Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jato!sid
From: sid@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Sid Johnson WB6VWH)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Suburban raptors (and cats, sorry)
Keywords: Injured birds
Message-ID: <2341@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>
Date: 6 Dec 89 03:06:11 GMT
References: <1596@intercon.com> <17546@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Reply-To: sid@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Sid Johnson WB6VWH)
Distribution: na
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Lines: 27

In article <17546@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> dragon@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Sam Conway) writes:
>
> (...good stuff deleted...)
>The noble falconer whose hawk was bitten by a cat is very lucky to
>have saved the bird's life.  Cats carry a potent bacteria in their
>saliva against which birds have little or no immunity; thus, a bite
>from a cat, even if the wound itself is trivial, almost always spells
>certain death for the bird. 
  
Can you give more information on this?  I would like to know more and I
think others on the net could benefit also.

Over the past 25 years I have done almost exactly what you have said not to 
do, except I didn't let them go, I tried to make sure they were healthy before
doing so.  Without exception they all died within 48 hrs, usually less, even
though a few had what appeared to be trivial wounds (one or two skin
punctures, virtually no bleeding).  My wife and I took turns staying up all
night on a couple of these incidents to no avail.  For awhile we thought that
we just didn't know enough about being bird vets  but it finally became 
obvious that what we new, or didn't know, wasn't the main factor. Fortunately
wev'e only been through this 10 times or so and that is more than enough.

I don't know if I could take what you guys go through with taking care of
shot hawks and the like.  Keep up the great work  

Sid Johnson (WB6VWH)  -         Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
sid@jato.jpl.nasa.gov    UUCP:ames!elroy!jato!sid