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Jay
23-01-2005, 06:34 AM
OK heres the story of what I have gone through with my RT this week. Wednesday I was out in the Field an noticed he was at weight but acting a low, classic signs of being on weight just a tad bit long. So I fed him up on duck, normal I don't let him have any bones but he got a teal leg bone away from me, I figured its small no problems. So Thursday I come home from school and the crop hasn't been put over for 15 hours. I call my sponsor who tells me to wait a few more hours, walk the bird around, massage the crop, and to call him in 2 hours. Nothing happens and I go searching for a local vet for a quick fix. I have a great rap tor vet here, one of the best on the east coast, but they are 3 hours away. Even though it is simple as reaching down pulling some meat/bone out the local guys wouldn't touch my bird. So I got in contact with a friend of mine Alberto Palleroni who is a fa loner/rap tor researcher at Harvard University and has been doing it for 40 plus years. After Finlay deciding to go down to him it takes me 2 hours with the traffic in Boston.,

Once in his office, he was able to find the bone after a little pushing around. I had done this but not been able to find the bone. He was able to work it up from the outside and it end up being a teal knee joint. After the obstruction was cleared we administered some Pepto Bismol and he Brecht up the rest of the crop all over the office. This being the norm for Alberto he didn't seem to mind. Once this was done he seemed to have a little more duck in the crop, but I hadn't gone sour so we left it as he had started muting again.

Once home I soaked some squirrel meat in Gatorade and egg yokes. Gatorade is a sports drink we have here that replenishes electra lights, similar to the stuff u give kids who have the squirts except this is made for athletes. But after 6 hours the small amount still had'nt gone down. At this time it was 2am Friday morning and no one on the east coast was around. I ended up calling Steve Layman out on the west coast to confirm what to do, as i expected a little crop massage and not to administer the squirrel until the crop was total put over. Once he Finlay did this just after 2am I got the squirrel into him. I expected this to go down quickly, but found when I woke up it had'nt. After more calls to the rap tor vet, my sponsor, Alberto, and Layman I Finlay just periodical massaged his crop throughout the day and most of hate night.

Yesterday at the meet he was 75g below flying weight. So we gave him a crop full of fresh rabbit meat from my sponsors kill as he didn't like Pintail duck I had. This crop was readily put over with in a reasonable amount of time. When I got home I fed him two skinned Voles that I had killed with my flushing stick at the meet. Both these have been put over as well. He seems to be on the road to recovery and I expect to have him flying again in about a week. I want to bring his weight all the way up and leave it up for a few days before bringing it back down.




Hawkmaster
23-01-2005, 06:55 AM
well done, Jay, this just shows and proves to others what a well trained and caring eye for your raptor can prevent. All credit to you firstly and to all that were kind enough to assist and help you.

Have you put the Vets links on our Vet Section, so maybe they may be able to help others?

Jay
23-01-2005, 07:02 AM
I will get the contact for them when I wake up later today. For now it is Tufts Wildlife Clinic in North Grafton, MA. Home of Tufts Vet school and one of the best raptor places on the east coast. They have state of the art facilites for all types of animal care. I didnt not actualy talk to the vet at the place, the vet I contacted has just recently quite there, but she was incharge of the raptor section there. I didnt know she had quit when I called, I didnt need to go into them this time but I have brought my bird in there once before and they are great, no mater who the vet they have working on for you.

Albero, Layman, and my sponsor are all faloner with over 35 years experience each, but are privet faloners and I cant give out their info.. Alberto is well known for his work on raptors all around the world. The night he did the work on my bird he had just gotten back from Spain a few hours earlier. Layman is also well known for coming up with the condion reinforment meathod of raptor training which consists of a condion renforcer, jump ups, controled bates, and restrained persuit amoung other things. Artilces from Layman and Alberto are redily avabile on the net.

Hawkmaster
23-01-2005, 07:12 AM
Added their link here:
http://www.falconryforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=37041#37041