Swans, a sandhill crane, a tiger salamander, pelicans

Above is a trumpeter swan under anesthesia. He was shot and part of his wing (ulna) was fractured. Luckily the bone healed with just a wing wrap and he was released into an a fenced in lake so he could strengthen his wing (we don't have flight cages big enough for swans at the center:) Below is him walking down to the lake at release!
Below is a recently admited tiger salamander. It was found late in the fall (should have been in hibernation!). This salamander has a broken arm, a broken leg and metabolic bone disease (calcium deficiency). The injuries are pretty severe--we're supplementing the diet and keeping it on cage rest--there's not much else to do. Splinting the bones would likely be more stressful/painful than just leaving them at this point. We'll see how it does over the winter! (at the bottom of a post is a video of the salamander).
At this time of year we get in a lot of birds with old injuries that were unable to migrate. Below are 2 pelicans that came in last week. Their flock migrated south and they were left on the lake, unable to fly. Volunteers caught them and brought them in. Unfortunately one had an amputated wing tip and the other had a dislocated wrist. Both injuries are irreparable and render these birds unreleasable. It's a sad time of year when we have to humanely euthanize many animals.
Sometimes we are able to "place" unreleasable animals instead of euthanizing. It is rare situations that this is possible and it depends on many factors--we need a place that wants the animal (for education, exhibit or as a foster parent), the animal needs to be able to psychologically able to handle captivity and the injury needs to not cause chronic pain. The sandhill crane below was unable to migrate. He was living near a woman's house with a female and their chick (now a juvenile). The couple had been nesting here for several years now. The woman noticed the wing drooping and observed the bird couldn't fly, but he was too fast of a runner to catch. Soon the birds would need to migrate and I advised the woman to keep an eye on them and to feed them so they would get used to her--if they didn't fear her, she might have enough time to net him. Weeks past and the female and chick refused to migrate w/o the male. Everything was freezing and the family was starving. Long story short, she was able to trap the male in a garage. We went out and captured him. Luckily, a rehab center in Antigo, WI was able to take him to use him as a foster parent for sandhill chicks and one of our volunteers was able to drive him the 4 hours there. The xray below shows bullet and how the wing healed malaligned. He won't be in chronic pain, this rehab center has a large outdoor enclosure he can live in (not a little cage, no visitors to stress him out). So a good ending to this story:)

head trauma pigeon, spinal flying squirrel, stubborn gull

You wanted cases, so you got 'em!
I wish I had more pics of the above bird. This pigeon came in right after a windy storm. He came in seizuring--I assumed the wind threw him against a building, causing head trauma. We quickly gave medication to to stop the seizures and placed an IV catheter to administer fluids that would draw fluid (and therefore pressure) off the brain. Rarely do we get a patient in so soon after a traumatic incident (so rarely does this treatment work) but in this case, the pigeon was stable by the evening and ready to be released the next day!! yay!!

The above video is a southern flying squirrel. The finders found it in their yard and don't know how it got hurt. You're right--looks like some sort of spinal trauma. and that's what the radiographs (below) revealed. The sharp angle in the spine is a dislocation of the vertebrae:( this patient had to be euthanized.

The video below is a juvenile ring billed gull. He came in when we had a vet student working with us. He had a fracture, which healed well. After that, he refused to fly. The student ran every test in the book, which all came back normal. The student left, so I repeated the tests, and still there were all normal. Turns out, this was just a stubborn gull, who refused to fly for us! He was perfectly healthy:) so we started "creancing" him (see video) where you essentially have him on a rope and get him to fly for exercise. After a few weeks of this, he was released just in time for migration:)

Whew!

It's been a busy June-in fact this June was our second busiest month in history! Over 2000 animals have been admitted--Whew! Most babies of all sorts (proabably 1000+ babies in our nurseries right now!) above is a juvenile raccoon in a tree right after he was released:)
We also get a lot of turtles in this time of year. ~40 are in house right now for shell fractures. Turtles are trying to get to the perfect area to lay their eggs--this often entails crossing roads, and you know what happens from there. Although I really don't know how someone "didn't see" a 40 lb snapping turtle crossing the road; it's not like he darted out in front of you.

What do you want to hear about in the next post?

Springtime is here!

We're up to our chins in baby animals! Baby songbirds, baby mallards, baby cottontails, baby squirrels, baby raccoons, baby geese baby everything!!
Above are some bunnies raised in our nurseries, ready for release. Bunnies are ready for release at 21 days old--they are only the size of a woman's fist! If you find bunnies in your yard in a nest, leave them there (you'll never see the mom so don't worry), leash you dog for 2 weeks and they'll be gone:)

Above is a baby goose. Contrary to almost all other babies, if you find a baby goose or mallard by itself, it's likely orphaned and you should bring it in to a wildlife rehabilitation center.

Great blue heron chicks

Yesterday was the busiest day yet this year. We admitted 104 animals--I was there until 11 pm (3 hours after my shift was supposed to end, making a 13 hour day:) but it was ended admitting these awesome birds (pictured).

Many great blue heron pairs lay their eggs in one area called a "rookery" and care for the chicks together. This past weekend, the huge storms destroyed a large rookery, killing many herons and scattering the chicks. Thus, we received 7 great blue heron chicks last night.

sora, baby cottontail, bats

Babies are here!! The squirrel and rabbit nurseries are filling up as we speak!

This baby cottontail rabbit has a broken arm from a dog:( He's waking up from anesthesia in this picture. Many, many of our baby rabbits come in b/c dogs and cats got a hold of them. Even more reason to keep your cats indoors (all the time!) and keep an eye on your dog when it's outside.

And with most uninjured babies--when in doubt--put them back in the nest! The smell thing is a myth and 90% of the time, mom will keep on taking care of them (which is better than a rehab center's success rate with babies...)

I had one person refuse to put baby rabbits back in their nest b/c her dog was in the yard. I excitedly told her that rabbits grow up fast, and all she had to do was leash her dog for 10 days and the rabbits would be gone! Yay! Her reply, "He's never been on a leash. I tried taking him out front today and he just wouldn't go on the leash. He won't go [to the bathroom] on the leash and is in the backyard all day" Your dog doesn't know how to go to the bathroom on a leash? So I replied, "You know, I bet if you just take him on a long walk he'll go--that usually helps most dogs" to which she came up with a million excuses, all ended with "he doesn't know how to be on a leash". That's bullcrap. Given enough time, a dog will do his duties wherever he can outside. Do you think the dog is really thinking, "Dang, I'm leashed--I better hold it until i get in the backyard!" NO! he's probably saying, "Dang, my owner is lazy--I just didn't have to go during that 3 minute walk"

Just an FYI--the purpose of walking your dog isn't just to give them time to go to the bathroom or to give them exercise--it's also a bonding time--time for you to spend with your dog. Needed time together.

After a long conversation, I wasn't convincing enough. She brought the bunnies into us. They were so small, they didn't have a chance for survival in a rehabilitation center. You can guess what happened next *sigh* :( all b/c a lady didn't want to walk her dog.

On the brighter side, here is a Sora (a marsh bird) that came in with some head trauma. She's doing well and will hopefully be released soon!

and here is a picture of a big brown bat. b/c bats are awesome:) don't forget--they'll be helping the bug population in your yard down! Plant some trees to encourage them to roost!

Drug-resistant bacteria found in HALF of US meat

Just had to post this--part of the problem is that we are so separated from the production of our food...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/15/health/main20054211.shtml

Jackalope!

One, little, innocent rabbit admitted to the center (for brain disease...besides the point)....

but wait!!

AHHHHHHHH!!!!

HE'S A JACKALOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!

So not really, but look closely at the abnormal growths protruding from behind this rabbit's ears. These growths are benign, caused by a papilloma virus. Picture these continuing to grow, even bigger, and you have the source of the jackalope legends:)

lizard tail and first baby squirrel of the year!

Finally got our first baby squirrel of the year on sunday! I don't mind that the babies are being admitted late this year--our interns don't start for another few months!

Remember the lizard from the last post? Well, he's very stressed out when he has to be handled (as are most of our patients--they're wild animals!) but the other day he was so stressed that he "dropped" his tail! Some lizard species have a self-defense mechanism. If a predator grabs their tail, they can literally detach it from their bodies! It will grow back, but won't look the same (most just soft tissue that grows--not bone)

A crow, an opossum and our first baby of the year!

Today was the first day in several months that I actually felt adequately busy. Don't get me wrong--I have a lot to do even when it's cold out and we're only admitting a few animals a day. I have ~50 in patients, some with more complicated diseases; research papers to write; continuing education lectures for our volunteers and rehabilitators to put together; we're in the midst of writing and installing a completely new computer system, so working out those bugs takes time; writing intern/extern manuals for the students that come with us during the busy season, etc etc etc.

But today--just felt different.

I started off the day by doing surgery on a crow. This crow had been shot (with a BB gun--ugh!); one pellet broken his wing, which was wrapped up and healing nicely. The other pellet was lodged in his leg. We see this very, very often--animals with various projectiles lodged in them. Usually, the don't do any harm so we leave them in (b/c surgery is invasive and risky--not worth it if the pellet can stay in without harming the animal). The pellet in the crows leg wasn't bothering him on admit--he was using the leg normally, there was no swelling around the pellet, etc.

However, 11 days after he was admitted, the area around the pellet became very swollen, he became lame on that leg, and couldn't fully extend the joint near the pellet.

SO here is an example of one of the few times I remove pellets. Good thing I did too-the pellet was lodged INSIDE a tendon sheath--it would have only continued to cause harm. I'm hoping this guy doesn't have any arthritis or other chronic problems--only time will tell. Here is his xray.

I think rechecked ALL of my inpatients, including this tiny ornate tree lizard that came in a few days ago.

he hitched a ride in a backpack with some people who were vacationing in Arizona. Silly lizard. We're trying to find him a ride home as soon as possible! He looks tired and dehydrated in this picture b/c he's used to 90deg weather, and what did we have today? a blizzard! hahaha

Then I amputated the tip of a opossum tail. Virginia Opossums live everywhere in the midwest, but they are originally from the South--so they aren't really evolved for this cold weather. While most do ok, usually the ones we get in have frostbitten tail tips and/or ears. The ears will heal on their own, but often the tail tips need to be amputated. That opossum did great during surgery and is on the road to recovery!

The blizzard today is kind of funny as normally we have admitted several baby animals by this time of the year--this year, however, it's March 23 and we haven't admitted one yet--this hasn't happened in the last 8 years!

But them--right before I was about to leave for the day--we got our first baby animal of the season in---A RED FOX KIT!!!! soooo cute!!! He's pretty out of it--and has a respiratory infection--might have other underlying diseases (there's a reason mom abandoned him...) but we'll see how he does. What a great day:)

unknown...

It's still slow, but that's ok--babies will be here in a few weeks!

Just wanted to post quickly. Often (well, most of the time) we don't know exactly why some animals are sick. To find out the exact reason an animal is sick (ie the exact bacterium, or virus or parasite or what exactly is going on inside) often requires expensive testing (cultures, virus isolation, cat scans, MRIs, etc) that we simply can't afford as a non profit. And honestly, if we did have a little extra money, we would probably put it into the care of the animals we're currently treating--as often finding out the exact cause won't change treatment. For instance, we have a squirrel with an abscess (a large infection under the skin causing a pocket of pus). We know it's a bacterial infection, we're just not sure which type of bacteria. So we pick a broad spectrum antibiotic and most of the time it heals. Is it ideal? no. Would we rather know the exact bacterium we're dealing with so we can start the animal on the exact antibiotic that will treat that exact infection from the start? yes. But is it worth the money to culture the hundreds-thousands of infections we see every year, when only a handful don't respond to the first drug we try?

It's a question we ask yourselves everyday and we have to pick the answer that is both good for the center and good for the animal.

So here we have a turkey who first presented knuckling over on one foot. The next day she couldn't stand at all (see pic) and had lost all feeling her legs. Ascending paralysis isn't very common in wildlife, but most of the differentials bear a poor prognosis. Would I like to be able to do a CT scan or MRI to look for spinal trauma? Would I like to do bloodwork and ultrasounds? I would love to do all those tests to try and find out what exactly is wrong with this bird. Unfortunately, even if we could afford them, we might be left without an answer, and her prognosis would likely be the same--grave.

Below is an opossum in treatment right now. He came in for emaciation (way too skinny!) he's gaining weight well but now one of his eyes looks cloudy. I'm treating him for several types of eye disease. Ideally, he would go see an ophthamologist--but again--expensive--so we're treating for the treatable (mainly infection) and we'll see how he does!

Now this doesn't mean we don't ever to advanced testing on our animals. When it's especially indicated (an infection that's not responding to broad spectrum antibiotics), when it effects humans (ie we send in bats that have bitten people so the bats can be tested for rabies), when it threatens the animal's life AND it's an endangered species or there is a good chance what it has could be easily treated--in these and many other situations, we do send out for advanced testing. But just like you weigh the costs vs benefits when you bring your pet to the vet, we have to do that, too. Just several thousand times each year:)

;(

I euthanized Molly on wednesday. She was slowly getting worse, despite aggressive treatment. None of her tests made sense--we still don't know what was wrong with her. I consulted and worked with over half a dozen different veterinarians--it wasn't enough:(

Rest in peace, Molly ;(

Molly is sick:(

My cat Molly is very sick. She has hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease) which takes a long time to recover from. She *might* have some underlying disease (like cancer) but we can't find it with non-invasive tests. If she has cancer, I'm only going to do palliative treatment (not invasive surgery or chemo or radiation) so we're doing the palliative treatment (steroids) and treating the fatty liver--hoping she'll feel better soon. It's frustrating, but I need to at least give her a chance (b/c she may not have cancer at all!!) So we'll see *sigh*


Molly is sick and I have 3 part time jobs (in addition to my wildlife job) so I've been incredibly busy. Those are my excuses for not posting lately. sorry:(

In brighter news, scientists are trying to understand why naked mole rats don't get cancer. I learned a lot about these creatures by reading this article--very interesting! here is the article

I promise to try and post some cases later this week or next week.

Even though it's winter, we have times when we are just as busy as summer!

Yesterday was one of those days. I was dealing with a very critical swan who was on oxygen, having a hard time breathing. My technician had anesthetized another swan (with gas anesthesia) to take xrays. While she was doing that, the doorbell rang-it was a tiny mouse that was dying--taking its last breaths. I didn't want it to suffer so put it in the same mask as the swan (we only have one anesthesia machine). The doorbell rang again! It was a squirrel who's finger was caught and bleeding in a birdfeeder. We needed to anesthetize him to get it out, so we took the swan off the mask to recover, I put the mouse on the table to dispose of later, anesthetized the squirrel, amputated the finger that was caught, quickly figured out the drug dosages I needed for him (so he could get those before he woke up from surgery) and put the swan in a closed room to recover. Whew! I then went to dispose of the mouse and was completely astonished to find it moving!! I gave it fluids, sugar, put it on a heating bad and 5 minutes later it was running around--a miracle mouse!

What an hour!