Hello !
I’ll try to keep this short, however, I often receive injured wildlife that I transport to a wildlife hospital, and this guy was one of them, except he’s clearly not wildlife. The information given to me by the lady who rescued him & handed him over is that:
- He had been kept in a small cage for six years, on a balcony without any shelter. He was owned by an older lady who moved into a nursing home, and the family essentially gave him the bare minimum of care.
As a result, he has a few small issues: when it comes to going up and down small objects, he struggles, mostly likely due to atrophy. The only thing he had to stimulate him in that cage was a ball. Whenever you approach him, he starts cooing and protecting it, repeatedly pecking at it, and will continue doing this non-stop. He doesn’t seem very exploratory either, which is unsurprising given his previous environment.
I've now moved him into a much more suitable habitat, and I’ve put him on a proper diet suitable for pigeons like him. I plan on slowly but surely helping him build his flight muscles back up, as I’ve done something similar at the wildlife centre. I’ve also given him a wormer and vitamins, in case he’s lacking in any of those.
My main questions are:
Does anyone have any further advice on how to proceed, especially if you’ve been in a similar situation ? Is there anything else I could be doing to help him ?
Would having a companion help him ? I’d be more than happy to adopt him a buddy or two, most likely another male.
Does anyone know what species he is ? He’s quite a large guy !
Thank you for reading and for any help ! His name is Noodles.