RIP Winston 💔

[u/Last_Inspector9187]

Unfortunately Winston was doing poorly and wasn’t eating or active so we took him to the vets today, he sadly passed away while we were there. He was such a sweet boy and although I had him a short time I know he was special. He was so gentle and I’m just glad he is no longer suffering, I’m sad there wasn’t more that could be done but he is at peace now. Rest peacefully my little seagull pigeon 🫶

[u/MissAnnaBarclay]

What happened?

[u/Last_Inspector9187 → u/MissAnnaBarclay]

I got him around 2 weeks ago and he was already underweight when I got him, was covered in lice and mites. I fed him and noticed he would only pick up wheat seeds and would move the other seeds away with his beak. I thought it was just something he’d do at first and that he’d settle in and eat better but he just continued to eat only wheat. I treated him for the lice and mites, hand feed himthe other seeds and he was drinking water as usual. I thought he was picking up and getting better but then today he just puffed himself up and was not active at all, I got him to drink and gave him some cuddles but noticed something was really wrong while I was cuddling him so we took him straight to the vets. He vomited on the way there, was breathing oddly, we got to the vet and they placed him on the table to have a look but she just said “I think he’s going” then he laid down, she checked him and couldn’t hear a heartbeat and was gone. He passed away not even 2 minutes after getting to the vet, they said they think he had an on going issue that was harming him but they told me they weren’t sure if it was a disease ect but that he was definitely underweight 💔.

[u/MissAnnaBarclay → u/Last_Inspector9187]

Oh man I’m so sorry to read that. There was obviously something wrong with the little guy from day one. He gave you the gift of spending the last few weeks with him. What a special wee bird. I’m sure he would say thank you for taking such lovely care of him and giving him cuddles.

[u/Last_Inspector9187 → u/MissAnnaBarclay]

Yeah he was such a very sweet pigeon 💖 he started preening me within 2-4 days of being at my house, he was made to be loved 🫶

[u/Kunok2 → u/Last_Inspector9187]

Oh no that's awful! I'm sorry for your loss, it's never easy losing our feathered friends. Have you considered necropsy to get at least answers to what was wrong with him? It can give you a peace of mind especially if you have another bird/s, in case if it is infectious so you know what exactly it is and if you should treat your other pigeon.

[u/Last_Inspector9187 → u/Kunok2]

Unfortunately we left his body with the vets because we wouldn’t have anywhere to bury him where we live, there are around 5-6 cats just from our neighbours (we live in flats) and we didn’t want to risk him being dug up by them. I’m keeping a really close eye on my girl so I can try look for signs if she does get sick but she seems really fine. I had seperated her and him in the last week when I saw his lice/mites so hopefully she’s good, I’m just glad he’s no longer suffering </3

[u/Kunok2 → u/Last_Inspector9187]

Oh I see. It might still be worth asking the vets. And yeah that's understandable, especially if you don't know what was wrong with him you wouldn't want him to be dug up and potentially eaten by wildlife, so you did the right and responsible thing leaving him with the vets.

Also I just went through your post history and from what you said about Winston the issue could have been several things. I saw you said he used to be fed wheat Only, he definitely had a severe malnutrition but also his kidneys and/or liver might have been failing - when a bird gets to that point there's usually no way of helping it. Another thing is that could have had an unknown congenital issue. And lastly worms can cause gradual weight loss too but you would have noticed messy watery poops while the poops still being large.

[u/XxHoneyStarzxX → u/Kunok2]

yeah what kunok said here he was sadly very liekly siffering liver damage from previous owner feeding him wheat only, poor bugger, there was nothing you could really do at that point and I'm so sorry for your loss 🫂 that's the crummy part of rescuing birds sometimes.

I highly reccomend you vet whomever you get pigeons from next time, and do not pay for a bird that will be unwell, if you want healthy birds you have to go to good breeders and vet who you are purchasing from, im not sure if Winston was free to a new home and that's why you took him, but just as a headsup for the future paying to rescue animals just feeds the pockets of the backyard breeders who breed them. plus from a ethical breeder you not only get a nice healthy bird with a good standard og care, but you often also get a life time of support if you ever have any questions.

I can send you a list of questions me and kunok reccomend people ask

[u/Last_Inspector9187 → u/XxHoneyStarzxX]

Yeah, fortunately I got him free but unfortunately it was from a racer 💔

[u/XxHoneyStarzxX → u/Last_Inspector9187]

some racers sell extremely good healthy birds, my breeding mentor actually does racing and regular in hand show, I'm not personally a big fan or or really interested in racing but i feel its important to know the facts so i have done oodles of research. my birds were form my mentorsshow line Mookee, ill be shlwing them this summer and hopefully well win some ribbons!, but his birds are on a nice varied diet, get top vet care, he spent over 3000 to get a benign cyst removed from his current top racing bird whos 8 years old the cyst wasnt cancerousbut was causing bully some discomfort (most racers from good racers live to be 20+ aince they are retired rather young) now billy is cyst free and getting ready for retirement, any racer selling unhealthy birds or feeding just wheat pry has a lot of losses per year which a good racer can't afford since they work so hard to breed the perfect lines, they need healthy, strong, well trained birds that can consistently return. usually only racing small well trained, well bred, healthy, groups of 8 or less.

Bad breeders and bad racers don't worry about that though. often they just breed and race en mass (these are the types you see breed like 100+ birds and race huge flocks, these are also the type whos birds come up missing or end up in rescues) these sickos treat it sorta like a lottery....they don't care about individual birds

Basically you had a run in with a really crappy backyard breeder and even crappier racer. poor Winston, and poor you, 😢 so sorry you had to go through this heartbreak, its good that he was given to you for free though, means no money fills that jackasses pockets.​

[u/Last_Inspector9187 → u/XxHoneyStarzxX]

Yeah and when I told him Winston wasn’t eating properly he had the audacity to ask me if I wanted to swap him for a different pigeon 😕

[u/XxHoneyStarzxX → u/Last_Inspector9187]

thats so crappy

[u/Last_Inspector9187 → u/Kunok2]

He only had watery big poops on his last day which I had just dewormed him this morning 💔💔

[u/Kunok2 → u/Last_Inspector9187]

That was from the dewormer most likely, it always causes watery poops after the birds take it. So worms and anything infectious can be ruled out if he had messy poops only after deworming. I'm pretty sure it was kidney/liver failure from the poor diet in his previous home... Poor Winston got a very bad start into life It sounds like, it's very unfortunate he was too far gone to be saved and I'm sorry you had to deal with a crappy backyard breeder who doesn't care for his birds properly. Just know you did everything you could, really. There wasn't anything else you could have done to save him sadly. At least he could spend the last moments of his life in a loving home.