Tucson Wildlife Center: Doctor Tails

What's going on with this image?

2011-11-20T08:31:00.001-08:00

With the holiday's right around the corner I will do my best to post at LEAST once a month. Next post will be an update on our bobcat friend! In the meantime, I'll leave with with a radiograph and ask...

What kind of animal is this?

What is wrong with this x-ray?

2011-10-31T03:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Vehicle versus the Vulture

2011-10-31T02:56:00.000-07:00

About a month and a half ago, we got a call from some good samaritans telling us about a turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) that had just been hit by a car on I-10. He was struggling on the side of the road and his wing appeared badly injured. Unfortunately, the vulture was feeding on some road kill itself and got too close to the traffic.

The interesting thing about turkey vultures is that they feed primarily on carrion and they have an extremely acute sense of smell which they use to pick up the scent of a carcass. This sense of smell is INCREDIBLY unique in the avian world and they are particularly good at picking up the scent of ethyl mercaptan (a gas produced by animals beginning to decay). The olfactory lobe of a turkey vulture is well developed when compared to other avian species which helps allows a turkey vulture to actually detect odors up to 12 miles away.

When our patient arrived at the Tucson Wildlife Center he was very painful and dehydrated. Lou Rae quickly addressed his pain management, gave fluids, and stabilized his wing with a figure-8 bandage. He was then placed in a warm, dark incubator and allowed to rest.

When I arrived at the center, Lou Rae and Warren helped me perform a physical examination. Unlike raptors, vultures have a wicked bite and they aren't extremely dangerous with their talons. You have to be careful though when you handle a vulture (WARNING: ONLY PROFESSIONALS SHOULD EVER HANDLE WILD ANIMALS), because they all tend to vomit or regurgitate as a deterrent. It definitely is effective, believe you me! We carefully unwrapped his wing and immediately we all noticed that he had broken his humerus (the human equivalent can be visualized here). We decided to take radiographs to see how bad the the fracture really was...

Ventrodorsal view - right humerus

AP view - right humerus

Looking down on a chicken skeleton,
showing the relation of the humerus.

An anteroposterior (AP) view is just a fancy way of us shooting the x-ray beam through the front and out of the back (of the feathers) of the wing, as the vulture is positioned next....

So the fracture itself can be considered a mid-diaphyseal fracture of the humerus which is mildly to moderately displaced. It was going to be a tricky repair!!! We scheduled surgery for the next morning and fasted the vulture prior to be anesthetized...follow the pictures below for the rest of the story.

First, the vulture is given a pre-med to
calm him down and allow for less gas
anesthesia to be used. Here, isoflurane is
being given to induce anesthesia.

Once asleep we have to then intubate all
of our patients to provide a direct path
for airflow and anesthesia

We have now intubated the vulture, meaning
a tube goes from his mouth, down his trachea
and supplies gas anesthesia and oxygen to his
respiratory tract. Notice the "red head" which
is why they are called, Turkey vultures.

The patient is then prepped to go to surgery.
The machine at the right of the picture is our
gas anesthesia machine.

I had to make a small skin incision at one end of his humerus
and then use a surgical drill to place an "intramedullary" pin
for resisting "bending" forces. We will go over this in a bit.
A few other pins were drilled through the bone at different areas
on either side of the fracture site to add "rotational" stability.

Close up of surgery site

Close up of surgery site - labelled
Clearly not showcasing my artistic talents

We then placed a rubber drain over the pins,
and filled it with an epoxy to add support to the
external fixator (much like the bobcat jaw repair!)

The vulture was then recovered from anesthesia carefully, extubated, and when he was fully awake given a meal. The fixator needed to stay on for at least 6 weeks and then would be reassessed via radiographs prior to removal.

Approximately 6 weeks post op

Let's briefly discuss intramedullary pins and the "bending" and "rotational" forces that a veterinarian has to be aware of when fixing a fracture on an animal.

Intramedullary pins simply enter the "middle" cavity of a bone; most commonly a long bone. This middle cavity is called the medulla and a pin should be approximately 60-75% of the width of the cavity. To illustrate this, review the image below....

http://legacy.owensboro.kctcs.edu/gcaplan/anat/images/Image267.gif

Once you put an intramedullary pin, into the medullary cavity... that bone will no longer be able to bend at the fracture site easily. Consider, very lightly, a corn dog and a stick. The hot dog in the middle would be equivalent to the medullary cavity and the outer bread covering would be the bone. Without the stick in the middle of the corn dog, you can very easily bend and break it; but with the stick through the entire corn dog it resists "bending" forces a lot better. Even though this stick (analogous to the intramedullary pin) provides resistance to "bending" forces, the corn dog can still rotate quite easily around a 3-dimensional axis. This is less than ideal if a corn dog has a fracture because then it would never heal if it constantly moved! So then to provide that "rotational" stability, you place external fixator pins through the corn dog to secure fix it along an axis to provide complete fixation. If that doesn't make sense or you don't like corn dogs...leave a comment below and I'll try my best to come up with another food group; or if you wanted to read about this in medical terminology, follow this link about intramedullary pins and this link regarding external fixation.

To date, the vulture is doing very well and currently has his external fixator off! The volunteers, along with Lou Rae, Warren, and Lisa have also been performing routine physical rehabilitation on his wing to help strength his muscles. He is even starting to fly short distances in one of the flight cages! He currently lives with Egor (a Black Vulture) and while I was trying to record a video of our patient flying, Egor didn't take kindly to candids of his friend and chased me out of the cage... (I'll try again in the near future and post it if I get a good shot!)

Update on the Coughing Coyote!

2011-10-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a long road, but our little coyote friend that had SEVERE pneumonia is finally getting better. It is because of the volunteers (along with Lou Rae and Warren), that our coyote friend finally can breathe without constant wheezing and is now playing with his food rather than staring at it! I would like to take this opportunity to really thank everyone who works/volunteers at TWC for a wonderful job that they do; without them the animals that are injured, abandoned, or sick that are brought into the wildlife center would never have a chance....

About two weeks ago, we were really concerned about the coyote. His wheezing and coughing became more consistent than it ever had been and we were afraid that our antifungals and antibiotics that he was on just wasn't cutting it. We decided that we needed to do bloodwork and a bronchoalveolar lavage to figure out the EXACT cause for the pneumonia. Blood was carefully drawn by Lou Rae and submitted for analysis at Southern Arizona Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center (SAVSEC). We needed really specific tests (testing for valley fever and Ehrlichia) along with a complete blood count and biochemistry profile. Once the blood was brought to SAVSEC, it was prepared and sent off to the laboratory (results to follow down below).

To do a bronchoalveolar lavage the coyote needed careful sedation. We had to be very careful not to compromise his respiratory system and choose appropriate sedatives for the task. But, you may ask yourself, what the heck is a bronchoalveolar lavage; or otherwise affectionately called BAL? Let's look a little bit at the anatomy of the the respiratory system of a dog first....

When you first look in the mouth of a dog, or coyote in our case, the first thing you will see is the oral cavity consisting of the teeth, tongue, gums, etc. If you look past the tough however, you will see something called the epiglottis which is a very important piece of cartilage that helps block food, water, and other debris from entering the trachea (otherwise known as the windpipe) unexpectedly. When you "swallow funny" or a friend says "it went down the wrong pipe" sometimes a small amount of food or fluid will enter the trachea bypassing the epiglottis, thus triggering a coughing effect in an attempt to get it out of the trachea! Right above (in anatomical terms "above" is more commonly referred to as dorsal) the epiglottis, if you continue following it back (or in anatomical terms, caudal) you will enter the trachea. This whole thing can be viewed in the image below....

Canine upper respiratory anatomy
http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/cliented/anatomy/dog_resp.aspx

The trachea is a cartilaginous structure that runs down the neck and then splits (called bifurcates) near the base of the heart. The first "split" or bifurcation are called the primary bronchus and then it branches even further eventually making bronchioles (very, very, very small wind tunnels that do not contain the cartilage as support). If you think of a tree with all of its branches, you can sort of visualize what the trachea (equivalent to a trunk of a tree) turns into. This allows the air that we breath to then enter the lungs...

Trachea anatomy

Now, once the air enters these tiny little branches (bronchioles) it comes to the lung tissue. Microscopically, the lung tissue looks like little balloons and the interface where the air meets the blood stream is called the alveoli (pronounced al-vee-OH-li). If you talk about just "one" alveoli it's called alveolus (pronounced al-vee-OH-lus). The alveoli are basically one cell thick! REALLY THIN! And this helps the oxygen in the air we breath enter the bloodstream supplying the rest of our body with oxygen that is essential to life! Also at this point, since the air has gone through the trachea, then the bronchus (primary, secondary, tertiary) then the bronchioles; the air that is usually dry and sometimes not body temperature is warm and humid - perfect for the red blood cells!

Lung anatomy
http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/cliented/anatomy/dog_resp.aspx

So, now we put it all together and then you have the anatomy that looks like the picture below...

Canine Respiratory Anatomy all put together
http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/cliented/anatomy/dog_resp.aspx

Now we can revisit this medical procedure called the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). I'll preface this with a slight warning... Lou Rae and myself are vaccinated against rabies and therefore qualified to work with wild mammals. You never know what animal may carry rabies so DO NOT TOUCH ANY WILD ANIMALS OR EVEN UNVACCINATED DOGS/CATS; leave that to the professionals. The coyote needed to be sedated because we needed to "lavage" the lower airway with sterile saline. Once sedated (and with an intravenous catheter in place) we placed an endotracheal tube (meaning into the trachea) and gave the coyote some 100% oxygen while we prepped the instruments needed to perform the procedure - STERILE INSTRUMENTS ARE REALLY IMPORTANT HERE. We used a sterile red rubber catheter and carefully inserted it into the endotracheal tube, down the trachea. We then introduced sterile saline into the red rubber catheter to allow it to lavage or wash the tissues in the lung. After a few minutes, we then took a sterile catheter and drew up the fluid we just pushed down into the lungs. This enables us to then submit a sample of the cells and possible infectious agent of what is causing the pneumonia in the coyote. And we got some really good samples! We submitted it to the Arizona Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory to Carlos Reggiardo, DVM, PhD, DACVM (a veterinary microbiologist). Unfortunately, it did not find a cause for the pneumonia and our sample only consisted of a large amount of inflammatory cells. You can read a little bit more (actually A LOT more) about BAL here.

Our bloodwork returned and showed an extremely high white blood cell count (consistent with some sort of infection). Ehrlichia titers were negative. Our valley fever titers, however, did show that the coyote was exposed (we will talk about immunology during another post) to the fungal organism (Coccidioides immitis)!

So using this information we discontinued the antibiotics and concentrated on the antifungals for treatment along with some anti-inflammatories... And, wouldn't you know it... his most recent radiographs are MUCH improved - take a look!

Right lateral - October 1, 2011

Compared to what he looked like initially....

Right lateral - August 19, 2011

And there you have it....thankfully the coughing coyote is no longer coughing or wheezing. I hope that we only continue to see improvement in this little guy! His recovery from this horrible fungal pneumonia is only attributable to the volunteers, rehabilitators (Lou Rae, Lisa, and Warren), SAVSEC, and to you...the donor. Which makes our ability to protect Southern Arizona's wildlife everyday possible.

Bobcat under the boat!

2011-10-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

A little more than 2-weeks ago, the Tucson Wildlife Center responded to a call regarding a bobcat under a boat (Fox News report). Unfortunately, the bobcat had been stealing chickens from the homeowner and was subsequently trapped with leghold traps attached to both hindlimbs and dragged him over a wall and then underneath a boat to sit there for a full day. The Tucson Wildlife Center was called to the property and carefully rescued the animal. There are many other ways that the homeowner could have gone about removing/relocating the bobcat from the property humanely. Calling the Tucson Wildlife Center (520-290-WILD or 520-290-9453) is one of the easiest ways to get information on how to deal with the humane removal and relocation of our wild friends.

Lou Rae called me at 9pm concerned about the damage done to the bobcat's feet and his level of dehydration. The bobcat was sitting under a boat without any access to water for over 10 hours and the leghold traps remained in place. I met her at Southern Arizona Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center (SAVSEC) to stabilize him, address his pain, and do some diagnostic tests before bringing him to the center.

Stabilizing an animal requires quick assessment of the ABC's which stands for airway, breathing, and circulation. The bobcat appeared to be breathing rapidly (called tachypnea or tachypneic) which could have been a result of pain associated with the traps/trauma or could mean some sort of chest injury. His respiratory effort, however, was normal and his lung sounds were normal bilaterally. His blood pressure was low (systolic-60mmHg) so we bolused him fluids intravenously while we finished his physical examination. Blood pressure is measured as systolic (sis-TOL-ik) and diastolic (di-a-STOL-ik) pressures. "Systolic" refers to blood pressure when the heart beats while pumping blood. "Diastolic" refers to blood pressure when the heart is at rest between beats.

Once we were able to bring the bobcat's blood pressure to normal limits, we carefully removed the traps from his legs and continued with the physical examation. He had a lot of swelling noticed along his back feet and some puncture wounds acquired from the traps. On palpation of his back paws, no crepitus was appreciated along his metatarsals.

Canine skeleton showing location of metatarsals

This physical exam finding (no crepitus), strongly suggests that the bobcat may have been lucky - despite being trapped for over 10 hours - and have escaped without any fractures to his hindlimbs! To further investigate this hypothesis, we decided to take radiographs.

Despite the absence of fractures to his hindlimbs, he still suffered from severe soft-tissue injury and required pain medications and wound cleaning. Upon further examination, the right-side of his jaw appeared very unstable. Concerned that he may have a jaw fracture, we decided to concentrate the rest of the radiographic study to his skull.

Right lateral oblique

Right lateral oblique labeled

And even a more dramatic view of the mandible fracture....

Left lateral

left lateral labeled

The fracture was to the right mandible (lower part of the jaw) and can by classified as a comminuted fracture. A comminuted fracture simply means a fracture in which the bone has broken into a number of pieces (seen within the green segment highlighted above). Repair of a fracture like this is very challenging, as the surgeon does not have a lot of places to help stabilize the rest of the jaw. It also suggests that the bobcat experienced a very high-powered blow (hit) to the face. Coupled with possible metal fragments (the bright little dots scattered along the face on the radiographs), we were initially concerned with a gun shot but no entry wounds to the face were observed on physical examination. The jury is still out; but we know for sure that this poor guy was hit, and hit real hard in the face.

After we addressed pain management, stabilized him with fluids, and took the radiographs; Lou Rae then ventured back in the middle of the night back to the wildlife center to let him rest quietly...

The next morning, Lou Rae, Dr. Ted Berghausen and myself prepared for our bobcat for surgery. We all knew it was going to be very challenging but wanted to try and give this guy a chance. The bobcat was pre-medicated with pain medications and light sedatives to make him tractable to work with (great care and respect was taken to ensure the bobcat and surrounding personnel were safe). We carefully placed an intravenous catheter in a back leg to supply the patient with fluids, antibiotics, and pain medication throughout the entire procedure. He was then given stronger sedatives to allow us to place an endotracheal tube to keep him under general anesthesia. Then we got started and found exactly how many pieces his jaw was in....

In this picture, the bobcat is laying on his
back and the tip of his chin is towards the
top of the photo. The exposed bone is a few
of the many pieces we actually found during
the surgery, making fixation very difficult.

We then decided that since there were
so many pieces, what we needed to do
was to stabilize the larger pieces of the jaw
by drilling pins into the bone and connecting
the pins together to make an external fixator.

Two pins in place along mandible

Pins were reinforced using an epoxy

In an ideal world, we would have placed the pins on the side of the bobcat's jaw but we were concerned that if he were able to see it, he would paw at it and remove it himself. By placing it underneath his jaw, we risk drilling through some tooth roots, but it was absolutely necessary to help repair his jaw.

Before we recovered him from anesthesia, we tested the stability of his jaw and found that the fixator (pins and epoxy) was very strong and that his "smile" was now straight. Lou Rae and I came up with strict treatment plans for the bobcat over the next few weeks and we woke him up. He recovered uneventfully from anesthesia and his pain appears very well under control.

It initially took him a few days until he started eating but now has consistently accepted his morning and evening meals (not chickens). The ultimate plan is to keep him at the center over the next 6-8 weeks until we can sedate him and take additional radiographs of his jaw to assess healing. Once his jaw bones appear fused, we will then remove his fixator (pins and epoxy) and be able to release him. We will keep you updated with his progress!

Just think...it is because of your donations that this bobcat will someday be out in the wild again, keeping nature in balance....

Notes to readers/case discussion:
We are very fortunate in Southern Arizona to have wildlife at our doorstep. We have to respect our unique environment and make a conscious effort to not harm or threaten any that may visit our backyards. We also have to remember that they were here first. If you are ever concerns about any wildlife that may be getting "too close" for comfort or interfering with your life, please contact the Tucson Wildlife Center for ideas or recommendations. It is not appropriate, regardless of the law, to put these animals through needless suffering when we have answers just a phone call away. Rescue, Rehab, and Release....

Special thanks to Dr. Stephanie Szabo, VMD, Diplomate ACVS for all of her help discussing possible surgical approaches...

What did this bobcat have for dinner?

2011-09-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

Right lateral radiograph of bobcat

What is wrong with these radiographs?

2011-09-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

While you wait for a new post.... let's see if you can spot that is wrong with the radiographs of a female bobcat who was hit-by-a-car below. She was unable to stand using her hindlimbs and had some bloody discharge from her rear end.

Read the post about the "coughing coyote" and see if you can tell me the answers in the comments section below this post --

1) what was the positioning of the bobcat?
2) what part of the bobcat was radiographed?
3) what is wrong with the bobcat?

Check us out on the news!

2011-09-17T11:51:00.001-07:00

We have been very busy taking care of bobcats this September. I'm sorry that we did not have a posting on the 15th but assure you that there will definitely be one the end of this month! In the meantime, check us out on the news!

Coughing Coyote Pup and Radiology 101

2011-08-31T05:57:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately shortly after posting the last blog entry, our little coyote with adenovirus started wheezing and coughing. He has continued to eat, which was encouraging, but after watching him for a few days and only seeing signs progress, we took radiographs (ie x-rays) of his chest.

August 19, 2011 - right lateral radiograph

August 19, 2011 - dorsoventral radiograph

Look at these carefully (click on them to enlarge the image) and try and figure out what you can find before continuing on reading the rest of the post....

First, we'll go over radiograph basics. The little "R" and "L" that you see on the films represents the right and left side of the animal. The right lateral radiograph means that he is laying down with his right side down on the radiograph table (where the x-ray film is). The x-ray beam then goes through the his left side to his right side then to the film to create this picture. That is the first image above. The dorsoventral radiograph, means that the x-ray beam went from his dorsum to his ventrum (or more easily put, the x-ray beam went through the top of his back to the bottom of his chest while he was laying with his stomach on the x-ray table). The second image above To visualize this, take a look at the next few images of my own dog, Hagan, who graciously demonstrated his expertise of proper x-ray positioning...

Radiograph Table at Southern
Arizona Veterinary Specialty
and Emergency Center

Hagan in right lateral position - the x-ray beam
would go through his left side, through his chest,
then through his right side and onto the x-ray film


Dorsoventral position - the x-ray beam would go through the top of his back, through his chest, then through the bottom of his chest onto the x-ray film

Hagan in ventrodorsal position -
the x-ray beam would go through the
bottom of his chest, through his chest, then
out through his back onto the x-ray film

Now you can call yourself an expert and amaze your friends with x-ray knowledge; saying ventrodorsal or dorsoventral at dinner really impresses people. But back to the little coughing coyote...

The coyote pup didn't exactly cooperate as well as Hagan so we had to give him some light sedation to get accurate films. In case you haven't guessed it already, and it's okay if you haven't, the radiographs show that the pup has a bad case of pneumonia. A veterinary radiologist would most likely say, "a moderate patchy interstitial to alveolar lung pattern suggestive of bronchopneumonia or fungal pneumonia with possible tracheobronchial lymph node enlargement." This description can be basically broken down to mean;

"a moderate patchy interstitial to alveolar lung pattern" - lungs appear to have a wispy cotton-like appearance
"possible tracheobronchial lymph node enlargement" - above the heart lay some lymph nodes which may be enlarged

Take a look at a normal radiograph of Hagan's chest...try to guess what way he was laying (right lateral, dorsoventral, or ventrodorsal)

Normal thoracic film

Normal thoracic film - labeled

Notice that Hagan's lungs are nice and black (on radiographs, black = air) and with our coyote above his lungs looked as though they had wispy pieces of cotton in them (ie interstitial to alveolar pattern). If you now go back to the radiographs of the coyote puppy and take a look, you hopefully can now appreciate this change. For some of you, you may even be able to see that the trachea (wind pipe) is pushed up or deviated a little bit upwards and that is where the area of possible tracheobronchial lymph node enlargement. Those lymph nodes may actually be so large that they are pushing the trachea up (or it could just be really bad infiltration of disease)!

The pup was immediately placed on a strict antibiotic regiment. He wasn't very keen to our plan and has proven very difficult to medicate but thanks to the help of our volunteers we devised a way to trick him into taking his medications; mixing it in a sugary treat! Over the past week, he has continued to eat and drink normally. His behavior is a little more lethargic than usual but still acts like a coyote puppy and very inquisitive of his surroundings. A few days ago one of the volunteers who works with him very closely, Sherry, noticed that he was more lethargic than usual so we decided to retake radiographs to see if we were making any progress...

August 26, 2011 - right lateral radiograph

August 26, 2011 - dorsoventral radiograph

Although it would have been nice to be able to get a little bit more of the front part (also known as cranial) of his chest in the film we can see that there is some improvement since the last films; still not perfect, but improved. Clinically, to date, the pup continues to do well and loves his sugary treats to go along with his meals. We have also started nebulizing him three times daily to help add moisture to his airways to facilitate productive coughing and break up of the disease. We will be checking radiographs periodically to continue to monitor his progress and I will post them as soon as we do so you can stay updated!

As always, please do not hesitate to ask questions or comments in the comment section below and keep the donations coming in (button on the left of this page)! It is very expensive to maintain our x-ray machine and associated equipment to keep it in tip-top shape, and every little bit helps!

Special thanks to the following people who have been available for consultation:
Dr. Diane Dereszynski, DVM, Diplomate ACVIM of Southern Arizona Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center
Dr. Graham Burns, DVM, Diplomate ACVR

The great coyote puppy mystery!

2011-08-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

* As always, if you find that you do not understand something and need more of an explanation remember to click the links or just post a question and I'll be more than happy to answer them. Thanks for reading!

We recently responded to a call about a litter of abandoned coyote puppies in Tucson. When Lou Rae got to the scene, she found two puppies outside the den; one lifeless puppy near the road and another was bleeding from his mouth. Three other puppies remained inside the security of their den but they appeared dehydrated and were very lethargic. The caller had not seen any adults in the area in the recent future so we were worried that the adults were injured, sick, or killed. We also noticed that there were a number of dead rodents outside of the coyote den. We quickly gathered the litter together and headed back to the Wildlife Center.

Once at the Tucson Wildlife Center (TWC), the puppies received their intake physical examinations. The puppy that was bleeding from his mouth, unfortunately passed away shortly after arriving to the center. The remaining three puppies were given fluids (to help rehydrate them), given some food, and allowed to rest in a dark, quiet place. Physical examinations confirmed moderate dehydration and some evidence of bruising on two of the puppies. We were immediately concerned that this may be related to the dead rodents around the den; which could mean the puppies were exposed to rodenticide! Rodenticide toxicities can also cause depression, anorexia, anemia, bloody feces, ataxia (lack of coordination), weakness and subcutaneous hemorrhages.

There are many different types of rodenticide but all have the same end result; they affect the body’s natural ability to stop bleeding. Most of these toxins target Vitamin K, which is essential for certain proteins responsible to help prevent bleeding, and decrease the Vitamin K storages in the body (essentially). Since we noticed some of the puppies were bleeding and saw a number of dead rodents near the den, we started treating immediately with Vitamin K.

Despite our best efforts, two of the remaining three puppies died within a few days. The only survivor started vomiting and had diarrhea. We became very aggressive with his treatment for fear that we would lose him too! He continued to receive Vitamin K (to help restore any vitamin K that may have been affected by the suspected rodenticide poisoning), subcutaneous fluids, and assist feedings. In the meantime, we sent a body of one of the other puppies to Arizona Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory to be analyzed so we would have a better idea of what we were treating. This was made possible with funding from donations from our generous supporters, just like you!

Within a few days, we received the necropsy report which revealed extensive granulomatous pneumonia with Coccidioides immitis. Coccidioides immitis is the fungal organism that causes valley fever in both our pets and ourselves. This was a very peculiar finding in such a young pup but after we received this news we started the surviving puppy on fluconazole (an antifungal medication) right away.

Puppy on arrival with his best friend

He started eating and drinking on his own and the diarrhea and vomiting resolved as quickly as it began. We were very happy with his progress up until the day we arrived to the facility to find that his eyes were a cloudy-blue color.

Blue eyes from corneal edema

The puppy was brought to Southern Arizona Veterinary Specialists for an emergency ophthalmology appointment. Dr. Marcella Ashton, BVSc, Diplomate ACVO was concerned that the puppy had corneal edema (fluid swelling) which could be caused by a number of different diseases such as toxoplasma, canine adenovirus, and leptospirosis (among others).

Eye anatomy

Dr. Ashton started the coyote puppy on daily eye medications and started an antibiotic. A small amount of blood was taken from the puppy to be sent for analysis to screen for toxoplasma, canine adenovirus, leptospirosis, and valley fever. After waiting for about a week and a half, results came back from the laboratory stating that the puppy was positive for canine adenovirus type 1 (CAV-1) and negative for all other diseases tested!

Adenoviruses infects a wide variety of mammals and birds but only two have been identified to infect canines/dogs. Canine adenovirus type 1 (CAV-1) infects most of the major organs causing, amongst other diseases, hepatitis. Canine adenovirus type 2 (CAV-2) causes primarily respiratory diseases.

Adenovirus

In CAV-1, the virus invades the liver, quickly causing swelling, cell damage, and sometimes causes bleeding. This often results in acute death (much like seen in the other puppies from the litter). An infected dog will shed the virus in the feces and urine for up to 6-months. Other dogs can become contaminated via the mouth or nose and the virus then lodges itself in the tonsils. The virus is not airborne. Incubation period is 4-7 days. Symptoms include, but not limited to; fever, lethargy, tonsillitis, abdominal distension and pain, loss of appetite, pale color gums, and vomiting. The classic “hepatitis” blue eyes are also seen in many cases like we saw in our little coyote puppy. The “blue eyes” are caused by edema (fluid swelling) of the cornea of the eye. Without treatment, death can occur in 1 to 2 days, but if they are treated and survive the initial few days, puppies usually recover and have lifelong immunity.

Since the coyote puppy received appropriate treatment at our center and was seen by Dr. Ashton who helped save his eye-sight; he is happily playing in our large coyote pen today! TWC will keep him for about 6-months and try to train him how to hunt by himself. At that time, we will bring him to an isolated spot, away from the urban environment, and be able to release him with another young coyote. This, of course, is all possible because of the donations received from the public allowing us to continue to …. Rescue, Rehab, and Release!

After treatment, clear eyes!
*Disclaimer - Sure he's cute, but never handle wild
animals unless you are a trained professional

Note to Readers/Case Discussion:
In this particular case, it would have been beneficial to have the diagnostic equipment needed to test coagulation times (clotting times) in the patients. If the clotting times were prolonged, we would have had a stronger diagnosis of exposure to rodenticide and could have treated accordingly or if the clotting times were normal we may have tried to treat for other illnesses other than toxicity. Your support could help us pay for a $3,500 Coagulation Analyzer needed to check clotting times in patients that we take in on emergency within minutes! It would also help us continue to provide the intensive care and medical treatment all poisoned patients face. With your help, the Tucson Wildlife Center could also start compiling data to help provide scientific diagnoses of poisoning for other wildlife centers and obtain standards in “normal clotting times” in our wild friends!

Golden Eagle Released!

2011-08-03T02:09:00.000-07:00

Our Golden Eagle treated for signs of dehydration and generalized wasting has been released back to the wild! After being displaced by the Horsehoe Two Fire, the eagle continued to recuperate at the center. After a few days he began to eat great and gained a significant amount of weight and muscle mass. We were able to exercise him in our new flight cage and after a few weeks of regaining his strength he was allowed to go back and roam the skies once again. Thank you for all of your support!

Golden Eagle from Horseshoe Two Fire!

2011-07-11T01:55:00.000-07:00

An immature Golden Eagle presented to the Tucson Wildlife Center after a rancher up near the Horseshoe Two Fire called in saying he had found a large bird unable to fly near his property. Golden Eagles can range anywhere from 3-6kg (or 6-13lbs) when fully mature and have a wingspan up to 7 feet (2 meters)! The Golden Eagle population is threatened in North America by loss of habitat and because of exposure to organochlorides and heavy metals (zinc, lead, iron, mercury, etc). Because of this, they are protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and it is extremely important to go to great lengths to save each individual.

Immature Golden Eagle

Lou Rae, one of the head wildlife rehabilitation specialists, immediately drove from the center to pick up the bird since the rancher described the bird being very lethargic and very easy to catch (concerning when dealing with a Golden Eagle!) On physical examination, the eagle was dehydrated and very thin (2kg, or 4.4lbs). No external injuries were noted on examination. The question we set out to answer was.... How did the eagle become so thin and dehydrated and why was he so easy to catch?

As mentioned above, populations of these large birds have been threatened by habitat destruction, organochlorides, and heavy metal toxicosis. We initially wanted to send out an extensive work-up (full blood work and toxicology screening) but only had enough money to test for blood lead levels. Unfortunately we see and treat a large amount of birds of prey that have been shot at themselves by people (an illegal activity) or eaten an animal that had been shot with bullets containing lead.

We submitted the test to the Arizona Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and within a few days the results were back! The golden eagle's lead (Pb) levels were elevated but not within a toxic range (meaning the lead was probably not contributing to the eagle's lethargy and generalized wasting). We suspect that the eagle was doing poorly because it was displaced by the Horseshoe Two Fire.

It would have been useful to run a full blood panel on the bird to take a look at all angles of possible reasons why he could have been so emaciated. A complete blood count would have enabled us to take a look at his red blood cells (RBCs) and white blood cells (WBCs). Some birds become anemia (low RBC count) and this can cause lethargy, or the eagle could have had an infection (which would have shown a higher white blood cell count than normal). A biochemistry profile would have been able to help us look at his liver and kidney values to see if these were affected, among other important information. Click the donate button to the right of the screen to help us fund more extensive testing on cases like these! We depend on donations from people like you to help our wildlife....

Nonetheless, we treated with fluid therapy, special medications to help bind any existing lead levels in the blood, and assist feedings. The eagle slowly regained strength and weight and was able to move from our intensive care unit to an outside enclosure. It has acclimated well and continues to show improvements every day! Hopefully soon he will be releasable back to the wild so keep returning for updates!

Rescue, Rehab, and Release

Hit-By-Car American Kestrel

2011-07-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

* Click on the links embedded in the story for more detailed explanations and stories.

An adult, male American Kestrel presented to the Tucson Wildlife Center (TWC) shortly after being hit by a car. The kestrel was hunting near Wentworth and Speedway area when he was found near the side of the road and stunned. When he arrived at TWC he was barely responsive and disoriented and couldn't use his feet! He was in a state of shock and we were very concerned with him possibly having neurologic trauma (injury to his brain and spinal cord).

He was a well-muscled bird and had no signs of fractures or other external injuries on physical examination. Fluids were administered immediately and he was transferred to a dark, warm incubator with oxygen supplementation.

Oxygen supplemented incubator

The next day, the Kestrel was brighter in his cage and able to walk. Radiographs (x-rays) were performed and were normal. Pain medication was given along with additional fluids (to keep him well hydrated). He also was very interested in food (always a good sign)!

As time continued, the Kestrel continued to show signs of improvement and was introduced to an outdoor enclosure to let him spread his wings. He was also introduced to a female American Kestrel (who had broken her wing a few weeks previous and was still on the mend). As an interesting side-note, American Kestrels are sexually dimorphic, meaning that the males and females look different from each other! The male started flying well on his own and within a few weeks was able to be released back into the wild. The female was also released at the same site since her fractured wing healed and had gotten along so well with the male.


Male (front) and Female (back) American Kestrel

Young Harris Hawk with Trichomonas

2011-07-06T01:07:00.000-07:00

*Note: Make sure you click the links in the post for a more detailed explanation on different topics in this post.

A young Harris's hawk presented to the Tucson Wildlife Center after being found in someone's backyard near Mountain Vista Place in Oro Valley. The caller had mentioned that there was a lot of debris in the hawk's mouth and it was unable to move around easily.

The hawk was mild-moderately dehydrated when he came into the center so both oral and subcutaneous fluids were administered immediately. These were supplemented with vitamin B. On physical examination, the hawk was thin with a palpably sharp keel. No exterior wounds were observed. The hawk was alert and responsive. He had normal respiratory sounds and his heart was loud and clear. The hawk had a large amount of pin feathers and down still present. His vent was clean and void of debris. The oral cavity was filled with ropey saliva (indicative of dehydration) and whitish-yellow plaques.

White oral plaques

The presence of whitish-yellow plaques could indicate a number of different diseases commonly found in birds; hypovitaminosis A (low vitamin A), candidiasis, capillariasis, trichomoniasis, or less likely avian pox. We swabbed his esophagus and mouth and positively identified living trichomonas under a microscope. Trichomonas is a protozoan with flagella that reside primarily in the gastrointestinal tract. It is a parasite. It does not require an intermediate host or vector and are transmitted through either direct contact (bird to bird) or through ingestion of contaminated water (from bird baths, ponds, etc) or food (for birds of prey they may contract Trichomoniasis by eating prey species that are contaminated). Infected adults can also transmit the organism to their chicks during feeding. Depending on the species of Trichomonas, infections may be localized in the mouth, oropharynx, esophagus, crop and trachea, or the lungs and liver tissues may be invaded. Trichomonads can cause inflammation and white plaques (as seen above) on the mucosa. These plaques can accumulate and may become so severe that it may occlude the esophagus and trachea. It is particularly common in pigeons (infections are called canker) and raptors (infections are called frounce).

The hawk was put on medications to help treat the infection and placed in quarantine. Special care was required to ensure other birds being treated at the center not be exposed to any Trichomonad organisms. The hawk continues to receive subcutaneous fluids (supplemented with vitamin B complex) and oral feedings.

If you are interested in donating to care for this bird or our current patients like it, please donate anything you can by following the donate link on the right-side of this page.

Welcome!

2011-07-06T00:54:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this blog is to keep readers up-to-date with the current cases being treated at the Tucson Wildlife Center. Due to the large amount of cases brought in on a daily basis, only a few will be represented at a time. I will do my best to keep this as updated as possible. If you find interest in any of these postings, please feel free to press the donate button (located at the right side of the page) and donate money that will help the Tucson Wildlife Center treat these cases, among others, and be able to afford diagnostic tests (x-rays, bloodwork, etc) necessary to help us find out what's wrong with some of our beloved wildlife. Thank you for visiting! Please feel free to participate in case presentations and leave comments and questions...