Orion the golden eagle’s right leg was raw when he got out of
surgery a month ago.
Gilroy – Orion the golden eagle’s right leg was raw when he got out of surgery a month ago. A big seam ran up the top, where stitches held two layers of skin together, and caked blood speckled his plucked leg. He had just had a metal plate attached to his bones and, despite a heavy dose of painkillers, still struggled in pain.
The scene was much calmer Sept. 13 when he showed up for his sixth follow-up visit since reconstructive surgery that veterinarians said likely saved his life. Despite swelling in his right foot, Orion – an eight-pound, brown- and black-feathered “majestic” bird with a six-foot wingspan – was healing well, Princevalle Pet Hospital veterinarian Suzanne Colbert said.
“He’s doing really well,” she said. “Things are going as expected and we like it when things go as expected.”
The 5-month-old bird’s body seemed to have accepted the metal splint, which had been attached with screws during the Sept. 1 surgery, Colbert said. The incision had healed, the body had absorbed the stitches and no pressure sores had developed, she said. He was even sprouting new feathers.
During the follow-up visit, Colbert removed a plaster splint that had been bandaged to the leg to keep it straight, rubbed off the scabbed skin and put on a new cast. Throughout the 30-minute visit, Orion was restrained – head hooded and talons taped – by two volunteers from Morgan Hill’s Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center, which has spent almost $1,000 housing and medicating the bird.
The pet hospital and two veterinary surgeons also donated their time and services, which would have cost more than $10,000.
During the next four weeks, wildlife center staff will continue to keep Orion in a three-foot by three-foot playpen in their office. They will massage his feet to reduce swelling, feed him medication stuffed into his daily ration of one rat and about seven mice, and get him accustomed to humans by talking to him.
“It’s good for him to be around us because he’s going to be a program bird,” center volunteer Kate Wheatley said.
Orion will also have several follow-up visits at the hospital during the next month. In four weeks, hospital staff will take X-rays of his leg to see if bone has grown around the plate’s screws
This will be the moment of truth, Colbert said. If the bone is not growing, another surgery could be necessary. If the bone has grown, hospital staff can remove the plaster splint and Orion will take his next step toward being an educational bird.
“He’d love to have that splint off and we’d love to take it off,” Colbert said.
