# Rescued House Sparrow Chicks



## Banford1 (Oct 10, 2010)

I had to save two chicks from being eaten from a cat earlier on at my girlfriends house. They had obviously fallen from the roof into some logs under the window and was being attacked by a cat. 
I currently have them in a large fish tank with mesh lid with a hide box, some fresh meal worms and a bit of water. 
I have no clue about these animals but I couldn't allow them to be eaten and/or tortured....

Any tips?


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## Stickytoes (Aug 9, 2010)

Banford1 said:


> I had to save two chicks from being eaten from a cat earlier on at my girlfriends house. They had obviously fallen from the roof into some logs under the window and was being attacked by a cat.
> I currently have them in a large fish tank with mesh lid with a hide box, some fresh meal worms and a bit of water.
> I have no clue about these animals but I couldn't allow them to be eaten and/or tortured....
> 
> Any tips?


You need to take them to a wildlife rescue or a vet ASAP. They need antibiotics otherwise they WILL die.. Cats have a bacteria in their mouth that is toxic to birds, no matter how small the scratch. They will also not feed on their own, they need to be hand fed... Can you get them to a wildlife rescue?


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## duffey1 (Aug 24, 2012)

Banford1,

The chicks will need to be handfed - either with tweezers or a spatula (lollystick works).

Take the head of the mealworms (if you leave the head intact, the mealworm can live long enough in the birds gut to eat its way out!), open the beak gently (the bird will resist, but perservere!) And pop in the mealworm.

Hard-boiled egg yolk can be fed and can be mixed with crushed Rich Tea biscuits as an emergency measure until you can obtain a proprietary egg food (for rearing canaries) from a pet shop.

Stickytoes
Hate to contradict you - but birds WILL survive after being in contact with cat saliva and bacteria - and worse, without being put on antibiotics, taken to a vet or taken to a wildlife shelter. Having handled a number of 'cat casualty' birds the greatest risk is shock.

MJD


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## Markw999 (Mar 30, 2014)

Unless you're prepared to pay out a small fortune in vets fees (assuming they have actually been bitten), the chicks will need to be hand fed on insects and worms. If they've both come out from the nest then they're probably fledglings and will be almost at the flying stage. Their mother will probably have been around somewhere so I would suggest waiting until the morning and putting them back outside where you found them. If the mother is still around she will soon appear. If the you see the cat, scare it away - a 12 bore shotgun usually works well for this.


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