Identifying injuries

[Weasel]

An RT is found beside the highway, his wrist flaps loosely, inside his mouth are loads of small leaches. The bird is fully alert but very thin.
What would be the diagnosis and treatment.

[Weasel]

A crow is brought to you door in a cage. The cage floor and perch are covered in feces. His wings sag, though he appears quite lively. When you attempt to pick him up, he tries to climb onto you shoulder and peck at your mouth.
What is the diagnosis?

[Falcon Boy]

Its been kept as a pet and someone fed it out of their mouth? By the way, your now an ancient member!

[Minca]

I wanna guess that the RT is a juvi like the crow. Purhaps fell from the nest and is barely surviving by savenging on roadkill? I'm most likely wrong, but it sounds good. The loose wrist wing flapping, by description and not seeing it for myself, sounds like the actions birds make when soliciting for food. Juviniles don't just do that, females on the nest will do it toward her mate as well as imprinted birds of any age toward humans.

[Minca]

Oh! and just because the crow is pecking at the mouth doesn't mean it was fed from the mouth. One of the keepers at the zoo I used to volunteer at nearly lost her eye to an imprinted ferruginous that was pecking at her face for food. This bird was donated by a falconer and I can't imagine any falconer brave (or dumb) enough to raise a fergie to associate his face with food!

[Weasel]

As for the RT. It most likely has a broken or dislocated writs joint. The leaches in the throat are Liver flukes. The treatment for the flukes can be several meds but most commonly used is Ivermectrim. The wrist damage can be the deciding factor in the life of this bird. If it is dislocated, Then their is a high chance that the tendons and ligaments have been damaged beyond repair and the bird will be put down. If the bone is broken and is out away from the joint then it can be pinned. If it is located near the ball joint then in many cases it is put down.

[Weasel]

The crow is a typical imprint. Mouth pecking is an instinctive responce.

[Bob Dale]

Keep 'em comin', Noel. This is interesting!

[Minca]

liver flukes? That sounds familiar but but I don't think I know really what it is. Can you describe for my feeble polish mind?

[Weasel]

I'll give a quick life cycle of the liver fluke. This is the most typical way they reproduce.
First The eggs of the liver fluke are shed though feces into the water of a pasture. The eggs hatch, find an intermediate host(snails) Then grow to a cetrain stage in the snails then they leave to go find a place to catch a ride to the next stage. This next place is on a blade of grass. The cattle eat the grass, ingesting the young flukes. The flukes burrow through the stomach into the body cavity and make their way to the liver. They burrow thorugh the liver until they are fully matured. They then leave the liver and enter the bile ducts to lay eggs. Thus the cycle is completed when the eggs are shed with the feces again. The ways a hawk can pick this up can be many..... ie. Periegrine kills and eats a duck that has been eating snails....

[Minca]

Ahh, so is there a good chance of finding them in the wabbits we hawk? If so, how are they recognised when cleaning the critter?

[Weasel]

I don't know if they can be found in Bunnies or not. All I can find on the net was about cattle, sheep and deer. Deer being the largest flukes and the most damage to an animal was the sheep. To find out if an animal has it or not (Live animal) is to have a vet examine the mutes for the eggs. This is apperently not the best way to find out how bad the infestation is as they shed the eggs in intervals. In a dead animal you can take the liver out and cut it into sections and look for small leach like critters that are a blue gray in color. I only looked at the deer flukes so I don't know how big the regular flukes are. I am also unsure why in a raptor they can be seen in the throat area when severely infected. I suppose that is can be a kind of over flow coming up from the gastointestinal area.

[Weasel]

I make a point to check my bird over as often as I can for any signs of injury. One thing to note is the fact that raptors can hide their symtoms very well until it's too late. On their legs and feet you can get a good idea of an infection by placing your hand on the leg itself if it feels much warmer that the other one then their is a possibility of an infection or bite hidden somewhere in that leg. I had a squirrel bite my bird up high on the tarsus and I did not notice right away as it was hidden by the feathers. I remember holding her leg while doing a routine check for scale abrations on her legs and I noted that it was very warm. After closer inspection I could tell that it was swolen and infected. This is just a reminder to take the time to check over your bird as often as possible and get the bird used to you touching it.

[Falcon Boy]

One thing i noticed with my first bird, who had a severe leg infection [thanks to a bad sponsor, which i am now no longer his apprentice, i have a new good sponsor now ]. But anyway, my first bird had a cut about an inch and half long, and pretty deep. It got infected while it was under the anklet, so it took a long time to notice. The only reason i did notice one day is that i touched his leg, to check for scale damage, and the skin kind of was almost mushy, it moved much more than it was supposed to. I cut off the anklet, and found a huge infection. It took 4-5 months for it to heal.

[Weasel]

Wow! Glad to hear that it did heal OK. That could of been bad if it had damaged any of the tendons with infection.