Post by chickadeedeedee on Feb 14, 2007 0:08:10 GMT 1
(This is a bit of a running progress report about our guest.)
No. He did not have reservations but there seems to always be room at our Bird-Inn. He is a distinguished fellow, wearing his best bright red suit and crest; Mr. Cardinal was brought in by a police officer to see me almost two weeks ago.
The officer saw the Cardinal in the road and promptly turned around to rescue him from further trauma or death. The Cardinal apparently hit a vehicle and the left side of his face was swollen so much his eye lids were closed. Opening the lids I could see his eye was filled with blood. There are no broken bones but much bruising .
He had a concussion and was lapsing in and out of consciousness ... his noble crested head nodding from time to time as I examined his injuries. He got oxygen to decrease brain swelling due to the concussion, got some steroids in his vein also to help the concussion and shock as well as pain relief. Within 10 minutes he was more alert and I cleaned his face and eye as well as applied some antibiotic ointment to his bruised eye. He got an antibiotic injection too.
After resting for an hour or so he was much better but would move his head to the left periodically. It was almost like a tremor.
I took Mr. Cardinal home and continued him on the oxygen over night. A heating pad was under half of the carrier so he could adjust how warm he wanted to stay. A variety of seeds were offered and he slept on a soft towel over the area with the heating pad.
The next morning he was more alert and ate his seeds and hopped about as Cardinals do. He had NO interest in flying or moving his wings. Too sore I suspect. I stopped the oxygen supplementation for him as his tremor / head movement to the side had stopped. The swelling on his face and eye lid was virtually gone! The blood within the eye chamber remains. That will take time to resolve and get reabsorbed. The big question will be if he can see in this eye.
Later....He is so alert and chipping as he selects from the buffet before him.
" Hmmmm. Should I eat some fruit pellets or the warm baby bird cereal? I do like that warm birdy veggy mix and the sunflower hearts are so delicious. Grapes and blueberries and raspberries are best eaten for dessert because the seeds tend to stick to my beak after I have eaten the fruit. Oh decisions. Decisions!"
He still tends to stay in the area that is warmed by the heating pad although he is in our dining room. He has not met the other residents although he can hear every one. Soon, I am sure, Kramer will have instructed him how to do a 'Wolf Whistle'. LOL!
Mr. Cardinal continued to get his antibiotics and pain medicine by mouth twice a day. He is a very good patient! Very polite! We have VERY high hopes that he will recover fully from his accident and will be able to go back outside.
I tried to contact my avian specialist friend but he was unavailable over the weekend. I called again on Monday and asked him to give him an exam too.
We are truly honoured to have such a distinguished guest here and are very pleased he is doing well.
I have taken some photographs of him with the 35mm camera. Mike's digital camera is still getting repaired. All I can say is that I am so happy I was not the one who knocked it off the kitchen counter! LOL! I won't mention who did it but he is 48 years old, 6.0 ft. tall and bought the camera for himself.
I am happy to report that Mr. Cardinal continues to improve very rapidly! He is alert, tilts his head ever so slightly when he hears the doves or Kramer or whoever from the aviary and has a very good appetite! He does still stay at the warmer end on the carrier that has the heating pad. I have kept Mr. Cardinal in the carrier because it is a little darker for him and less light to irritate his injured eye.
Mr. Cardinal's eye still has blood inside but it appears to be clotted and the amount is getting smaller.
He moves his wings a little as he appears more comfortable.
Mr. Cardinal is at the top of the priority list now and all his needs were attended to before anyone else gets breakfast! LOL! We all understand that he is a priority.
~SIGH~ Most times it is NOT a good thing to be at the top of the priority list! That means you have a *REAL* problem ... but he's doing so much better!
The following afternoon I could hear him making the typical Cardinal chipping sounds. And he continues to do this even if someone is in the room with him! He is very alert and busy hopping about and deciding if to eat the warm foods, the seed mix, the nut mix or the fruits. I gave him some mealworms too this morning but am not sure if they will interest him.
He still had a little swelling in the lower corner of his left eye and there seems to be less blood in the eye itself. I made an appointment for him to be more thoroughly examined by the avian veterinarian. We saw him last Tuesday morning.
Although Mr. Cardinal is getting stronger daily he still does like to be warmer so I adjusted the position of the heating pad so it covers the entire bottom of his carrier. There is a thick soft towel on top of it so there is no danger of his feet getting hot or burned. His water cup hangs on the door of the carrier so it will stay cool. Now he bounces the entire length of the carrier and seems so much more content and comfortable.
Mr. Cardinal and I went to see the avian veterinarian last Tuesday morning. I can easily say he was the most popular patient there. EVERYONE wanted to see him. It is rare to see someone so special up close.
In general all is progressing well with the Cardinal. The big issue is his left eye. There is still a slight swelling at the bottom corner of his eye lid. The eye itself has some blood inside and the retina cannot be seen completely. The avian vet suspects there might be damage like a partial detachment of the retina or a tear.
If there is damage to the retina it cannot be surgically repaired and that would mean he could not be released. He would become hawk food quickly upon release if his vision was impaired. But I'm jumping the gun a bit here and thinking the worst. I'm supposed to keep doing what I'm doing for Mr. Cardinal but change his eye medication to one with steroids to help decrease the inflammation in the eye. He will get re-examined in three weeks to get a better view of his eye.
Mr. Cardinal is a little underweight at 41 grams rather than the typical 47-48 grams. He's eating well so maybe he'll chunk out by the time he gets his re-check. He is more active today than yesterday. He greets me by making his little Cardinal chipping sounds as he hops about. He still is being kept warmer with the heating pad. He gets his antibiotic by mouth twice a day and his eye ointment twice daily.
He continues to be active and is very energetic. I have NO DOUBT that he wants to leave captivity. I apologize to him each time I visit him for having him in jail ... but he needs to recover from his accident. I don't think he believes me.
He is eating very well and chirping often. The Ring-neck Dove, Baby Chicky looks in on him too. I took Mr. Cardinal out yesterday morning to treat his eye. He does not seem as thin as he was earlier. As I put him back in the carrier, I took out his water dish and he took off! He was wandering about the living room for about 20 minutes.
He could not fly.
He hopped about and gains as much altitude as he can with a good hop. He flaps his wings but there is no height to his efforts. We have a House Sparrow with some abnormal feathers. The wing and tail feathers are white and the main shaft is crooked. The feathers themselves are so brittle they literally turn to powder when touched. He is not releasable because of this yet he gains more altitude (8 inches) than does Mr. Cardinal!
Maybe he is still sore and bruised from his run-in with the car and needs more time to heal?
Oh ....... I could just cry if he can't go back to the wild. I was worried about his eye and now this!
But .........
Mr. Cardinal took off the following afternoon after his treatment.
WooooooooooooooHooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He Flies!!!!!
WooooooooooooooHooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is also VERY DIFFICULT to catch! LOL!
Mr. Cardinal and I went to see the avian specialist yesterday morning. He was also examined by an ophthalmologist. It isn't good news, I'm afraid. There is significant scar tissue causing a haze in his left eye. There is a partial detachment of the retina and damage to the optic nerve. When examined, Mr. Cardinal does not appear to have any light reflexes in his left eye. Essentially he is blind in that eye.
Both doctors feel he would not be able to escape predators like cats or hawks well with limited vision. He is too nice to be eaten. He is not considered releasable. There is nothing more to do for his eye. There is a slight, ever so slight, chance he will get some vision back over time but it would be unlikely that he would have good vision.
We are to have another eye exam in a month.
There is still just a little bit of a blood clot still resolving in the eye. That just goes to show how severe his impact with the car was some 3-4 weeks ago.
He may also get seizures at any time as a result of the severity of his accident.
Rather than be eaten he is now sentenced to a life of imprisonment through no fault of his own. How I cried when I got him home! (I am VERY good at that XX task.)
But .... He is now officially "ours" and we can officially spoil him rotten. We had been unofficially spoiling him until now.
Here's a picture of Mr. Cardinal the day after he came to live with us:
No. He did not have reservations but there seems to always be room at our Bird-Inn. He is a distinguished fellow, wearing his best bright red suit and crest; Mr. Cardinal was brought in by a police officer to see me almost two weeks ago.
The officer saw the Cardinal in the road and promptly turned around to rescue him from further trauma or death. The Cardinal apparently hit a vehicle and the left side of his face was swollen so much his eye lids were closed. Opening the lids I could see his eye was filled with blood. There are no broken bones but much bruising .
He had a concussion and was lapsing in and out of consciousness ... his noble crested head nodding from time to time as I examined his injuries. He got oxygen to decrease brain swelling due to the concussion, got some steroids in his vein also to help the concussion and shock as well as pain relief. Within 10 minutes he was more alert and I cleaned his face and eye as well as applied some antibiotic ointment to his bruised eye. He got an antibiotic injection too.
After resting for an hour or so he was much better but would move his head to the left periodically. It was almost like a tremor.
I took Mr. Cardinal home and continued him on the oxygen over night. A heating pad was under half of the carrier so he could adjust how warm he wanted to stay. A variety of seeds were offered and he slept on a soft towel over the area with the heating pad.
The next morning he was more alert and ate his seeds and hopped about as Cardinals do. He had NO interest in flying or moving his wings. Too sore I suspect. I stopped the oxygen supplementation for him as his tremor / head movement to the side had stopped. The swelling on his face and eye lid was virtually gone! The blood within the eye chamber remains. That will take time to resolve and get reabsorbed. The big question will be if he can see in this eye.
Later....He is so alert and chipping as he selects from the buffet before him.
" Hmmmm. Should I eat some fruit pellets or the warm baby bird cereal? I do like that warm birdy veggy mix and the sunflower hearts are so delicious. Grapes and blueberries and raspberries are best eaten for dessert because the seeds tend to stick to my beak after I have eaten the fruit. Oh decisions. Decisions!"
He still tends to stay in the area that is warmed by the heating pad although he is in our dining room. He has not met the other residents although he can hear every one. Soon, I am sure, Kramer will have instructed him how to do a 'Wolf Whistle'. LOL!
Mr. Cardinal continued to get his antibiotics and pain medicine by mouth twice a day. He is a very good patient! Very polite! We have VERY high hopes that he will recover fully from his accident and will be able to go back outside.
I tried to contact my avian specialist friend but he was unavailable over the weekend. I called again on Monday and asked him to give him an exam too.
We are truly honoured to have such a distinguished guest here and are very pleased he is doing well.
I have taken some photographs of him with the 35mm camera. Mike's digital camera is still getting repaired. All I can say is that I am so happy I was not the one who knocked it off the kitchen counter! LOL! I won't mention who did it but he is 48 years old, 6.0 ft. tall and bought the camera for himself.
I am happy to report that Mr. Cardinal continues to improve very rapidly! He is alert, tilts his head ever so slightly when he hears the doves or Kramer or whoever from the aviary and has a very good appetite! He does still stay at the warmer end on the carrier that has the heating pad. I have kept Mr. Cardinal in the carrier because it is a little darker for him and less light to irritate his injured eye.
Mr. Cardinal's eye still has blood inside but it appears to be clotted and the amount is getting smaller.
He moves his wings a little as he appears more comfortable.
Mr. Cardinal is at the top of the priority list now and all his needs were attended to before anyone else gets breakfast! LOL! We all understand that he is a priority.
~SIGH~ Most times it is NOT a good thing to be at the top of the priority list! That means you have a *REAL* problem ... but he's doing so much better!
The following afternoon I could hear him making the typical Cardinal chipping sounds. And he continues to do this even if someone is in the room with him! He is very alert and busy hopping about and deciding if to eat the warm foods, the seed mix, the nut mix or the fruits. I gave him some mealworms too this morning but am not sure if they will interest him.
He still had a little swelling in the lower corner of his left eye and there seems to be less blood in the eye itself. I made an appointment for him to be more thoroughly examined by the avian veterinarian. We saw him last Tuesday morning.
Although Mr. Cardinal is getting stronger daily he still does like to be warmer so I adjusted the position of the heating pad so it covers the entire bottom of his carrier. There is a thick soft towel on top of it so there is no danger of his feet getting hot or burned. His water cup hangs on the door of the carrier so it will stay cool. Now he bounces the entire length of the carrier and seems so much more content and comfortable.
Mr. Cardinal and I went to see the avian veterinarian last Tuesday morning. I can easily say he was the most popular patient there. EVERYONE wanted to see him. It is rare to see someone so special up close.
In general all is progressing well with the Cardinal. The big issue is his left eye. There is still a slight swelling at the bottom corner of his eye lid. The eye itself has some blood inside and the retina cannot be seen completely. The avian vet suspects there might be damage like a partial detachment of the retina or a tear.
If there is damage to the retina it cannot be surgically repaired and that would mean he could not be released. He would become hawk food quickly upon release if his vision was impaired. But I'm jumping the gun a bit here and thinking the worst. I'm supposed to keep doing what I'm doing for Mr. Cardinal but change his eye medication to one with steroids to help decrease the inflammation in the eye. He will get re-examined in three weeks to get a better view of his eye.
Mr. Cardinal is a little underweight at 41 grams rather than the typical 47-48 grams. He's eating well so maybe he'll chunk out by the time he gets his re-check. He is more active today than yesterday. He greets me by making his little Cardinal chipping sounds as he hops about. He still is being kept warmer with the heating pad. He gets his antibiotic by mouth twice a day and his eye ointment twice daily.
He continues to be active and is very energetic. I have NO DOUBT that he wants to leave captivity. I apologize to him each time I visit him for having him in jail ... but he needs to recover from his accident. I don't think he believes me.
He is eating very well and chirping often. The Ring-neck Dove, Baby Chicky looks in on him too. I took Mr. Cardinal out yesterday morning to treat his eye. He does not seem as thin as he was earlier. As I put him back in the carrier, I took out his water dish and he took off! He was wandering about the living room for about 20 minutes.
He could not fly.
He hopped about and gains as much altitude as he can with a good hop. He flaps his wings but there is no height to his efforts. We have a House Sparrow with some abnormal feathers. The wing and tail feathers are white and the main shaft is crooked. The feathers themselves are so brittle they literally turn to powder when touched. He is not releasable because of this yet he gains more altitude (8 inches) than does Mr. Cardinal!
Maybe he is still sore and bruised from his run-in with the car and needs more time to heal?
Oh ....... I could just cry if he can't go back to the wild. I was worried about his eye and now this!
But .........
Mr. Cardinal took off the following afternoon after his treatment.
WooooooooooooooHooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He Flies!!!!!
WooooooooooooooHooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is also VERY DIFFICULT to catch! LOL!
Mr. Cardinal and I went to see the avian specialist yesterday morning. He was also examined by an ophthalmologist. It isn't good news, I'm afraid. There is significant scar tissue causing a haze in his left eye. There is a partial detachment of the retina and damage to the optic nerve. When examined, Mr. Cardinal does not appear to have any light reflexes in his left eye. Essentially he is blind in that eye.
Both doctors feel he would not be able to escape predators like cats or hawks well with limited vision. He is too nice to be eaten. He is not considered releasable. There is nothing more to do for his eye. There is a slight, ever so slight, chance he will get some vision back over time but it would be unlikely that he would have good vision.
We are to have another eye exam in a month.
There is still just a little bit of a blood clot still resolving in the eye. That just goes to show how severe his impact with the car was some 3-4 weeks ago.
He may also get seizures at any time as a result of the severity of his accident.
Rather than be eaten he is now sentenced to a life of imprisonment through no fault of his own. How I cried when I got him home! (I am VERY good at that XX task.)
But .... He is now officially "ours" and we can officially spoil him rotten. We had been unofficially spoiling him until now.
Here's a picture of Mr. Cardinal the day after he came to live with us:
. I'm glad that your visitors are kept in an aviary....I don't like to see birds in little cages, it seems so cruel. The only contact I ever sem to get with birds these days is when rescuing them from my cat...the wren, robin and sparrow that I rescued all survived...they're sooo tiny and perfect. A lot more intelligent than people give them credit for I'm sure! Unfortunately Priya (cat) is a very good at catching birds, we keep her in from dusk until we get up of a morning as her most successful hunting expeditions were at dawn and dusk. When we were temporarily cat-less (between our old moggy Mable passing away and Priya deciding to come home with us) we had LOTS of birds in our garden...some of them would sit on the staging in the GH whilst I was working in there....lovely 