No invasive or medical procedure would be designed for use on pigeons, thus normally sedatives, analgesics, and anesthesia would not be warranted. If a pigeon’s health is showing poor signs, a veterinarian is called in to examine it. For any medical procedure done to help a pigeon in distress, the attending veterinarian would use analgesics and anesthesia that he/she deemed necessary. Typically, an injection of sodium pentobarbitol is used to anesthesize a pigeon for a procedure, when it is necessary.
Euthanasia is performed only by the faculty supervisor, Julie Neiworth, or an attending veterinarian. Euthanasia is determined to reduce the population when it is necessary to do so or to aid in death should the veterinarian recommend it following medical treatment/exam. The procedure we use is an intraperitoneal injection of sodium pentobarbital which renders the animal unconscious, followed by a second injection while the animal is unconscious, done in the same manner. This type of barbiturate is preferred by the American Veterinary Medical Association (2011) for small animals including birds due to its fast action to induce euthanasia smoothly with minimal discomfort. Intraperitoneal injections are preferred in small animals because an intravenous injection would be distressful (due to restraint needed to accomplish it) and/or dangerous.
Return to Species Specific Training: Pigeons.