Buddy update:
December 14, 2011
On Monday, December 12, the Kjellstrom & Lee construction crew needed to get into Buddy’s enclosure to replace a pipe in Buddy’s swimming pool. Since Buddy needed to vacate the enclosure for the crew to get work done, the veterinary staff decided that they may as well get a bit of “work” done on Buddy himself at the same time and brought him down to the clinic.
Dr. Dave coped Buddy – a bit early, but preferable to having to catch the eagle up again in two weeks’ time. Dr. Dave dremmeled Buddy’s beak and shaved off two to three millimeters off of the lower beak, and one to two millimeters off of the top of the beak. The next dremmel session is scheduled for late January 2012.
Center vets also gave Buddy his annual physical exam, which included blood work and a series of radiographs. Buddy appears to be in good health, and the vet staff found no significant findings on in-house blood work or radiographs.
Buddy eye exam December 2011When Dr. Miranda performed an eye exam on Buddy, she did find something unusual – in both of his eyes, there are rounded, fluid-filled areas within the pecten. The pecten is the “nourishing” part of a bird’s eye, and is not responsible for sight. These type of cysts on a bird’s pecten could be congenital, the results of an infection, or just “idiopathic” – meaning it just happens, and we don’t know why! In Buddy’s case, the veterinarians could easily rule out a congenital cause – Buddy’s eyes are examined every year, and these cysts were not present before. The team could also rule out infection, as there are no other parts of Buddy’s eyes that look abnormal, and all blood work is within normal limits. That just means that we’re not quite sure why his eyes look like this – but there’s no cause for concern. The vets will check Buddy’s eyes again in six months.
Buddy will actually be staying in his “old house” for a couple of days while the work in his eagle palace continues.
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