Healing Alma: Help an injured dove recover

This past September, Alma the dove chose her rescuers by waiting patiently on their doorstep until they found her. She was likely released by the funeral home a few doors down and unfortunately got into a tussle with a neighborhood cat. When Armando came home from work, Alma might have tried to follow him inside and decided to wait on the porch until he came back out to help.

Fortunately, when Brigid went outside later that evening, they found Alma waiting covered in dried blood and with feathers missing from her tail. Though they didn’t have much experience with birds, they knew Alma needed human help and immediately brought her into their home. They got in touch with Palomacy and I headed out just a few hours later to assess her for injuries and get the family set up as Palomacy fosters. When I arrived, they showed me the most adorable emergency enclosure they’d made— a DIY cardboard house, complete with mesh-covered windows! Alma fortunately didn’t have any punctures wounds, so she was started on pain meds and antibiotics that night, while we made arrangements for a vet appointment at MCFB the next day.

Over the next two weeks, Brigid and Armando, along with their animal-loving daughter, doted on Alma throughout her course of antibiotics, sending plenty of photo/video updates as she healed and they got to experience the joy of dove sounds firsthand. Her enclosure was upgraded to a loaned Palomacy cage, then later Alma got her very own permanent cage decked out with plenty of branches and decor. She quickly became a loved member of their family and her adoption was finalized shortly after her rescue. In the past few months, she has enjoyed many days out and about in her pigeon pants, spending time with her forever family.

Unfortunately, late on Christmas Eve night, Alma was out in the living room with her people and got into an accident with an electric wheelchair, which pulled out some feathers & left part of her scalp exposed. Brigid immediately reached out to Palomacy for advice and support. Since it was a holiday and most vets were closed, we scheduled an appointment at Medical Center for Birds for today (December 26th) and Brigid provided supportive care until she’s able to be seen.

I created this fundraiser to help cover the costs of Alma’s care today–– we don’t yet know the extent of her injuries, but Alma has been surrendered back to Palomacy in anticipation of life-saving diagnostics that may be prohibitively-expensive for her family. Alma’s family is so concerned about her and are willing to do whatever it takes to get her healthy again. I’m hoping to raise enough with this fundraiser to help Palomacy cover the cost of her examination & whatever diagnostics are needed to get Alma feeling better as soon as possible so she can be reunited with her family. Alma’s appointment is today (December 26th) 4pm PST– once we hear the results, I’ll update this fundraiser!

Thank you so much for helping sweet Alma & her family!

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More information about Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions: Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions saves the lives of domestic (unreleasable) birds that are lost, injured, displaced & abandoned. We provide rescue, foster care, avian vet treatment and adoption services in Northern California as well as 24/7/365 care coaching, referrals, advocacy and education nationwide via our online Help Group and website resources at www.PigeonRescue.org.