Blue Ridge Wildlife Center Patient of the Week: Barred Owl

This Barred owl was brought in to us after being found down along a roadside with broken metacarpals (“fingers”) on the left wing.

This is the “before” radiograph, showing that both the major AND minor metacarpal bones are fractured and badly displaced.

Due to the owl’s critical condition at intake, surgery was not possible until the following day.

After 24 hours of pain medications and fluids, this patient was in far more stable condition and our veterinary staff was able to perform surgery to place an external fixator to stabilize the metacarpal bones.

This year we were able to purchase a much-needed brand-new X-ray machine to replace our older unit that had recently broken down.

Not only is this new machine more reliable, it is also mobile, which allows us to take radiographs mid-surgery in our operating room without having to move the patient back and forth between radiology and surgery.

This was our pre-op setup. The x-ray detector plate is placed directly on the surgery table, then a heat pad and towel laid on top.

Because x-rays can penetrate easily through fabric, this does not create any issues with the images.

This was taken intraoperatively, as you can see owl’s body overlying the wavy heating element of the heat pad. Because it can sometimes be difficult to correlate what is palpable to actual bone orientation, the surgical clamp seen was used as a landmark. Comparing its physical location to what is seen on the radiograph can help improve alignment.

It is simply amazing to be able to do this without having to break sterile field or otherwise disturb an anesthetized patient, which would be the case with a typical standing x-ray machine.

The “after” photo: both metacarpal bones are well-aligned!

Having access to a reliable x-ray machine is critical to treating a large portion of our patients that come in with broken bones, swallowed hooks, or gunshot wounds.

This x-ray machine, and other critical medical equipment, could never have been purchased without the amazing donations made at this past Fall’s Gala.

This owl has been recovering well and has finally begun to eat on their own.

They’ll require bandage changes and cage rest for the next few weeks while the bone continues to heal, and then will require a bit of time in our outdoor pre-release enclosures for reconditioning.

We’ll be monitoring recovery closely and we hope to have them released and back home early in the New Year!

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