'll need to keep this baby warm if it doesn't have enough feathers yet.  You'll need to determine if this is required based on what you see on the bird.  If the bird isn't fully feathered yet, keep it in a box or glass fish aquarium with a heating pad underneath.  Baby birds not only need heat for warmth, but also for their food to metabolize properly until they are able to eat on their own.  If this baby is starting to peck at things with its beak, you might want to try some dove or pigeon grain.  Just lay some down in a dish/jar lid or something similar and see if the baby pecks at it.  The baby will need smaller seeds right now until it learns to eat larger seed.  What/how you feed this baby depends on how big (old) it is.  You can give the baby water in the mouth with an eye dropper or something similar.  If the baby is old enough, it may be able to drink on its own.  You'd need to dip its beak down in some water in order to teach it how to drink when it gets old enough (or to see if it will drink on its own now).

I've raised many baby pigeons by hand.  You can do it.  However, if your intentions are to release this baby when it's old enough, you need to keep human contact at a bare minimum so that you can release it when the time comes.  Otherwise, the bird won't know how to find food and water on its own when you release it.  

Chrys