Well now we know...........

Well, we were able to get the new eagle (Glory) up to our regular wildlife vet in Payson, Utah. His name is Jay Ipsen at the Family Pet Hospital in Payson. He's great! He took x-rays and I asked him to take some blood for some testing. Connie went up there with me, so she did all the holding.
Since then, we now know what's going on with Glory. First of all, her feet are as bad as they look. The left one is the worst and you can visually see that. The problem stems from an injury about 1 month old. There are a lot of bone spurs as a result of that injury and healing around it. The foot cannot be "fixed" so we need to get the sores healed on her feet and that's the best we can do for them.
He blood work showed other problems including liver and kidney problems and infection. We don't know if the infection is related to the foot or something separate, but she has been on antibiotics since we took possession of her and she will remain on them for possibly 2 more weeks. We're also giving her a lot of fluids orally every evening through a stainless steal tube called a gavage needle. Hopefully this will help her kidneys work better.
I've actually seen a lot of patients with no obvious problems, just in"terrible shape", have these same problems when we get their blood work back.
We will take her back to the vets in a couple of weeks and have the tests repeated, just to see if she is improving. Hopefully she will improve and her behavior should be a good indicator of that before we take her back for that appointment.
Merle got his "bling" a few days ago (his federal leg band) and is now ready. I need to present live food to him and have him successfully kill that before his release, but he is much stronger and feeling much better. Oddly enough, his blood work that was taken right after he came into rehab looked very similar to Glorys' results, so there is hope!
Debbie

Finally, an update...........

Well, the meetings in Salt Lake regarding the lack of coverage in that area for wildlife rehabilitation are progressing. There is still not a clear cut answer to the problem, however, there is a new possibility for future rehab in that area. The Utah Career College in West Jordan apparently has a vet tech program that is interested in wildlife rehabilitation. Now, being a vet tech certainly doesn't qualify one to do wildlife rehab, but it's a start and they are willing and in the process of applying for all permits and licenses required. I believe they will be working hand-in-hand with the Ogden Nature Center's wildlife rehab center. We're looking at next summer for them to start assisting in this adventure. The vet that is part of the vet tech program is very supportive of this endeavor and assisting the rest of us in the future. They will be building a new facility with this in mind.

We have a few new patients with us. We also had an immature Coopers hawk come in, unfortunately he died after a great deal of effort in trying to save his life. He was so thin and weak and our efforts in tubing him still couldn't turn him around. The first year of life is always the most difficult for all of wildlife. They are not experienced like their parents in obtaining their food and often this results in death. Finding food and killing it, (if you're a predator) burns a lot of calories and that in turn means a big demand for food.

We also now have a little Western Screech owl. He came in with head trauma that has resulted in detached retinas so he cannot be released. He is partially sited so I made the decision to place him into an education program at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. I hope he'll do well there.

Goshen, the Barn owl was transfered and those pictures are here in this post. Carmen Smith, from Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah is the one holding him and placing him in the carrier while I took the photo's.




Our trip to the vet specialist for Merle, the golden eagle, went well. The clouding on his lenses are not cataracts, but a normal process to do aging. We are going to test his killing ability (sight wise) and if that goes well, then he will be released.
He has been hanging out with our newest golden eagle. She came from San Juan county. Her name is Glory. She has a foot condition known as pododematitis. The left foot is particularly bad. She saw a vet in Salt Lake for the foot and we're doing everything she suggested. This condition takes a long time to resolve. Tomorrow, she will go to my regular vet in Payson and get her foot x-rayed and possibly some blood work will be done. She also had a heavy case of lice, typical for being down on the ground for some time. We have been treating her for that as well. Today is her last dose of medication for that. I feel there is more to her problems than just her feet, although they are bad enough.
I had a hunter come by a few weeks ago with a great deal of elk meat. This sure has been helpful with 2 eagles to feed.
Everyone else is doing well.
Thanks for checking in. Please leave your comments as this let's me know people are still interested in our work.
Debbie