Caring for an Oil/Grease Covered Duck

Someone brought a pigeon into the nature center today that had accidently flown into a bucket full of used cooking grease that an Uptown resturaunt had left un-covered outside.

(This is the procedure used by the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center to care for ducks that have been coated in grease/oil. The procedure should also work for larger songbirds, but I am not sure about very small birds)

Requires: 4 tubs: fill two tubs with water that is 104 degrees F, fill the other 2 tubs with water that is 104 degrees F and has about 1 percent dawn dish-soap mixed in and is very sudsy (bubbly)

Procedure:
Step 1: Place bird in the first soapy tub and massage in the water
Step 2: Repeat step 1 in the other soapy tub
Step 3: Place bird in the water filled tub and rinse
Step 4: Repeat step 3 with the other water filled tub

Do these steps once per day until the bird is no longer greasy. They say to avoid doing more than one bath a day because this will stress out your bird too much. Also be sure to monitor the health of your bird. Make sure that it is eating and drinking. If you suspect dehydration give your bird pedia-lite. You can feed with a syringe if you feel your bird is not eating, just be sure to put it far enough down the bird’s throat so that it will not choke on the liquid. Also be sure to store the wet bird in a warm, dark, quiet place to avoid hypothermia and further stress.