Found the cat with a live pigeon..what to do ?

SeantheMan

We have a cat, well, not sure if it's wild etc, but we feed it now and again and it's sociable and allows us to pet it etc..maybe belongs to a neighbour, but no sign of ownership.
Also it's usually around our back garden.

Anyways, tonight, my housemate looked out and seen it playing with something, on closer inspection it was a pigeon, when he approached it, the poor thing was still fully alive, but it's wing was damaged..

We are unsure as to what to do ...

Do you leave the cat to it, and let nature have its way ?
Or , what he did, which was to pop it in a box, lined with t-shirts for comfort, put in the shed out of the cats way, and bring it to the vet tomorrow ?

There are no 24hr vets, and I'm sure none would really care for a hurt pigeon, in fact tomorrow I'm not sure what they'll even say.
We won't be footing a bill or paying for any care for it

Zapperzy

Chances are if it's not dead by the morning it'l be dead in a few days. If the shock doesn't kill it tonight then the bacteria on all cat's teeth will take hold.

What part of the country are you in? There might be a wildlife rescue or someone who deals with rescued wildlife near you that'd take him off your hands. If not then just bring him to a vets in the morning, the least they'll do is put him down and I'v never heard of anyone being charged for putting down wildlife.

Not much more you can do tonight besides leaving in a bowl of water and some food.

SillyMangoX

Most vets will take in injured wildlife without the person who brings it in paying. But unfortunately these kind of injuries usually arent treatable if the bird cant fly, as it would be a lot of stress on the animal to be keeping it captive and they can be very resistant to human contact. Saying that, if no bones are broken the vets will usually give them a few days rest, some pain relief, fatten them up and send them off on their merry way. Either way you would be best off get him down to a vet either for a bit of r&r or to be put out of his misery quickly and painlessly. My cats normally have pigeons decapitated before I find them! Hope the pidge pulls through!

mrbrown69

We did the same with a blackbird once.....it's almost certain as in our case the bird will be dead in the morning, but you did the right thing