Douw Grobler, [25 Aug 2023 at 06:45:34]:
From Hennie Klopper :
This blue crane (Anthropoides paradiseus) was reported with an injured upper beak on Tuesday 22/08/‘23 at about 16:00 pm
The owner has a bird and monkey park with the blue crane pair free roaming in the park, and suspected that one of the chimpanzee got hold of it through a fence!
Cranes have very long beaks and debeaked cranes usually can still drink but eating and preening feathers is problematic which leads to starvation, weight loss, over-preening, skin disease dermatosis, severe ectoparasite infections and scruffy appearance/feather loss.
The owner only had Synulox 250 (amoxycillin/clavulanic acid) on hand, so my recommendation was to immediately start the crane on this antibiotic at 2 tablets BID as well as Metacam 1.5mg/ml at estimated 4 kg BW (ave 4.5-5.1kg), as this was reported to be a “young bird/chick” bred by themselves.
The crane was caught immediately and placed in isolation camp and starved for surgery the next day. Surgery was done at the facility on Wednesday morning 08:00 am, as transport and associated stress for cranes lead to high mortalities &/ injuries.
The crane was caught and a sock (cut open at toe-end) was placed over head just caudal to the beak so as to blindfold. The crane was anaesthetised with Isoflurane, with the oxygen flow at 3L/min and 5 % Isoflurane, by placing the head in cylindrical mask. Once anaesthetised, an cuffless 4.5mm ET tube was placed and fixed into position around the mandible with Micropore tape. The oxygen flow was taken down to 2L/min and 1.5% Isoflurane.
No X-rays were taken as the facility & Vet (🤣) does not own a portable unit!
The fracture was just rostral to the nasal openings, leaving only about 7-8mm (in width) & 2 mm thick piece of soft palate still attached. The blood supply to the premaxillary area was still intact. Both fractured edges were cleaned and debrided until fresh blood could be observed.
2 x Surgical pins (with “Ring” type bended heads) were measured to extend approximately 15mm past the fracture into the premaxilla, extending from the rostral edge of the nostril, and placed as close as possible to the lateral edge of each side of the beak and just dorso-medially to the palantine-maxillary junction. This stabilized the fragmented part considerably.
Next a welding rod was cleaned of all flux, placed in Hibitane for a few minutes and then measured to extend approximately 5mm past the tip of the pre-maxilla. The rod was shaped/curved according to the original/supposed beak shape. 4 holes were drilled using 0.8mm drill bit attached to a Dremel tool, 2 holes approx 2 mm below dorsal edge of maxilla and 2 holes 2 mm below dorsal edge of the pre-maxilla. The welding rod was placed in position, making sure the correct shape was maintained, and fixed to the maxilla with surgical wire.
1 hole was also drilled on each side of the beak, more or less 5 mm caudal to surgical pins rostral edges, a “ring” was made through each hole by fastening around a 3mm drill bit end then removing the drill bit. These rings was connected to the “ring-heads” of the surgical pins at the nostrils with common elastic bands, thereby obliterating dead space between pre-maxillary fragment and maxillary portion. I ensured that the pre-maxillary portions does not move away from the maxillary part, impeding the healing process.
Lastly, the welding rod was glued as a secondary reinforcement to the dorsal part of the beak using Pratley Glue.
The crane was also placed on 50 mg itraconazole for 5 days - stress of handling and new environment makes them prone to fungal infections. Further the amoxycillin /clavulanic acid antibiotic was continued for 7 days. Pain management with Metacam was continued for 3-5 days, according to response on feeding.
Stomach feeding was done for the first time at 6 hours post op, by using 60ml catheter tip syringe with 24G Foley catheter. 150g of liquidized sardine with 1g Protexin was given dissolved in 100ml of ringers lactate. On Day 2, feedings were taken up to 250 g sardine liquidized with 100ml Ringers Lact.
On Day 3, small pieces of cut up hake/sardine were fed in a flat tray with 1 inch filter sand and water level another 1 inch above sand line, so as to ensure crane does not put too much strain on beak when trying to forage and stimulate it to eat itself
Hennie Klopper....I think it is BRILLIANT!!!
Rob Jackson, [25 Aug 2023 at 06:52:06]:
Well done
Andreas Gaugler, [25 Aug 2023 at 09:28:59]:
Wow, impressive!
Well done