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Index of Subjects --089e0122797a0e48ea04f256e52e Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Hi Chris, Just in case you get involved with another starving bird in the future, it is VERY important that it NOT be fed until it is warmed up and rehydrated. Birds ( or any animal really) that are in severe emaciation are on the very edge circulation-wise. Digestion of food takes a certain amount of water and if fed in a starving and dehydrated state, the body will sequester fluids from the tissues in an attempt to move the food along and it can be the " straw that breaks the camel's back" which pushes the bird to circulatory collapse and death. I'm sure that vulture was going to die regardless of the meatball fed, but in the future, fluids and heat are most important. When we get starving birds in it is days before they get food. We start with IV fluids to rehydrate them, followed by oral fluids that contain highly digestible liquid protein, followed by a liquid slurry of food, then lean solid protein mixture, then lean meat, then something like skinned mice ( they can't digest fur and bones in an emaciated state), then finally solid whole food. Again, it's often a few days before they get solid food, though we can give them some energy via dextrose in their fluids. The other thing that can happen if emaciated birds are given solid food is they can't spare the fluid to push it through and it sits there and rots in the crop. If I can ever help or give advice, feel free to call at the number below. We've gotten lots of emaciated birds this winter, including 6 snowy owls! Again, I'm sure it would have died anyway given it's state, but in the future if you get one in the same situation..it's not safe to feed solids to an emaciated animal. I can talk you through giving it oral fluids on the phone. Thanks for caring and going to retrieve this bird. It's a brutal winter for wildlife this year. We are getting an unprecedented number of raptors this winter. Helene Helene Van Doninck DVM Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre RR#1 Brookfield NS B0N1C0 902-893-0253 birdvet@hotmail.com www.cwrc.net Find us on Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cobequid-Wildlife-Rehabilitation-Centre/134671693239334> and Twitter <https://twitter.com/CobequiWildlife> On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 8:20 PM, Andy Moir/Christine Callaghan < slickdog1@gmail.com> wrote: > On Monday, Feb. 10th, late in the afternoon, I got a call from a resident > of Brier Island about a Turkey Vulture on her deck, apparently unable to > fly and very weak. By the time I caught the next ferry over (I live in > Freeport on Long Island), the bird had left the deck and had walked through > the snow toward some trees. We found it huddled under a spruce. I brought > it back to our house and could see that its wings and legs weren't injured, > but could feel that its keel bone was really prominent. So I concluded that > the bird was starving. After calling the person on duty at Hope for > Wildlife, I tried to feed it tiny meatballs of raw burger. It swallowed > one, but I didn't want to stress it by force-feeding it. We put it in a > large dog crate with straw on the bottom in our heated sunporch, and left a > couple of meatballs near its head. It seemed very weak, so I was sad but > not surprised in the morning to see that it had died overnight. It's been a > tough old winter for the big birds around here. Chris > --089e0122797a0e48ea04f256e52e Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <div dir=3D"ltr"><div>Hi Chris, Just in case you get involved with another = starving bird in the future, it is VERY important that it NOT be fed until = it is warmed up and rehydrated. Birds ( or any animal really) that are in s= evere emaciation are on the very edge circulation-wise. Digestion of food t= akes a certain amount of water and if fed in a starving and dehydrated stat= e, the body will sequester fluids from the tissues in an attempt to move th= e food along and it can be the " straw that breaks the camel's bac= k" which pushes the bird to circulatory collapse and death. I'm su= re that vulture was going to die regardless of the meatball fed, but in the= future, fluids and heat are most important. When we get starving birds in = it is days before they get food. We start with IV fluids to rehydrate them,= followed by oral fluids that contain highly digestible liquid protein, fol= lowed by a liquid slurry of food, then lean solid protein mixture, then lea= n meat, then something like skinned mice ( they can't digest fur and bo= nes in an emaciated state), then finally solid whole food. Again, it's = often a few days before they get solid food, though we can give them some e= nergy via dextrose in their fluids. <br> <br></div><div>The other thing that can happen if emaciated birds are given= solid food is they can't spare the fluid to push it through and it sit= s there and rots in the crop. If I can ever help or give advice, feel free = to call at the number below. We've gotten lots of emaciated birds this = winter, including 6 snowy owls!<br> <br></div><div>Again, I'm sure it would have died anyway given it's= state, but in the future if you get one in the same situation..it's no= t safe to feed solids to an emaciated animal. I can talk you through giving= it oral fluids on the phone. <br> <br></div><div>Thanks for caring and going to retrieve this bird. It's = a brutal winter for wildlife this year. We are getting an unprecedented num= ber of raptors this winter. <br><br></div><div>Helene<br></div><div class= =3D"gmail_extra"> <br clear=3D"all"><div><div dir=3D"ltr">Helene Van Doninck DVM<br>Cobequid = Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre<br>RR#1 Brookfield NS B0N1C0<br>902-893-0253= <br><a href=3D"mailto:birdvet@hotmail.com" target=3D"_blank">birdvet@hotmai= l.com</a><br> www.cwrc.net<div><div= >Find us on <a href=3D"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cobequid-Wildlife-Reh= abilitation-Centre/134671693239334" target=3D"_blank">Facebook</a>=A0and <a= href=3D"https://twitter.com/CobequiWildlife" target=3D"_blank">Twitter</a>= </div> </div></div></div> <br><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 8:20 PM, Andy Mo= ir/Christine Callaghan <span dir=3D"ltr"><<a href=3D"mailto:slickdog1@gm= ail.com" target=3D"_blank">slickdog1@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><bl= ockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #= ccc solid;padding-le