Zebra finches leg is mangled! Now what?

[Howldaloom]

About 2 weeks ago one of my young zebra finches caught his leg in the cage door (didnt see it but there was blood all over it).

I moved all the zebra finches from that cage to another, and moved him to one on his own. He was bleeding heavily, i didnt want to risk picking him up at that time, as i was worried it would just make him bleed to death with fright. So after he stopped bleeding and it had gone black i took him out the cage and washed him as he was drenched in blood. I thought, he had lost too much to live. Anyway i cleaned his leg. His leg had a large scrape of skin that had come off. (above the foot) there was a break and inside the skin was black with blood.

When i put him back he started bleeding heavily again, So i have since just left him alone to heal on his own. About 3 days ago his leg (shriveled and black) twisted back behind him and he again started bleeding heavily again. HE looked like he was struggling to perch as well on him good leg and was plucking feathers out above his leg on his breast which was covered in blood.

He seems ok now, The mangled leg is behind him, looking black and withered. I dont dare pick him up in case he starts to bleed again. He still struggles ish to perch when he lands but seems to regain balance afterwards.

The thing is i breed finches and with all this years young still here to sell on, i dont really have alot of space for him. Who is going to want him like that anyway?

What do i do? I dont want to put him down if there is a chance he will be ok. But i do not want to prolonge his suffering if he is...... I wont put him down on the basis of "i need space" I need to know if he has a life ahead of him!

What would you guys do? i cant really get a decent pic of him either. HELP!

[finches247]

First of All I would cut the rooting foot off with scissors and put in some Dettol to clean.And should perch easier.That's my opinion.

[Gordy]

I agree with finches247, but after cutting it off, I would use antiseptic cream.
It tends to stop the bleeding quicker/easier. I have had one legged zebs live
for many years. Good luck.

[fishdance]

I don't know much about finches but I sometimes have to use superglue as emergency sutures on fish. Works on humans too and would stop blood loss me thinks.
One of my OB finch lost a leg due to a basket nest. It manages well with just one leg now.

[Mortisha]

ARGGHH- sitting at home with my own broken leg propped up I can only feel for the little fella.
I'd take it to a vet so it was knocked out for the removal - broken legs frikkin hurt like hell!

[jusdeb]

The super glue can be used to temp close holes in birds crops so it probably has a use for fixing other injuries .

[Myzomela]

Superglue won't stop the bleeding if it is under a lot of pressure but will hold the skin edges closed if the bleeding is under less pressure.

If the dark & shrivelled part of the leg is truly dead- which it sounds like it is- then it will probably fall off eventually.

However, if it is sticking backwards it may well get caught on something and cause more problems.

You may well find that by cutting the leg a few millimetres below where it starts to look dark & shrivelled should avoid any bleeding if the leg is truly dead.
You can test this by poking a needle into the leg at the point where you are considering making the cut.
If a drop of blood appears, then the leg has not totally died and I would not cut it.
If there is no blood, then it should be safe to cut it with a clean pair of scissors. It should also be totally painless as the tissue is dead.
Cleaning the area to be cut in an antiseptic such as betadine is also a good idea.
The remaining few millimetres of dry tissue can be allowed to fall of naturally over time.