Sorry…couldn’t resist—and it is, all puns aside, the truth: the barred owl who underwent surgery week before last is indeed doing well.
In fact, he’s the sole subject of today’s very short update, as there’ve been no new intakes this week. Weird…I’m sorta walking around with shoulders hunched against the “slam” I’m expecting any day now, as migration gears up and the injured migrants start coming in.
Anyway, back to our barred owl: as you’ll recall from last Sunday, he came through the surgery to pin his broken wing with flying colors. This past week vet Jim Hobby at Smalley’s wanted to see him to check the incision; it was too soon for x-rays to see if a callus was forming on the pinned humerus.
Over the past week, I’d been quite pleased with the general look of the incision, and when I took him back for that checkup, Jim was delighted, too, claiming that there was no way the incision could be healing more perfectly. Good news indeed!
In fact, he’s the sole subject of today’s very short update, as there’ve been no new intakes this week. Weird…I’m sorta walking around with shoulders hunched against the “slam” I’m expecting any day now, as migration gears up and the injured migrants start coming in.
Anyway, back to our barred owl: as you’ll recall from last Sunday, he came through the surgery to pin his broken wing with flying colors. This past week vet Jim Hobby at Smalley’s wanted to see him to check the incision; it was too soon for x-rays to see if a callus was forming on the pinned humerus.
Over the past week, I’d been quite pleased with the general look of the incision, and when I took him back for that checkup, Jim was delighted, too, claiming that there was no way the incision could be healing more perfectly. Good news indeed!
He asked if our feathered friend was attempting to use the wing at all, and I had to laugh. My problem the past week has been preventing the little snot from flaring that wing and flapping it to try and escape me as I medicated him. Oh yeah, he’s fully extending that sucker and flapping it, too!
While we don’t want him to overdo it, his willingness to use the wing is good news, as it means he may regain full use of it once the fractured humerus heals and the pin is removed. Fingers crossed!
Jim took these photos of our patient while I was holding him; as you can see, he watches me quite warily, as I’m normally shoving a syringe full of meds in his beak when he’s in my arms!
While we don’t want him to overdo it, his willingness to use the wing is good news, as it means he may regain full use of it once the fractured humerus heals and the pin is removed. Fingers crossed!
Jim took these photos of our patient while I was holding him; as you can see, he watches me quite warily, as I’m normally shoving a syringe full of meds in his beak when he’s in my arms!
Next week we’ll x-ray to see how the healing’s looking from the inside. Based on this guy’s behavior, I’m expecting another good report!
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