GBH

Like I mentioned before, this is a tough time of year. And some of the toughest cases are Great Blue Herons. Last year we took in seven GBH and not a single one made it. We are only on our 7th day of the new year, and we have gotten 2 in already; both of which were in very bad shape. They are a tough animal to care for; if they are easy enough to catch then that means something is deathly wrong. The one today was incredibly emaciated, and just hung limp when being held. We did a quick hematocrit, spun it down, and run the results.

The Pack Cell Volume, PCV, was 22%, and the Total Proteins, TP, was under 2. These are just numbers without reference points, (except right now I could say under 2 is very very bad). We don't have standards for GBH's, but other fish eating water fowl you are looking at PCV of around 38% and a TP or 3.5-4.5. With the numbers so low it just confirmed our suspicions- dehydrated, anemic, and emaciated. Anything under 2-- the animal should be dead. Shona was telling me that in emergency responses for oil spills, if an animals TP's are under 2 the animal isn't tubed or rehydrated like normal. This is because adding more fluid into their system will dilute whatever nutrients & cell volume in the blood and most likely kill them. And you also can't feed emaciated animals their regular diet as it would also kill them, the attempts to process the food takes more energy than what they have available. Instead in severe cases small doses of fluids with processable calories are used to maintain and strength these cases.

The GBH today was giving vitamin shots to try and amp up the system, but it was way to late. S/he was giving up life as we were finishing the exam. We quickly placed the GBH in a carrier, to hopefully reduce stress and let the bird calm down. Sadly, as I was saying it didn't work. So once again, we lost another GBH in just a few days.

After that, early this afternoon I called it an early day. As you have seen in my postings I have been sporting a cold since I left South Dakota in December. I was getting better, and then a new bug took the place of the first one giving me severe nasal congestion. Today, just after everything with the Heron, I became extremely nauseous, and Shona watched as my face went pale. Telling me I should go home. I quickly finished up my afternoon rounds and did just that. Driving home I passed a friend who was heading out of town and he was waving at me. It took all my effort just to lift 2 fingers in a wave as I focused on the road to get myself home. I quickly passed out in bed to be awoken by my friend calling me asking me why I was heading to town. I told him what was up and went right back to sleep. I am now trying to sit up on my couch and am thinking about getting some of my homemade chicken noodle soup after I take more Advil.

I hope everyone had a better day than me. And I hope my days get better very soon. So, I can get out and take some pictures.