Please Support Sunny Girl's Urgent Medical Care

There’s something deeply human about how we choose to care for each other, for our communities, and for the lives that depend on us. For me, that includes a quiet but powerful love for birds, especially domesticated pigeons/doves who rely entirely on human stewardship for survival.

Sunny is a sweet, intelligent, feisty, vibrant rescued homing pigeon. I adopted her over a year ago, and she and her mate, Cricket, have always been punctual and consistent in laying their eggs (which are always swapped for feggs). As an adopter of a rescue, I committed to reducing the number of doves and pigeons in shelters by rescuing them and preventing them from breeding in my care.

After 5 days, Sunny's second egg had not arrived (typically, it drops on the 3rd day), and she wasn't sitting on her fake egg either. Something was wrong with Sunny. She was walking funny, so I investigated. She was prolapsed (her innards were being pushed out) from her straining to drop her 2nd egg. Being egg-bound can be fatal, especially if the egg breaks.

Long story short, when it rains, it pours. Like many of us, times are tough right now, and it can take a community of kindness to pull each other through. This journey to give Sunny the immediate care she needed has been sleepless and financially overwhelming.

It was 7 pm Saturday when I noticed the prolapse. I knew that I needed to reduce it to save the tissue and push it back inside her. By 8 pm, we were at VEG - San Ramon, CA, where they had to eventually stitch her. We drove home at 3 am, wiped. Now, on Sunday, we needed to get through the day so we could bring her to the avian specialist (Medical Center for the Birds), an hour+ away, on Monday.

There, they had to remove the stitches and were able to get the 2nd egg out, not without some battle wounds. Thankfully, the egg was intact.

Both of us exhausted, we made our way back home, where, after getting her settled back indoors, I also needed to check on and clean my outdoor aviary.

The next morning, Sunny was prolapsed again and straining and pushing more of her innards outward. Off to the vet again. She was cleaned, the tissue numbed, and reduced back into her little body. The plan was for me to keep an eye on her, continue to medicate her when we returned home, manage the costs, and avoid stitching her, which can be tricky on such fragile tissue.

She kept prolapsing, and every hour on the hour, I was gently pushing her tissue back inside. This was insane! We were both exhausted, sleepless, and I worried deeply for her health and pain management.

Back to the vet again the next day. The gas cost alone was kicking my butt!

She had to be stitched with the plan that, as the inflammation subsided, she wouldn't feel the need to push. I imagine it felt like something she needed to push out of her, hence the prolapsing.

She is still at the vet, and they have needed to keep a watchful eye on her, surrounded by a team of doctors and attendants, to ensure she was eating (she had lost weight), evacuating, and not prolapsing through the stitches.

It is hard to ask for help, but I will always pay kindness forward. If you’ve ever believed that small actions matter—this is one of them, because impact isn’t always loud.

Sometimes, it looks like showing up quietly and consistently for those who cannot advocate for themselves, or helping a neighbor who needs a little kindness. I would be grateful for any help you could spare, and I know I will do the same as I get back on my feet.