Eye problem & Pigeons

[Pot Bellied Fool]

This has gotta be just down the right street to get a couple of PHers to perk up! :)

I'm involved in the running of a small private members' club (ooh err missus!) - Mmm, cheap:drink: - and for the last few weeks, the Club Steward has had a problem with his eyes. Dry, itchy etc. To the point of him getting really cheesed off with it, and you don't want the man in charge of the cellar to be upset do you??

He's seeing his doc about it so fine but it started to clear up & has now flared up again.

But we now think that this flare up & the initial start seem to be related to when he was clearing out an enclosed area that's full of pigeon shit, feathers and even carcasses.

There's a problem with pigeons in the area, there's bloody hundreds of them - encouraged by the shoppers that eed 'em & drop crumbs from their Greggs sausage rolls etc.

They congregate on top of the building and this enclosed vestibule leading to our cellar gets full of all sorts (there's no roof on it, currently talking to the Council about planning permission etc).

So I was just wondering from our resident experts, is there any known condition that specifically links eye problems to pigeons (shit/feathers/bodies) and if so - best treatment?

We've already got an owl sillhouette (although not in the best place) and that seemed to reduce the problem but any other ideas of how to persuade them to go elsewhere would be equally welcome!

Cheers.

[Pigeon]

I've never heard of anything like that. Certainly never had a problem myself. I suppose it's possible he could have some rare allergy; some people get allergic reactions to cat hair which I think are a bit like that.

Your plastic owl will be more effective if you move it about every few days.

[mybrainhurts]

Pigeon will be along in a.......

Oh, bugger.......

[Rob-C]

You can get an allergic reaction to the dandruff-like stuff that pigeons constantly shed.

My mum has this, but it's more like asthma symptoms for her.

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Cheers for that, I was wondering if someone would pop up and say "Oh yes, that'll definately be pigoptiitis" or some such!

Anyway, he's under the care of his GP and we've offered to pay for a private referral to a specialist if need be but from the dsound of it, it's probably allergy based so the best route is to try and get a roof put on that space - if the council will let us!

Thanks for the tip about the owl too, I'll see if that can be moved to another ledge at all.

[968]

Pot Bellied Fool said:

Cheers for that, I was wondering if someone would pop up and say "Oh yes, that'll definately be pigoptiitis" or some such! Anyway, he's under the care of his GP and we've offered to pay for a private referral to a specialist if need be but from the dsound of it, it's probably allergy based so the best route is to try and get a roof put on that space - if the council will let us! Thanks for the tip about the owl too, I'll see if that can be moved to another ledge at all.

Hi I'm an Ophthalmologist.... It's likely that it's an allergic reaction that he is suffering, allergy to the feathers in particular, but maybe also the dust from the pigeon poo.....

A short course of steroid eye drops, followed by regular use of preventive drops should help him.

Rarely, some people can get fungal infections from pigeon poo, specifically a bug called Cryptococcus neoformans, but it's highly unlikely if his immune system is otherwise ok.

[dilbert]

My ol man used to deal with Pigeons, after he left school.

Apparently they used old London fire engines to go round putting "goo" on all of the window ledges so that they didn't want to land anywhere.

It's probably anecdotal, but he always fostered the idea in me that Pigeons are airborne rats.

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Thanks 968

All the replies have put my mind at rest that it's nothing particularly nasty - probably wasn't helped by the length of time he took before going to the GP of course!

Cheers all.