Expert: Julia Booth - 7/14/2009

Question
My daughter found this baby sparrow 3 days ago and has been taking good care of it feeding it oatmeal consistency dog food throughout the day and night (trust me, it lets her know when its hungry, lol). It is in an animal carrier and when I went to feed it tonight, the bird was upside down trying to turn right-side up. I got it out to feed it and it was like it was confused and couldn't remember how to eat or open its beak. Is it getting ready to die?

Answer
I don't want to assume here, as I am not a vet. But when feeding baby birds, one has to be extremely careful, both of the fluid content and making sure the food ends up where it belongs. If there is too much fluid in the food, they can drown. The reason being that it's very easy for them to inhale the food into their lungs instead (we call this aspirating) where it causes infection and respiratory problems. This is why you never give water to a baby bird. They get all the hydration they need from the food itself. They don't develop the ability to "drink" until they are able to support themselves physically.

If it looks like he's having difficulty drawing in air, it could be bacterial pneumonia, which is a common result of the aspiration. Lethargy and confusion are also usually the result of infection. And chances are slim that it will survive at this point.

Birds that feed their young have beaks, making it easier for them to stick the food exactly where it belongs. There are even species of birds that open their own mouths and allow their young to stick their beaks in to retrieve the food themselves. This is much harder for a human to do, as they have no handy, long, appropriately shaped beak.

And even when their parents are equipped with nature's perfect tools, some birds will still aspirate. That is why so many of them are born every spring. Because otherwise, they'd never perpetuate themselves.

Wish I could help you more. If you're really concerned, take it to a local vet.

Here are some links you might use:

http://www.2ndchance.info/insecteater.htm

http://hubpages.com/hub/Raising-a-baby-sparrow

Good luck,

Julia