Day 3

May 26, 2010

Today has been a little more relaxing. This morning, we saw a sun conure with a sore foot. It had a leg band that must have gotten caught in the cage and rubbed the skin on his leg. To remove the band, we used lots of water to keep the metal band cool while Dr. E cut it off with a tiny diamond saw. Once the band was removed, we send the client home with some antibiotic ointment to soothe and protect the tiny little wound.

Next, we saw an egg-bound Amazon parrot. Egg-binding happens often in captive birds for some unknown reasons, but also for insufficient nutrition, lighting, husbandry, etc. This particular bird was a middle-aged, strong, healthy bird that was not in distress, and the egg was not abnormal in size or shape. Therefore, Dr. E decided to try to medicate the bird and lubricate its reproductive tract in hopes the egg will descend on its own, to avoid surgery.

Today, we had another guinea pig check up that resulted in the discovery of a submandibular mass. These are surprisingly common in guinea pigs and require surgical removal. The treatment is the same whether the mass proves to be a foreign body abscess, an abscessed lymph node, or lymphoma. All require surgical removal and most likely, daily wound flushing and the application of topical antibiotics to the open wound. This client however, was too squeamish to do the daily wound flushes herself, so she was willing to pay for daily treatments for the first week and bi-weekly treatments thereafter until it heals. Once again, a lucky little pig!

After lunch, we did three ferret annual check ups, a nasolacrimal flush on a Dwarf rabbit, and a healthy pet check up on a baby prairie dog. We did a recheck on a rabbit that once had a corneal ulcer that was completely healed today, with only minor scarring of the cornea, and another recheck on a chinchilla that had a urethral stone removed. This was an interesting case that was surgically corrected before I started working at AEAC. Today the chinchilla is recovering well, however he still tries to chew at his incision site and sutures, so he has to continue wearing the e-collar.

AEAC got a new addition to their resident collection of animals today! Skipper, a senegal parrot (or African parrot) was adopted by the clinic today, because his owner could no longer spend adequate time with him. She cried when she dropped him off, but the staff at AEAC was thrilled to have him. Skipper is the sweetest bird I’ve ever known! He sits in his cage, or on top of it, and whistles at the girls when we walk by! He says his name, along with “pretty bird” and a whole vocabulary of other affectionate terms for himself. He lets you pick him up, examine his wings, scratch his head, pet him, and even turn him upside down and hold him like a baby! It’s all very entertaining!