Saved A Finch Last Night....what Now?

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Last night i went out to a friends party, and after being there for a short while into the night one of her cats brought in a finch. My friend was just gonna chuck the lil bird outside because it was still alive, but it was incredibly cold outside and the bird wasn't looking good at all and i figured it would die if it got chucked away, so i told the cat off and went home for 5mins with the bird.

I set up a large old empty hamster cage and put some sawdust, a toilet paper nest, a perch, some water and some wild finch bird seed(i feed the birds alot so i have a huge amount of types of wild bird seed in stock) in it, and popped the bird in. I put a towel almost entirely over the cage to keep it dark(but not completely dark) to help lower the birds stress levels and left the bird to it in the cage for the night.

This morning when i got up, the bird was looking alot better and hopping around but its very difficult to see the damage the cat did because of the birds feathers. The bird was very active and not afraid of me so i decided i'd let it go, but when i put it out on the lawn outside all it could do was hop- i think it injured its wing when the cat caught it.

Overall, im suprised at how tame this little bird is, i tried to handle it as little as posible since last night though, its eaten some food but its too diffciult to say wether its had anything to drink yet- i think its still in shock though from last night.

I was wondering the next course of action is, wether i just keep it for a couple of days and let it get its energy back or what? I've tried to make its enviroment as nice as posible, its cage is right next to an open window where it can hear all the other birds outside at the bird feeders and i put a plant next to its cage to make it feel more at home. Like before though last night, i don't have a huge amount of hope for this bird even though things are looking up right now, i understand it could die at any moment.

 

[black angel]

In Victorian times finches of all kinds were kept as pets and even today people do keep them though it is illegal to do so, so the finch you have should be ok through christmas until you can get him to a vet to get the wing checked over. Maybe try phoning the RSPCA and they might tell you what to do with it.
Have you tried cupping it and throwing into the air? Or placing him on the bird table and see if he can fly off it. If that doesnt work then yes theres something wrong with the wing.
Good luck with it and keep us informed on how he goes. Do you know what type he is?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

It just died ...I went to its cage to see what type of inch it was and it was lying face down so i picked it up and it died in my hands.
Yeah i think its wing was pretty bad though...I think it was a bramble finch...
Ah well ....Do you think i did the right thing...?

 

[morgan]

Yes you did. You gave it a chance anyway. Can't comment on it's care as I know nothing about birds apart from feeding the wild ones.

 

[black angel]

Awww I'm sorry Tokis but you did the right thing for it. If you had let it go that same night then it wouldve had a miserable end but you tried to help. The shock must have been too much for it.
When I was younger I used to take in wildlife and most of the birds even though they seemed not too bad sometimes died for unknown reasons.

 

[Annastasia]

Sorry to hear that Toxis. You did the right thing, though.

 

[Dave781]

Thats sad. Not really much more you could have done.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks for the support...I guess i did the right thing then.
In my street people have far too many cats, i hardly know anyone at all here as i havn't been living here for long, but i've already counted 25 different cats in the street. The birds don't really gt a chance, we have no mice or rats here, so the cats just kill the birds all the time. I think...if i see another bird and cat again, i will try to save the bird, but its still quite sad .

 

[debiasir]

sorry to hear the finch died Tokis, at least its last hours where in the warmth with food and safety rather than being thrown in the cold where i am sure it would die alot faster you did all you could of




is there note some sort of animal hospital that will come out and collect injured animals. i have had birds fly wight into my bedroom window and fall to the ground, we have this service The Animal Shelter that will come out collect the animal nurse it to health and release when they feel it will be fine.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I don't know of any animal/bird sanctuarys that will take in injured birds/animals near me unfortunatly, theres a vet in town but you have to pre-book apppointments, often days in advance, and im not sure they could do anything for such a small bird species .

 

[Synirr]

Awww, that's a shame. Wild birds can be surprisingly delicate. When I was a kid I saved many a bird from our cats, but sometimes even those that seemed perfectly fine would die for unknown reasons. You did a good thing to keep it from having to die out in the cold.

 

[catxx]

i think a lot of vets may take in wild birds, but unless it's something special, if they're injured their more likely to be put to sleep. unfortunately there's no profit in rehabilitating small wild birds/pigeons etc and the medication and cage space is expensive.

 

[RandomWiktor]

I don't know if your area has wildlife rehabilitators, but they are the people to call for any wildlife emergency. Humane societies and vets are ill equipped to cope with wildlife emergencies; you'd be shocked at how little most vets know about wildlife.

It sounds like you did the best you could, and at least gave him a fighting chance. Cats do an immense amount of damage to wild bird populations every year; they've become a true meanace in many countries. About 8 out of 10 of my wildlife emergencies are cat related, and about 9/10 deaths are from cat attacks, as the potential for infection, punctures, shock, etc. is very high in cat attacks.

 

[morgan]

If a vet has a particular interest in birds (my brother in law does) then they could well take it in and treat it. My brother in law has a caged finch which was dumped, it now lives happily at his house. Vets in the UK will treat wild animals for free IME. I found a baby wild rabbit in my garden, it was lying still and flies were buzzing on it. I took it to my vet and they said I would not have to pay ( I know that sounds mercenary but think how much it could cost!). Anyway they couldn't help on this occasion so I drove on and took it to an animal sanctuary. I phoned the next day and sadly it had been put to sleep because it had mixy (can't spell the full word). A sad end to the story but at least it was given a chance. Another time I had a crow in the front garden which was obviously ill, I phoned a wildlife place and they said all you can do is wring it's neck I am sorry to say I just couldn't do that.

 

[black angel]

It really depends on which part of the country you live in doesnt it. Up here we have hundreds of seagulls and I remember one day in the vets surgery someone came in and said a seagull was in his garden with a broken wing and he didnt know what to do with it.
The vet came out and told him to wring its neck.
As for little birds that get caught by cats, isnt the saliva in cats toxic to them? So even if they seem ok the toxin will carry through the blood and kill them if in large enough quantities??