My cats got a baby blue jay & its leg is bleeding pretty bad. Does anyone know what I can do for it? Thank you.
ants
Baby Blue Jay Please Help!
The baby is still using the leg & I think if it stops bleeding the leg will be alright. BUT I have no clue what to do for a baby bird. What do you feed it? The mama bird is close & comes by when the baby calls. I just don't know what to do. I have it in a bird cage up on top of a larger bird cage outside. I'm waiting for it to calm down some before I put some water in there, but will it drink?
ants
If the leg is not that bad... take the bird out of the cage and set it up on a branch and maybe it will make it.
You may want to post this in the bird forum maybe some others can help. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/birdwatching/all/
Thank you. The baby blue jay made his way out of the cage. I'm not sure where it went. I looked all around for feathers, but didn't find any, so I think he may have made his way back home.
ants
For future reference, you can feed any baby bird song bird dog or cat food soaked in water. Sometimes with the older ones, you have to carefully pry open their beak for the first few times, but most little ones will open right up as soon is there is a shadow or vibration that makes them think Mom is there. Every time they eat, they poop, but the poop is in a soft sack and can easily be removed. (In the wild, the parents do this all day long and carry it away from the nest. ) Never, never, never feed birds bread and milk. I've never figured this one out. Birds have no ninnies, why would some one give them milk? It sours in their crop and I can seldom save them. The best thing is to get them to a rehabber as soon as possible. We know what the nutritional needs of the bird is and how to care for it.
Now, a discouraging word about cats. Cats carry a bacteria in their mouths and once the skin is broken, the bird, mouse, squirrel or bunny almost always dies within 24 hours. I usually tell people to put the victim in a quiet place and if it is still alive the next day, they can bring it out. A couple of times I have had people insist the bird or whatever is perfectly healthy and drive all the way out here and I open the box to find a dead creature.
You definately did the best you could for the bird.
Thank you for future reference information :) I would not have thought of feeding them cat food. I was thinking maybe some mushed up worms :) Or oatmeal? DH thought maybe it would take a whole worm, depending on how old it was. I also did not know about the bacteria in a cats mouth. Thanks again.
ants
BlueJays eat bugs, but few worms.