Pigeons are stout, seed-eating birds with short legs and grey/white plumage. Domestic pigeons were derived from rock doves, which were among the first birds domesticated by humans as early as 10,000 years ago. Pigeons occupy a wide variety of habitats globally and have contributed importantly to humanity through their use as military messengers. They are social birds that require gentle handling and live in flocks for protection. Common health issues for pigeons include various parasites, bacteria, and viruses.

1. PIGEON
Submitted to: Dr Waqas Ahmad
Submitted by: Mutahir rehman
Reg #: DVMN-2017-022

3. CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Physical characters
• Habitat
• Diet
• Handling
• Management
• Clinical trials/experiments
• Clinical problems & Treatment
• Zoonotic disease
• Vaccination
• Behavior
• Ethics & welfare
• Conservation status
• Quick facts

4. INTRODUCTION
 A stout seed- or fruit-eating bird with a small head, short legs, and a cooing
voice, typically having grey and white plumage
• The domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica) is a pigeon subspecies that was
derived from the rock dove (also called the rock pigeon)
• The rock pigeon is the world's oldest domesticated bird
• Research suggests that domestication of pigeons occurred as early as 10,000
years ago
• Pigeons have made contributions of considerable importance to humanity,
especially in times of war
• In war the homing ability of pigeons has been put to use by making them
messengers

5. Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Columbiformes
Family: Columbidae
Genus: Columba
Species: C. livia
Subspecies: C. l. domestica
TAXONOMIC HEIRARCHY

6. PHYSICAL CHARACTERS
• Weight: 900 g – 2.1kg
• Length: 13-55cm
• Width: 10cm
• Life span: 6 years
• Species: 175 species
• Common pigeon: Rock dove
• Eyes: Usually bright orange

8. SPECIES
• Rock dove
• Passenger pigeon
• Common wood pigeon
• Band tailed pigeon
• Eurasian collared pigeon
• Nicobar pigeon
• European turtle dove
• Stock dove
• Ice pigeon
• Oriental roller
• Antwerp smerle
• Egyptian swift pigeon
• Homing pigeon

23. HABITAT
• Pigeons and doves occupy a wide variety of habitat types, including desert,
grassland, and forest
• The largest number of species is found in forested areas, particularly rainforest
• Most pigeons and doves are arboreal, which means they live in trees
• This includes most species that occupy grassland areas
• Rainforest species may be arboreal or terrestrial, ground-dwelling
• Some European and Asian pigeons nest in mountainous cliffs at high altitudes
• Desert species are found in California and Australia

25. DIET
• Some pigeons are exclusively frugivorous, fruit-eating
• Most species swallow fruit whole. After the flesh of the fruit is digested in the
stomach, the pit is regurgitated, vomited from the stomach
• Other pigeons are granivorous, eating primarily grains and seeds
• Granivorous pigeons may also eat leaves, stems, buds, and flowers when seeds
are unavailable
• A few pigeon species eat primarily animal matter
• Pigeons are also able to drink water by putting their bills underwater and
sucking, an ability that is unusual in birds

27. HANDLING
• Pigeons are gentle creatures & need gentle handling, they get disturbed if not
properly handled
• Hold your pigeons in a way that it is comfortable in your hands
• Hold the pigeon in your right hand, it's beak towards the left hand
• The main thing is not to hold them too tightly, they do not have a diaphragm
and could suffocate very quickly
• I hold mine with one hand under the body and one gently resting on top holding
the wings in place

31. MANAGEMENT
• Pigeons are a social animal and where possible like to live in a colony, the larger
the better as there is safety in numbers
• Pigeons tend to be nervous animals, but when in large groups living in urban
environments they become more acceptant of our presence, nesting in and
around us as we go about our daily business
• The problem is that Pigeons leave behind a large amount of faeces and are able
to breed at incredible rates all year round
• Pigeons are non discriminate as to where they leave faeces and it can quite often
be found on your tools, machinery and even the products you sell
• Due to the risk of disease that can be spread from Pigeon Droppings, the
clearance of their waste can become extremely costly

35. CLINICAL TRIALS
1. A study was undertaken to investigate the clinical effects of ketamine, diazepam
and a ketamine and diazepam combination in the general anesthesia of pigeons
2. Pigeons (Columba Livia)which share many visual system properties with humans
can serve as promising surrogate observers of medical images, a capability not
previously documented. The birds proved to have a remarkable ability to
distinguish benign from malignant human breast histopathology
3. In the study, 16 pigeons were trained to detect cancer by putting them in a roomy
chamber where magnified biopsies of possible breast cancers were displayed

36. CLINICAL PROBLEMS
1. Coccidiosis
2. Trichomoniasis
3. Worms
4. Ornithosis
5. Mycoplasmosis
6. Salmonellosis
7. E-coli
8. Hexamitiasis
9. Necrotic Enteritis
10.Colibacillosis
11.Newcastle disease
12.Infectious bronchitis
13.Avian influenza

37. COCCIDIOSIS
 Coccidiosis is a parasitic disease that impacts the digestive system, which makes
the pigeons eat less and, if they eat, not digest the feed well, meaning they take
up less resources and minerals
 SYMPTOMS: The first visible symptom is diarrhea, which may be bloody in
severe case
 MAIN CURE:
• Cocci-Tricho-mix is a water soluble powder that treats several diseases
• It’s mainly designed to cure cocciodiosis and trichomoniasis, but also cures other
pigeon diseases
• Coccidiostat

40. TRICHOMONIASIS
Trichomoniasis is a parasitic disease also called canker
• This pigeon disease is caused by the parasite Trichomonis Gallinae
• Scientists think this parasite is an ancient pathogen that infected even
dinosaurs long ago
SYMPTOMS:
• Sudden death
• Not eating, weight loss or a ruffled look
MAIN CURE:
• We have a variety of products that battle Trichomoniasis
• First off is 10% Tricho Cure+
• Second is 10% Ronidazole+. Ronidazole is a more allround cure with
supplementary ingredients

43. WORMS
Worms are gross, although our feathered friends think they are delicious.
However, some worms are reversed on the food chain and they eat pigeons, from
the inside! Pigeons are commonly infected by Roundworms, Hairworms,
Gapeworms or Tapeworms
SYMPTOMS: Diarrhea, worms in dropping, weight loss, decreased performance,
unhealthy and weak look
MAIN CURE: Worm-Tab is a tablet cure that will remove the aforementioned
worms from the pigeons’ body

45. ORNITHOSIS
• The ‘Parrot Fever’ can also be caught by humans because it’s zoonotic
• Ornithose is often causes by Chlamydia
• It does not have symptoms of its own, it is a so called hidden or latent infection
• However, due to the decrease of the immune system, other latent infections may
show up
 Ornithosis also affects the respiratory tract, making it hard to breathe for the
pigeon
 SYMPTOMS: Diarrhea, inflammation, fever, nasal dropping, low appetite, weird
breathing sounds, shedding and ruffled looks
 MAIN CURE: Myco-Orni-Mix is a well designed medicine containing a broad
spectrum antibiotic, which has a synergistic effect. It has additional minerals
and vitamins to strengthen the pigeon’s body during application

47. SALMONELLOSIS
 Salmonellosis or paratyphus is a bad bacterial infection. It’s bad because it can
be mortal and it’s contagious for humans also
• Salmonellosis attacks the intestines of your pigeons, causing serious damage
• It impacts the performance, lowers the immune system and decreases the
appetite
 SYMPTOMS: Limping, unusual flying movements, decreased appetite, weight
loss, diarrhea
 MAIN CURE: Also for this disease, Travi-Allicin-Plus is a good option for the
aforementioned reasons

49. HEXAMITIASIS
 Hexamitiasis is another parasitic pigeon disease
• Although, it’s not really hexamitiasis, but spironucleus
• It’s most harmful to young pigeons and often causes death
 SYMPTOMS: Watery (yellow) diarrhea, weight loss, dry feathers and
unwillingness
 MAIN CURE: Cocci-Tricho-mix is a water soluble powder that treats several
diseases
• It’s mainly designed to cure cocciodosis and trichomoniasis, but does wonders in
battling hexamitiasis also

50. ZOONOTIC DISEASES
• E. coli
• St. Louis encephalitis
• Histoplasmosis
• Candidiasis
• Salmonellosis
• Avian influenza

51. VACCINATION
• There is no currently registered PPMV1 vaccine for use in pigeons in
Australia
• However, Newcastle Disease (ND) vaccines registered for use in chickens are
available for 'off label' use in pigeons with the written instruction of a
veterinarian i.e LASOTA
• Pigeons are also vaccinated against avian influenza and infectious bursal
disease but we don’t have specific vaccines for pigeons , we use vaccines
registered for chickens just like ND

52. BEHAVIOR
• Because these birds are relatively helpless, and quite susceptible to predation,
they remain in flocks very frequently
• In large groups a single bird is much less likely to be targeted, and the
movement of many animals can confuse predators
• Some of the birds in a flock are producers, and locate the food sources
• The others are scroungers, and join in on the feeding after the producers have
located food

53. • Most species of pigeons and doves are monogamous
• Courtship, behaviors that lead to mating, in many species involve flight
displays. For example, male wood pigeons fly several feet upwards, clap their
wings nine times, and then glide
• In most pigeons and doves, males perform a "bow-coo" display involving cooing
and bowing just before mating
• In many species, both parents share incubation duties, with males incubating,
sitting on the nest, from morning to afternoon, and females incubating from
the afternoon to the next morning

55. CONSERVATION STATUS
• Many species have declined in numbers and some have become threatened or
even succumbed to extinction
• Among the ten species to have become extinct since 1600 are two of the most
famous extinct species, the dodo and the passenger pigeon
• The passenger pigeon was exceptional for a number of reasons
• In modern times, it is the only pigeon species that was not an island species to
have become extinct even though it was once the most numerous species of bird
on Earth
• Around 59 species of pigeons and doves are threatened with extinction today,
about 19% of all species
• Most of these are tropical and live on islands
• All of the species are threatened by introduced predators, habitat loss, hunting,
or a combination of these factors

59. ETHICS & WELFARE
• Freedom from Hunger and Thirst
• Freedom from Discomfort
• Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease
• Freedom to Express Normal Behavior
• Freedom from Fear and Distress
• Pigeon racing is inherently cruel because it involves inevitable deaths –
especially during races across the English Channel
• The protestors say in some Channel races, 90% of birds have gone missing,
with many presumed dead

60. QUICK FACTS
• Pigeons can fly at altitudes of 6000 feet or more
• Pigeons can fly at average speeds of up to 77.6 mph but have been recorded flying
at 92.5 mph
• Pigeons can fly between 600 and 700 miles in a single day, with the longest
recorded flight in the 19th century taking 55 days between Africa and England
and covering 7000 miles
• Pigeons are thought to navigate by sensing the earth’s magnetic field and using
the sun for direction
• Pigeons are highly intelligent and can recognize all 26 letters of the alphabet
• Pigeons, like humans, can see in color, but unlike humans they can also see
ultraviolet light