Gouldian with injured leg

Is your finch sick or not well? Find out why.
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BrettB
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One of my Gouldian's has injured his leg. He is holding it in a rather unusual position, out straight but pointing backwards.
When sitting on a perch the affected leg is behind the perch and he doesn't seem to have much movement in it.
I presume it is traumatic, as all the birds have been well and he seems fine in other respects.
I place him in a small cage, and took the opportunity to have a close look at his leg. There does not appear to be any obvious breaks and the leg returns to the normal "bent forwards" position without any resistance or apparent discomfort.

So what to do, I am tempted to try and strap it into the normal "forward" position, but I am not sure how I would manage that without interfering with the use of his wings and other leg. Or I could just leave it and see how he goes over the next week or so.

Any suggestions?

Brett
"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are ." Anais Nin
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finchbreeder
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If there is no sign of a break or discomfort when you examine him. I can;t think of anything but letting him recover over time (hopefully) in the avairy. While keeping an extra eye out to see how he is doing. Good luck, hope he comes right.
LML
LML
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BrettB
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Sorry about the photo's, best I could manage in the bathroom without a flash.
The first shows the abnormal way the leg is positioned. Extended out towards the rear of the bird. It is even more pronounced when he is perching, when the leg is actually held behind the perch.
Image
Second photo shows my attempt at taping it into position. After a number of attempts at using non sticky tape, which all just fell off immediately, I resorted to using this cloth sticky tape and attached it to the birds feathers. It saved me having to wrap the tape all the way around and if he loses a few feathers on removal it is a small price to pay for a functioning leg.
Image

Keeping my fingers crossed.
Brett
"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are ." Anais Nin
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Tiaris
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Are the 2 rings on one leg absolutely necessary? One can be hazardous enough at times & 2 is the probable cause of him being tangled in something to cause the dislocation or whatever has pulled the leg out of place. I'd remove the rings to give him a reasonable chance of recovery.
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BrettB
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Just an update of this bird and my experiences with splinting legs.

Image

As you can see, his left leg has improved significantly and he is now able to use it again. He still seems to carry it slightly lower and I do not think he has full grip strength yet, but at least he has a functioning leg. I am hopeful he will get further improvement as it is only three weeks from injury .
I found the splinting very difficult. My attempt above lasted less than a day before it came off, the tape just didn't stick to the feathers. I tried stickier tape, but this was not successful either as there was too much movement possible from the feathers it was taped too.
My aim was to keep the leg in the neutral position, by which I mean the position the bird would hold the leg when it was sitting on a perch.
I hoped that even if the bird didn't regain function of the leg, having it in this position would be less of a disability.
It didn't show up to well on the photo, but prior to taping the bird was carrying the leg stuck out behind itself.

Image

It is hard to explain the taping, but using the drawing labels above I taped the tibia to the tarsus. I managed this by wrapping some tape around the back of the tibia and then with the foot held right up against the body, closed the tape onto itself trapping the tarsus in that position. My first attempt still seemed to come off, so I then repeated it but this time reinforced the tape with some staples to stop it coming apart. The staples are just to hold the tape together, DONT STAPLE THE BIRDS LEG !!
He still managed to work this off after about a week, but by then his leg had improved and I no longer needed to tape it.

I have learnt a fair bit from this experience. Ideally if you have an injured bird you should get veterinary advise, but economically this is not possible for many people.
Providing pretty basic first aid can result in impressive recoveries, so it is worth a try.
I am still interested in hearing other peoples experiences with treating injured legs, which I imagine is relatively common in finches.
Sharing experiences allows us all to avoid repeating the mistakes of others.

Cheers
Brett
"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are ." Anais Nin
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BOF33
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Great result. Worth the little effort involved :thumbup:
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finchbreeder
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Brett, Great Job. Congratulations. Strips of cloth right round the bird and tied will sometime work at holding/imobalising an injured leg or wing also. But with the same problem of the bird wriggling out of the cloth.
LML
LML
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KENTUCKY
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Sadly, I can detect a black toe nail on the birds left leg which is an indication that
a blood small vessel has been severed and the toe nail in question will wither and drop off,
it will not affect the birds ability to carry on as usual.
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mary jane
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NOt sure how to use this website--BUT my little Gouldian almost severed his hind foot with a piece of string. Now it looks as if he has a "club foot" . He has no rear foot to cling to the perch, all is facing forward. I have not been able to get antibiotics (prescribed by vet) into him without great struggle. What may happen to him? Have you seen this happen before?
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finchbreeder
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I have had this happen from time to time over the years. Loss of toe from various causes. Never used antibiotics or taken to a vet. almost all have gone on to live full lives. Though I do find putting a flat platform they can sit on in place of one of their perches helps. Good luck.
LML
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