So, the pigeon sadly didn’t make it and here is why. Must read!

A special shout out to u/Th1s_On3 for pointing out its beak breathing yesterday under the video that I posted. I went over all the regular check-ups again.

Yesterday I found a ringed pigeon, and contacted the owner, who missed it since last Saturday. It was a healthy 5 month old youngster who had been taken care off by an owner with 60+ years of experience, and lived in a coop with 20 something other birds. He performed well and its owner checks in on his birds daily. Nothing seemed off as of the owner's judgement.

At first the pigeon seemed tired, hungry and thirsty. It wasn't slow or seemingly ill. Once set up, it started eating big seed mix immediately and drank and bathe itself after. During check-up there wasn't any injury or sign of something seriously bad, like an ongoing infection, or an infection in already serious stages. Its circulation was perfect, no signs of discoloration, no sign of head trauma, no beak obstructions, no foul smell, no issues with its crop, feathers, eyes, perfect poops etc. You name it. And, no beak breathing either…

But here we are, and it died anyway. So what is the most plausible cause of death and what made it decline so rapidly?

I examined the carcass to make sure I didn't miss anything, felt its throat, opened it beak, went through its feathers, checked eyes, cloaca, everything. Nothing. Perfectly healthy, just a bit on the skinny side but that shouldn't have caused this sudden death.

I phoned the owner to break him the sad news and he told me right away that it was most likely a case of poisoning. He told me that he has dicussed these cases many times with his veterinarian. Birds that get lost, find their way close to people, most likely cities. But there they pick up either food that's not appropriate, food that has been poisoned, or even poisoned food fed by people who hate pigeons. He assured me that the pigeon was a healthy one, and was good in flight, kept up with his more prestigious birds. He told me that its the only logical explanation for the rapid decline and he has seen it, sadly, in all his years of holding pigeons, multiple times.
There wasn't anything that I could have done… which makes me feel so defeated.

Such a pretty youngster. I am so sorry for him to have died under my care, but he died with a full crop, warmth, cuddles and love.

So for anyone, that comes across similar situations, if you have a seemingly healthy pigeon that eats, drinks and shows no sign of disease at all, but dies within a matter of hours, it most likely got poisoned. You can just hope it will overcome it by itself but there is little you can do beside getting them comfortable.