Lecture 5

Question 1

Describe restraint of parrots for medical procedures

Answer 1

Most important to restrain head and beak

Thumb and first 1,2,3 fingers around the base of the skull/neck, other fingers just rest (do not squeeze the thorax) and extend the neck

Question 2

Describe the restraint of raptors for medical procedures

Answer 2

Most important to restrain the feet/talons

In large birds, place one hand in each leg, in smaller birds the index between the feet and thumb on one side and the rest of your fingers in the other. fingers and palm points down away from the bird

Question 3

Why do you need to extend the neck of birds

Answer 3

The S shape trachea will allow them to stretch out and bite you even if your holding around the neck

Question 4

Describe trimming beaks

Answer 4

Take bit by bit off from the sides of the beak, not straight from the tip. Just found off the tip when done

Question 5

Where should you take blood from water fowls

Answer 5

Medial metatarsal vein (inside of the leg)

Question 6

Where should you take blood from parrots and song birds

Answer 6

Right jugular (the left side is smaller that the right in birds) this also means you only have 1 attempt

Question 7

Where should you take blood from raptors and sometimes parrots

Answer 7

Based on size (bigger)

Brachial vein (wing vein near the elbow on the inside of the wing)

Question 8

Those can you reduce stress in birds

Answer 8

Familiarity

Dark quiet areas

Leave alone to de-stress

Question 9

What is the general rule for how much blood you can take

Answer 9

10% of body weight is blood, and you can only take 10% of blood volume. So you can only take 1% of body weight in blood

1kg=1000ml= 1L

Question 10

Describe jugular blood collection in birds

Answer 10

Have a bald spot on the right jugular (makes it easy to find)

Don’t need to hold off during or after -more likely to cause a hematoma but also beneficial to let you bird go to reduce stress and decrease blood pressure

Question 11

What is the risk of birds bleeding out during blood collection

Answer 11

Bleeding out via a hematoma

This is why blood collection is only done is seriously necessary

Question 12

Describe taking radiographs of birds

Answer 12

Need anesthetic

Restraint tools: tape, weights, string

Biggest challenge: keeping the keel up

Laterals: wings do not go all the way back to lay totally lateral -keep in mind when taping down

Question 13

Describe restraint of snakes

Answer 13

Control the head

Grasp just behind the head, then support the rest of the body with your other hand/arm or allow the body to rest in the same arm so one hand it free (must support at least 2 points of the body)

Question 14

Describe restraint of lizards

Answer 14

Depends on the type of lizard

Support the body and give something for the feet to rest on

Iguanas: very large tails that can thrash (wear long sleeves), may bite and are very fast

Geckos: may lose their tail if handled roughly (avoid handling tail is possible) always warn the owner of this possibility)

Question 15

Describe restraint of chelonians

Answer 15

(Turtles)

Support the shell

May bite

Can use a block in front of the face to keep their heads retracted into shell (tongue depressor)

Question 16

What can you dye is a chelonian breaks it’s shell

Answer 16

Reattach any pieces -the shell will heal and reattach just like a broken bone (very slow)

Question 17

Describe blood collection of snakes via the tail vein and cardiocentesis

Answer 17

Cardiocentesis: directly from the heart, can be from any chamber, blood flow should be easy, length depends on the size of the snake

Tail vein: (tail is caudal to the vent), the vein is on a very steep angle and very deep, exactly on midline on the ventral aspect

Question 18

Where do you aim when collecting blood from snakes

Answer 18

Go in between the scales when collecting (scales are too hard to go through) and there is a gap in between the scales

Question 19

Describe blood collection in chelonians via the jugular vein and subcarapacial sinus

Answer 19

Jugular vein: hard to access (biggest disadvantage), may need anesthesia, large, easy to find, dorsal, very superficial, can’t see. Lower amount of lymph contamination

Subcarapacial sinus: underneath, midline where the neck meets the shell, easy to hit. Lymph is very close and often contaminated the blood (biggest disadvantage) but this only matters depending on the type of tests you’re running

Question 20

Describe anesthesia of reptiles

Answer 20

Biggest challenge: keeping them anesthetized (they don’t breathe a lot and anesthesia has relies on breathing it in)

Tongue reflex in snakes: should be present

Monitor temperature with anal thermometers

Bag, mask or intubate for anesthesia

Very slow process

Righting reflex: place animal on their back and see if they correct themselves

After you think they are out what 5 more minutes

Question 21

Describe intubating snakes

Answer 21

The glottis is very rostral in snakes, and they have no real epiglottis, the cartilage around the glottis opens and closes with breathing -time intubation with when it opens

Question 22

How many views do you need to take when radiographing chelonians

Answer 22

3

Craniocaudal view (down the shell from the head)

Lateral view

Dorsoventral view

Question 23

Why do you not need to straight Omg out snakes for a DV X-ray

Answer 23

Because they stay very straight up