A trip to PET ER

Bird TLC interacts with lots of veterinarians and clinics. One that I get to visit often is Pet Emergency Treatment. Pet ER is one of the few 24 hour, 365 days a year facilities that's there for your pet when you need them the most. It's their intention to specialize predominantly in the emergency treatment of sick and injured animals.

Pet ER also has a migratory bird permit which allows them to temporarily treat migratory birds; which includes eagles, owls, and other wild birds. Pet ER takes the birds in and stabilizes them. Then they call Bird TLC to take over. If it's at night or on a weekend or holiday, that call usually comes to me.

This past Saturday they did call. They had a Great Horned Owl (GHO) that was found not flying. I grabbed a large kennel and headed over, but this time I was going there alone. When I got there they were busy, as you would expect an emergency clinic to be. I headed to the back like I owned the place, because I've been there many times before. I went in the room where they keep the birds and opened the door to the GHO's kennel. It looked at me but made no defensive sounds. Dr. Doty was there and I told her. She said if I could wait a few minutes we could examine it there. I welcomed the offer.

During the exam Dr. Doty noticed that the right wing had a compound fracture near the wrist (see x-ray). The best we could do that night was to immobilize the wing. With the help of her staff we placed a wing wrap on and got it kenneled up for a trip to TLC.

Today he got an xray and will probably go into surgery on Thursday. He'll get a pin placed in his wing that will be removed after the wing heals.

Pet ER is an important partner of Bird TLC. We don't have the staff or volunteers to be open like them. They are more convienantly located for people to go to and they have at least one doctor on staff all the time. They are very professional to deal with and very friendly too! They even accept donations for Bird TLC. I appreciate what they do and I bet the birds do also.

If you would like to see Pet ER in action, watch Clinically Wild: Alaska on the Animal Planet.