Blue Ridge Wildlife Center Patient of the Week: American Beaver

This patient was rescued and transported to us with the help of Loudoun County Animal Services and Kristi’s Caring Hands Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education after being found in a fenced yard after a suspected dog attack.

Despite this beaver presenting fairly alert and active, further diagnostics revealed that this animal was extremely unwell.

There were minor bite wounds consistent with a dog attack and radiographs showed what we suspected at the time to be a significantly enlarged heart.

They also showed fluid-filled lungs. There was free fluid in the abdomen as well.

Due to the dog attack and the health department requesting rabies testing, in addition to the severe health problems, resulted in the beaver being humanely euthanized.

Necropsy revealed that the health issues were even worse than we suspected.

Our team was shocked to find a large abscess within the pericardial sac that was similar in size to the heart itself. This is what caused the heart to appear so large on radiographs.

The fluid in the abdomen was associated with a severe inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. There were multiple other signs of sepsis and secondary coagulation issues throughout the beaver’s body and this led to failure of multiple organs.

This patient is an excellent example of how well wild animals can hide severe disease or injury.

While presenting just a bit quiet, the fact that this beaver was able to be caught up at all suggested that there was a bigger issue.

Internally, this beaver was battling severe infection and would likely have succumbed to this disease within the next 24 hours had euthanasia not been provided.

If you find a wild animal in need, please call a wildlife rehabilitator before intervening.

In this case, while our team was hoping for a quick “treat & yeet” based on the animal’s reported history, this beaver was in much more severe condition than initially assumed.

While we are sad that this animal had to struggle at all, we are glad that we were able to provide a humane ending for them.

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