Day 9

6-3-10

We had a rat appointment today with a critter that looked just like Cricket! Also, the rat had a mass on its abdomen that was almost identical to Cricket’s mass. Dr. Dan scheduled a $700 surgery to remove the mass, so tomorrow will be an exciting day.

Later this morning, I got to do a nasolacrimal flush on a rabbit! I really enjoyed getting to do this myself under the supervision and instruction of Dr. Dan. I flushed it’s ducts without a problem, so I think he was happy with that.

We also had a parrot with diagnosed liver disease that came in for a beak trim and blood work. Its blood was surprisingly cloudy and even cream-colored, which according to Dr. Dan, is standard for a bird with a liver problem.

Dr. Dan did surgery on a guinea pig with a trichofolliculoma, which is a tumor of the hair follicle; a very common problem in guinea pigs that is most effectively treated with surgery. It was basically a mass-removal surgery, and Dr. Dan carried it out very smoothly.

This afternoon, I got to examine a Great Horned Owl with an eye injury. He was brought in by a raptor rescue. After numbing his eye, I debrided it carefully, making sure to remove the caseous material that had collected between the eyelid and the conjunctiva. I found no traces of injury to the eye itself and no foreign body, so hopefully the debridement and antibiotic eye drops will be sufficient treatment.

At the end of the day, Dr. Dan got a little disappointed upon his recheck appointment. He had recently done bone surgery on the leg of a Barred Owl, to repair a broken tibia. Due to poor blood supply, the repair was not successful. The client/rehab center should have brought the bird in earlier, however that issue was inconsequential at this point in time. This Barred owl was never going to be releasable, and the leg was completely dead, so the best option, according to Dr. Dan, was euthanasia.