Good evening everyone and welcome to tonight's webinar. My name is Amelia Sherwood, and I'm pleased to be hosting this evening's session on behalf of the webinar vet. I'd like to introduce tonight's webinar, Nursing Wildlife Casualties in practise, which has been kindly sponsored by many pets and is free to watch in honour of Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month.

Do you have any questions for our speaker during the session, then please pop them in the Q&A box, and provided there's time for them, then we'll run through them at the end. So we're very pleased to welcome Gemma Crowley as our speaker tonight. Gemma graduated from the RBC with a BSC Honours degree in veterinary nursing in July 2016.

Throughout her degree, she developed a strong passion for wildlife wildlife nursing, which led to her undertaking a master's degree in wild animal biology at the RBC in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London. During her master's, she spent 4 months completing a veterinary wildlife internship in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, conducting valuable research on the near threatened white rhino, as well as working with a range of African wildlife. After her masters, Gemma spent a year working in general practise before embarking on a six-month volunteering trip across Southeast Asia, Australasia, and Fiji, working with some of the world's most endangered species such as pangolins, Asian elephants, sea turtles, and the critically endangered kakapo.

On returning to the UK, Gemma worked in a busy small animal practise developing a passion for nursing British wildlife casualties. Gemma currently works at Tiggy Winkle Wildlife Hospital is a wildlife nurse, nursing sick, injured, and orphaned British wildlife. So Gemma, over to you.

Thank you so much for that lovely introduction, Amelia. As Amelia said, a big thank you to many, many pets for sponsoring tonight. It's really great that they're sponsoring for Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month.

So as Amelia said, yeah, tonight we're gonna be talking about nursing, wildlife casualties in practise. So I'll start with a, a short overview of what we're gonna be talking about tonight. Now, during your nursing career, you'll, you'll undoubtedly have encountered British wildlife casualties in practise.

You know, they, they come in by members of the public, following sort of a trauma or getting entangled, being out in, in the day or the wrong time of the day, or being, orphaned. And as veterinary professionals, it's really important to remember that we do have a duty of care to these animals, regardless of species, you know, it's not just a pigeon, it's not just a hedgehog. We do have a duty of care to, to treat these animals, and even if you know you you you're not sure about what to do with them long term, we have a duty to, to triage them, you know, provide them with pain relief, antibiotics, clean up any wounds, stabilise fractures, and then perhaps send them on to a wildlife hospital.

Now the basic principles of nursing, the vast majority of wildlife casualties, they're the same for those as, as our domestic species. So our cats, our dogs, our rabbits, you know, providing fluid therapy, and treating shock. However, sort of faced with any, any species that you're unfamiliar with, it can be really quite daunting, you know, if you've got a hedge.

You're not sure how to handle it, or a deer or a bird that you're not used to, it can be, can be quite daunting to deal with those, those patients. So the aim of the presentation tonight is to provide you with some support, and instil some confidence of how to, to nurse British wildlife casualties. And tonight it's gonna be a focus on, a couple of specific cases.

So our learning outcomes for this evening, so as I said, so obviously we need to be able to confidence confidently handle, these, these species. We need to be able to confidently examine them, and obviously triage them, you know, provide them with pain relief, treat any shock, deal with any wounds, stabilise fractures, that kind of thing. Obviously we need to be able to make decisions regarding euthanasia of British wildlife.

We need to be able to have a basic understanding of the short-term nursing needs, so a little bit of ecology, you know, these nocturnal species, and these species out in the day, what do these species eat? And obviously be able to create a care plan, for these species whilst they're in, in our care. So admission to the practise.

So the first time we actually see the patient, you know, they can present to you in all sorts of situations, but the most important thing is to take a detailed history. So where and when was the animal found, what time of day obviously can be really important if it's a nocturnal animal that's out during the day when it shouldn't be. What time of year, you know, some of our British wildlife do hibernate, so, you know, if they've been found out, during sort of the winter months when they should really be hibernating.

What was the animal doing when it was found, you know, was it, sort of showing any abnormal behaviours, you know, circling, etc. You'd also need to ensure that you're aware of any legislation surrounding the species that you take in. I'm not gonna go into too much detail on legislation now, but obviously things like the Invasive Species Act, our munja and our grey squirrels, they can't actually be released once they're taken into a wildlife hospital.

So it's just important to be aware of that legislation, before taking those patients in, and whilst you're housing them. We also need to ensure that any member of the public is aware that they're handing over the animal and it won't be returned to them. And this is really important because I think sometimes people don't realise that, you know, these animals are are wild animals, they're not pets.

If they find them, these, you know, you can't keep them. Obviously, if you're in a small practise and someone brings you a hedgehog and they say, look, I would love to have the hedgehog back into my garden. And their garden is a suitable, environment for a hedgehog to live, then by all means, you know, you can, you can make that choice as an individual and on an individual basis.

And obviously, normally they'll be brought in, you know, if it's a small animal, they'll be brought in sort of a cardboard box or a cat carrier, just transfer them into, into a suitable container, you know, if they're in a box, transfer them to something that they can't get out of. Obviously if it's a large mammal, something like a fox or a badger, pop them into a crush cage or or a cat carrier or a kennel. And if you're sort of in a mixed practise and you get something like a deer in.

Pop them into a stable or sort of a walking kennel until you're able to sort of triage them and and look at them properly. So basic equipment, when you're dealing with these, these animals, it's important to have some, some basic equipment. Obviously most of this on the list you'll have in practise anyway, things like scales and heat pads, incubators, and you know, boxes to keep them in a crush cage, things like that.

Most practises you should have a stretcher, but a stretcher just comes in really handy when you're dealing with with deer. Towels, muzzles, brooms, gauntlets obviously can be really handy for our birds of prey and things like squirrels that that will definitely bite. The last one is probably the one that you may not have in practise, and that is sort of a feeding or a crop tube for any birds, really important to have, have one of those if you, if you do get any avian casualties.

So, the next most important step then, the, the clinical examination. So it's really, really important to perform a full nose to tail, clinical exam, ideally immediately, so as soon as they come in, but at least within the 1st 24 hours. It's really important to, you know, I've got a picture of a hedgehog here with hedgehogs, really important to uncurl them, properly examine them.

Same as with things like, foxes, badges if they come in, and they're they're really. Feisty and you actually can't fully examine them straight away. It's important that within those 24 hours of of initial admission that you have been able to examine them.

So whether that involves a general anaesthetic or sedating the patient, it's really important that you, you examine them completely. Obviously, use the most appropriate form of restraint for the species and we'll go through that in a little bit more detail later on. And of course we're the most appropriate PPE, now with our wild species, there's a few more zoonotic diseases that can be passed on.

It's really important that you're wearing gloves. Obviously at the moment we've got the, the avian flu outbreak, so you know, for, for waterfowl, we're wearing full PPE, so full sort of almost like the hazmat suit. Shoe covers, etc.

So just make sure that you're wearing appropriate PPE for the species to prevent any injury to yourself, and obviously to the casualty as well, you know, if you just start with a hedgehog that has ringworm and you handle another one, you're going to pass that on. So, just good use of PPE. So, handling techniques, so obviously this is dependent on the species, with our foxes and our badgers, I'm sorry, cat friendly practises, with these guys, we do have to scruff.

It's really important for the safety of you and for the animal that you do have a good hold with them before you examine them. Once you've squashed, scruffed them, it's really important to double muzzle, and I do have a little video here of, of us, sort of pinning, scruffing, and muzzling a fox. So I'll show that in a second.

For our deer species, using, a stretcher, to, to restrain them, and a mask or a towel over their eyes and antlers, they do, . They do settle a lot more when their, their eyes are covered, you can also pop some cotton wool into the ears, and that can dim out any noises, and often, often makes them a lot less stressed. Using gauntlets or a towel to handle any birds of prey, corvids or gulls, birds of prey, obviously a lot of people are worried about the beak.

The most scary thing about a bird of prey is actually its feet, so making sure that you've got a good hold of them. Corvids, and gulls, they, they do bite, as I'm sure most of you are aware if you've had anything to do with them. So just making sure that you've got sort of a towel or gauntlets or anything to protect your, protect yourself.

With our hedgehogs, really important, as I said before, to fully uncurl them to make sure, you've examined them nose to tail, and we often use something called the bounce technique, for handling them, and I've got a little video here to show you in a sec. Using gauntlets to handle squirrels, again, adult squirrels, they, they, they do bite and they are very, very feisty, so important to protect your hands there. And obviously any of our bat species, there is always the risk, of passing on, rabies, so really important that you always wear gloves to handle them, and ideally if you've got someone in the practise that's rabies vaccinated, get them to handle, handle the bats, ideally.

Really important, the last point I've got there, never overhandle any wild animal, particularly sort of small, small animals, so small rodents, small birds. They stress easily and they, they can die from that stress, so just be really careful when, when you're handling them. So I'll just play you the little video of uncurling a hedgehog, so two hands, one hand under the sort of the chin and the front legs, the other hand on the back end, and we're just stroking those spines, to reveal the, the abdomen there.

And there you can see, you can see the face, you can see the abdomen and the forelimbs, and just to, to fully, fully examine them. And next we've got a fox here, so, so pinning with a broom, there's a crush cage there, scruffing at the back of the neck, supporting the abdomen so they're not kind of hanging from that scruff. And then, popping a piece of, it can either be conforming bandage, or that kind of, less stretchy white bandage and popping a loop around the nose, looping then under the chin and then back behind the head and tying in a nice quick release knot, and then popping a mickey muzzle over the top there.

And that's nice and secure. There's two sets of muzzles, that they will, they will struggle to get through. So once we've once we've picked our animal up and we've handled it, the next port of call is triage.

So triaging that patient, trying to work out what's wrong with it. Now the triage process for wildlife does differ slightly from our domestic species. Obviously we all know the word triage to sort, and with, you know, our, our cats and our dogs and our rabbits in .

In practise, you know, if you've got a waiting room full of emergencies, you're gonna triage them and work out who needs to be seen first. With wildlife, obviously we, we do the same thing, we've got lots of casualties, but with wildlife triage, it's more differentiating between those casualties that with veterinary care can be released, after rehabilitation and treatment, and those that need to be euthannased straight away. So I've got a little flow diagram there of of sort of a scenario, an animal is sort of captured and triaged, and it's, you know, decided at that point that actually the best course of action is euthanasia.

It may be that after triage we provide it with first aid and then decide actually with some further diagnostics. It's actually not. Not salvageable, it's not releasable, or it may be that, even after treatment, you know, the treatment doesn't go, go sort of to plan, and actually we do need to still euthanase or we may be able to release them, or obviously there's the option of, of permanent captivity, in a suitable, in suitable housing.

So what are the reasons for immediate euthanasia, this is a question that you tend to get asked quite a lot as a wildlife nurse or anyone who works for wildlife. And our sort of main reasons for, for euthanas immediately is, a fractured spine or a fractured pelvis. Obviously we can fix these in domestic animals, but the recovery period, the physio, it's just not feasible in, in wild animal species, so got a couple of photos there, a photo of a little hedgehog with a, with a horrible spinal fracture.

Got, a photo of two different, I think one's a muntjack and one's a Chinese water deer, one with a fractured spine and one with a, a smashed pelvis and femur there. And that was a, that was a female, I think Chinese water deer. So obviously, risk of dysosia in the wild, you know, even if you were able to repair even part of that femur, that pelvis could cause some, some horrible problems in, in, birthing birthing a fawns.

So, that would be, that would be euthanasia. Loss of two or more limbs, obviously these, that goes for our sort of hedgehogs, badgers, foxes, deer, they won't be able to cope. Foxes and, and deer tend to cope really well on three legs, and hedgehogs can cope OK, but obviously with hedgehogs there is a massive risk of a huge parasite burden, sort of around the ear and around the face of where that back leg was, .

Was taken, so I don't really recommend amputating sort of hedgehogs unless they're able to go to somewhere where they can be permanently kept, such as a wildlife hospital or rehabilitation centre. Obviously, any animal that's permanently blind or deaf, they won't be able to survive in the wild, you know, particularly things that, that hunt, so for example, our sort of diurnal birds of prey, if there's any sign of blindness, they won't be able to hunt in the wild. And obviously for prey species, deafness, again, they, they'll be easily predated on.

And the last point there, which I think is probably the most important, is the inability to thrive in the wild. Now there's a big difference between sort of surviving and thriving. You know, there's a lot of species, a lot of animals, a lot of patients that we can see, and, you know, treat and triage and treat and release, and they may survive, but it doesn't mean that they're gonna be thriving, it doesn't mean that they're gonna have a good quality of life.

So, if the decision is made that a patient needs to be euthanized, with our large mammals and our large birds, such as waterfowl, you know, your swans, your geese, and ducks, they can be put to sleep via intravenous injection. Our small mammals, ideally anaesthetize them first, and then they can be put to sleep via intracardiac injection, so our, our rabbits, our squirrels, our hedgehogs, and the best way to do that is to, to just pop them on their back, and use a long needle, straight into the chest, straight into the heart. And birds, ideally anaesthetize them first, and then you can inject them into the occipital sinus.

So I've got a little photo there of a, of a, a really poor pigeon that was attacked by a cat, had some really two really nasty compound fractured wings, and you can see all the bite wounds there as well. So unfortunately, the decision was made to, to pop that one, to sleep. So you can see there with the needle, the blood that's in that syringe, and so you pop the needle into the ccipital sinus, which is at the base of the skull, draw back and as soon as you see blood inject, and, and that's just a bit of a quicker way of of putting them to sleep.

We've all been there with the pigeons trying to find trying to find an IV in their wing or trying to find their heart, and it can be quite quite traumatic. So that's just the quickest way of of popping them to sleep. So I've got a, a table here of, pain relief and antibiotics.

I don't want to go through this, too much. I'd rather get onto the, the case studies a bit more interesting, but that is just there for your reference. So we've got our, our sort of better pain reliefs there at the top, our antigesic and our turbogesic, which is much better for both.

Birds have more kappa receptors, and therefore, brophenols works a lot better for them for pain relief rather than than vetiggesic. Meacam or Carrofen normally they're NSAIDs of choice, and sinuloxin and amoxicillin for antibiotics. So obviously at this point of triage, if we've got any serious injuries, we want to be, want to be sorting those out for just the short term.

So, in a situation where you've got an animal with a fracture, we want to stabilise those fractures to make the patient more comfortable and you know, even if you decide that this is a species that you, you're not able to house and sort of nurse in the long term, you could stabilise these fractures before they're sort of sent on to a a wildlife hospital or rehabilitation centre. So, obviously, any, any fractures, yeah, should be stabilised to prevent any further damage. There is a slight exception with sort of femoral fractures, in things like your hedgehogs, your rabbits, your small rodents, and birds as well.

It's just impossible to, to stabilise those femoral fractures with a cast. So those are the only ones, that, that I, you may need to, to leave without a cast or splint. And vet wrap alone can be used to stabilise wing fractures, so you can see the, the mallard at the top there.

If I recall, he had a broken radius and ulnar, so he's got a wing bandage on there just using vet wrap. And splints or casts, can be really good for fractures of the leg, so sort of gutter splints in larger animals, flexible aluminium splints, which you can see on the styling there, that blue one, or you can use vet glass. We actually have a wood cast machine now, which is fantastic, definitely worth Googling.

And for our sort of smaller species then we've got a hedgehog there that's got a almost a sort of Robert Jones type bandage on, that little one had a fractured humerus if I recall correctly, and, the little mouse there at the bottom then . With a, with a fracture, we actually just use some tape, some some elasoplast, cut two small pieces, and you can actually just pop some tissue glue on there and that will harden it up and and stabilise any fractures. So, the only difference between our, our birds and our mammals, with avian casualties, fractures, should be stabilised at the front of the leg.

They have a ligament that runs down the back which can be easily damaged, by popping a popping a splint or a cast on there, and obviously with our mammals. We pop them at the back, same as with our cats and our dogs. And slight difference with, bird wing fractures.

So if there is a fracture of the humerus, they ideally need a body bandage. So you can see with the mallard there it just goes around his wing, it's just a figure of 8 dressing around the wing. If, if he had had a fractured humerus, that dressing would have needed to have gone around the front of the body, and all the way around underneath the other wing, just to keep that wing nice and tight to the body to prevent any further damage to that humerus.

So wound care, any wounds, that a patient has sustained should really be cleaned, flushed and packed, and dressed if needed, and that's gonna be at the point of triage when they first come in, ideally. Obviously, your choice of solution can sort of vary with your practise protocol. We tend to use iodine, for cleaning and flushing wounds.

Only exception to that would be for, amphibians or reptiles, ideally just use, saline for, for flushing, any of their wounds or cleaning any of their wounds. Any wounds that contain fly eggs or maggots, so like the one pictured there of the hedgehog, on the left hand side, and they need to be removed immediately, so either clipped out in mammals with fur or brushed out, toothbrushes or even mascara ones work quite well for them. And ideally flush them with a, with a Paname flush, or ivermectin flush, and I've got the ratio there, just 11 part panomect to sort of 9 parts water.

Any deep wounds, obviously pack them to prevent any sort of further contamination. So you can pack them with intrasy. Any infected wounds, I, I love honey.

I tend to use honey for all infected wounds, so you can pack them, pack them with that. Any non-healing wounds, dermisol works really, really well to kind of lift all that narcotic tissue. An F10 can also sort of be used for sort of a barrier cream, .

And now it may be appropriate sometimes to use staples for any non-infected wounds until they can be sort of surgically bred and sutured. If you've got like a big flap, for example, that's not infected, it may be, may be ideal to, to sort of staple that. There is a lot of controversy sort of in the wildlife world of, of whether these wounds should be sort of stitched or stapled.

I'm very much under the, belief that if it's an infected wound, do not close it. Obviously we can pack it and treat it, the same that we would with any, any domestic species. So fluid therapy, obviously these animals when they come in they're gonna be dehydrated, they're gonna be in shock, so fluid therapy should really be provided to all casualties, if it's, obviously if it's safe to do so, if you've got a very feisty animal, and it's not safe to to handle them initially and they're, they're very bright, it may be, maybe better to sort of let them calm down first and maybe try again later, .

And obviously if they're eating, if they're drinking, it may not be necessary to pop them onto intravenous fluids. But if you can give them fluids, it's recommended they receive 10% of their body weight, so 100 mL per kilo, subcutaneously. People are often shocked by this, especially for hedgehogs, you know, if you've got a, a 900 gramme hedgehog, they should be having about 90 mL of fluid, which seems like a.

But, that is how much that they need. We tend to use Hartman's with added dalite, but Hartman's on its own works just as well. So ideally sort of sub-cut fluids for any small mammals or small birds, and then intravenous fluid for any larger mammals or larger birds.

Ongoing rates there, so sort of 2 mils perki. Per hour for mammals and then double that for birds. We've also got some photos of some oral rehydration for any sort of babies.

If they don't require, fluid therapy, if they don't require any sort of intravenous or subcutaneous fluids, you can always rehydrate them with a bit of lactate or, all the hills rehydration support works really well, just perros. And speaking of babies, on admission, all of, all of the neonates, they should be thoroughly examined, and obviously provided with warm, rehydration of food, and our mammals need to be toileted. So providing heat, so either a heat disc, a heat pad, heat lamps, or hot water bottles, or an incubator, so all rehydrations have just sort of spoken about, and then the sort of ideal food for the species.

So a milk replacement for any mammals, and either Tropicana, which is actually a parrot food, or sort of mashed up dog or cat food for, for any birds. Obviously our mammals, as I said, they need to be toileted, so stimulate, them to urinate or defecate by, by stimulating the genitals and anus just using a cotton bird or a bit of cotton wool. As you can see in the top picture there, that's a fox cub there being, sort of stimulated to, to go to the toilet.

So now we've just quickly run through our kind of basics of what to do when an animal presents to you. I thought we'd run through a couple of case studies rather than just saying, well this is what you do for a hedgehog, this is what you do for a for a bat. I thought we'd run through a case study so you can see see some interesting examples, and some examples of ones that I think are most likely to be seen in practise.

So I thought we'd start off with the, the classic, the catid small bird. So in this case we've got a, a collared dove, so you can see that that that collar's got some nasty, nasty wounds to its back. So it, presented, so I popped feral pigeon there, but feral pigeon collared dove, very, very similar, and wood pigeons, so it applied to all of them.

And this will also apply to, you know, our, our, our black birds, our starlings, any kind of small bird. So handling wise, so using the sort of pigeon fancier's grip or just holding, holding the legs and, and wing tips in your one hand, some people will call it sort of a, a lolliprop grip. Once you're, once you're happy handling, obviously clinical exam, so this little one presented with really deep, multiple deep lacerations and quite a lot of feather loss across the back.

Clotam didn't show any fractures or, or any breaks or anything like that or any more extensive injuries, just those wounds to the back. So on triage, this little one was given antibiotics, it was given pain relief, so non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, subcutaneous fluids, and it was also given, some panicure, and a haker 4 in one. Now the hackers is normally to treat things like, Cano and trick.

And panicure for any any internal worms and those wounds were cleaned with iodine and we did pop dermisol onto them cos they were quite infected. Diagnostics wise, this little one flew really well and walked well, so there wasn't any indication for X-rays or anything like that. Ongoing treatment, antibiotics, pain relief and wound cleaning, and all of these sort of pigeons, collared doves can all have seed and water.

This little one did become an appetent for a few days, so we did, crop tube, feeds ERA, stomach tube, whatever you want to call it. And, that just stimulated, it to want to eat for, for itself. After about a week of supportive care, and medication, oh, it's just cut off the, the bottom of my slide there, but, either, release directly or or obviously, take it to a rehabilitation centre where they can sort of soft release.

Next we've got some orphan blackbirds. So we've got 5 juvenile blackbirds that sort of presented after their nest was disturbed. A member of the public was unable to find the parents, and it was on the floor, the classic, they had cats, and they were, they were very worried.

Obviously at this, size, and age, so you can see. They're sort of pink skin, wildlife rehab habbers will often call them plastics. At this stage, they can't fend for themselves, so they need to be cared for.

So when you're handling them, just gentle handling, very careful handling, they are quite sort of fragile at this, this age. On the clinical exam, none of them had any injuries. Luckily, the nest was found.

Really, really quickly. So they were just quite dehydrated. So a lactateid was given to all of them to rehydrate them.

They didn't need any further diagnostics because they weren't injured. And whilst they were, in practise with us, they were given a nest replacement, so just a small bowl lined with some sort of tissue paper or blue roll as you can see in the photo there. They were placed under a heat lamp to keep them nice and warm, and fed some mashed up puppy and kitten food, and they needed to be fed every 15 minutes.

So these guys were just raised in the bird nursery at the hospital, and then released into our fledgling, Avery when they were big enough. Next we've got our our beloved European hedgehog. So this hedgehog was caught into netting, this was an adult hedgehog that presented during the day, which obviously can be a bad sign, hedgehogs are nocturnal species.

They shouldn't really be seen in the day. Only exceptions would be, pregnant or lactating females. They may be, building a nest or moving hoglets from, from, one nest place to another, or they may just be out getting food, and they'll be moving with purpose.

There's quite, quite a difference between a, a female hedgehog moving with purpose and one that is, is in a bit of trouble. For example, like an autumn juvenile that's perhaps got lung worm or something like that, they'll be out during the day and they'll be really flat and lethargic. These sort of pregnant and lactating females move with quite purpose, so you can, you can tell the difference.

This little one obviously was caught in some garden netting. This was wrapped really tightly around the hedgehog's neck. So this obviously needs to be removed straight away.

Obviously when handling, wear gloves, and obviously fully uncurl, the hedgehog with that bounce technique that we saw earlier. And, you know, as I said earlier, don't be afraid to use anaesthesia if needed. This little one I did anaesthetize to remove that netting.

It just wouldn't have been very nice for the hedgehog to try and remove it with one person holding, one person cutting. You also don't know, where that netting is embedded, so really important to anaesthetize these guys to see the full extent of the wound, . So on clinical exam, this one was sort of down and out, very dehydrated.

Obviously had the wound to his neck from the netting, but he did walk very well, he did have some fleas and some ticks. So he was given, I've put both, antibiotics, but he was actually given Simulox just cos he had quite a nasty wound on the neck. Metacam.

I did also give vetigesic, because it, it did look particularly painful and it was wrapped around his legs as well. Subcutaneous fluids, some Johnson's insecticide spray for the fleas, and some Panname for ticks, and obviously removed, removed that letting, pop some barrier cream on. We did proceed to X-ray.

There was no skeletal damage, thankfully. This one did actually, his faecal sample did test positive for lung worm, so he was kept with us, for, obviously a lung worm treatment, but he did just have 7 days of antibiotics and pain relief and daily wound cleaning and barrier cream. And the photo I've got there at the bottom, that is it after sort of those those 7 days.

I hope it's a shame I don't actually have a before photo, but it was really, really quite deep, that wound. So you can see it's, it's still a bit red and a bit sore, but, sort of the hair is starting to grow back and is looking a lot better there. So our hedgehogs can have wet cat and dog food, and dry cat biscuits, babies can be given, royal canon kitten milk, in a shallow dish with, with some puppy food that's sort of juvenile and 200 grammes.

Obviously, neonates will need to be fed, . But, these guys can also be kept in sort of, sort of metal cages, sort of any use for cats or dogs are absolutely fine. Smaller ones should be kept in sort of a guinea pig or a hamster cage because they do, do, do tend to escape.

So this one after his hospital stay, he was actually released to a safe release site, as you see that wound healed really nicely. Next we've got a, a badger with a bite wound. These are quite common in badgers, especially this one was a sabbao and it's a really common age for them to get bite wounds.

They either will have bite wounds to the sort of nose or face or neck, where they've been trying to go into a set, or they'll have horrible bite wounds on their back end on the rump where they're trying to leave a set or they're being chased out of the set. So yeah, this one was attacked by another badger. So handling, exactly the same as, as you saw with the fox, use the broom, the double muzzle, you need one person to restrain and one person to examine.

This one had multiple deep bite wounds to the rump, and they were really, really infected and contained quite a lot of nasty maggots. So we did give, antibiotics. We gave, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pain relief, Pannamec for the, for the maggots.

The wounds were clipped and cleaned, we removed. As many as we could and obviously flushed. This guy was walking absolutely fine, had no other obvious injuries, so we didn't need to X-ray or do any further diagnostics.

He was treated with antibiotics and pain relief and and daily wound cleaning. He did have to be sedated every other day to to get to the wound more thoroughly. And after two weeks of sort of wound cleaning and medication, he could be released.

These guys, wet dog food is great if you do have day old chicks, practise, that, that's ideal as well. And obviously food and water, into metal dog, metal dog cage, ideally if you've got the clips in practise, pop those clips on, because they, they can easily escape and obviously they are a dangerous animal. So next we've got the RTA deer, so this was an adult female road deer that was involved in a road traffic accident.

Now this one was, was very, very lucky, X-rays didn't reveal any obvious injuries, so no fractures, which is often what happens with, with road traffic collisions. They often have broken legs or broken spine, pelvis, etc. She sort of presented really, really down and out and clear signs of head trauma.

She did have a bit of nystagmus, signs of capture myopathy, which is very common in deer, lots of superficial wounds. So she was treated with sort of pain relief, antibiotics, vitae, which is, selenium used to help with capture myopathy, and the wounds were cleaned. After two weeks of supportive care, she was, released out to a, a paddock to sort of acclimatise before full release.

And you can see there actually we did have to, syringe feed her with some ERA, some herbivore ERA, just because she was a bit inapetent when she first came in. I'm gonna, I'm conscious of the times, and I'm gonna try and whiz through the, the next couple, as quickly as possible without rushing too much. Next we've got a grounded owl.

This kind of, same triage and treatment, protocol could be used for any, any bird of prey. It's just because I, I had an owl come in recently with a, with a fracture. I thought this would be an interesting case.

So this was a barn owl that presented with some trauma to the wing, remember the public wasn't sure what actually happened. But there was a palpable fracture to the, to the right ulna, so you can see in the X-ray, although it might not be very clear, it's the, sort of proximal, proximal end of the, the ulna there that was fractured. So antibiotics, pain relief, fluids, we do give them, an ivermectin solution for, for parasites, and it's also given buorphenol and obviously stabilising that wing with a figure of 8 bandage.

And yeah, the x-rays obviously confirmed the fracture. So he was hospitalised until that fracture was fully healed, and he was able to fly, fly well, food wise, mice or day chicks, obviously that's, you know, not standard for a small animal practise to have, so you may need to order that in, or obviously transfer to a to a wildlife hospital. Next we've got a, a fox cub, this little one presented, with, a, an, a sort of nasty bite wounds and, and a fracture to the forelimb, so she was sort of non-ambulatory when she came in.

And lateral recumbies, really, really dehydrated, covered in fleas and ticks, really cold, and yeah, yeah, that, that bite wound to the fallen with obvious signs of infection. And you could palpate that fracture immediately. So really important to stabilise that fracture as soon as possible with an appropriate cast, so you can just about see the cast there.

Little tractor cast in the, in the photo there at the back. And obviously provided with pain relief, antibiotics for those wounds. Those wounds were cleaned.

The x-rays confirmed the fracture, and sort of two weeks of wound cleaning, and the cast was removed once that fracture was healed, and she was sort of rehabilitated and released once she was old enough. Food-wise, these guys, similar to the badgers, wet, wet, cat or dog food is absolutely fine. Or squeezing, a bat with a hole in their wing.

This one can be quite, quite common in practise, and there's a tendency to see, you know, a bat with even a small hole in their wing, and it's all, you know, put it to sleep straight away. Depending on the extent of the hole, I mean, these holes can be repaired, surgically, and also the smaller holes will just heal on their own. So the most important thing with these guys, obviously we talked about it earlier, only handle, if you are vaccinated, and handle with care with gloves.

This little one was given, antibiotics, pain relief, subcutaneous fluids, and some lctaid. It was flying, flying relatively well, so we didn't do any further diagnostics, no obvious, fractures on palpation. And with two weeks of, of sort of cleaning the wounds, and, and sort of medication, that, that little one was released.

These guys ideally should be fed wax worms and mealworms. Only thing to notice is if you do have a juvenile one, make sure that you, you chop those wax worms up and remove the skeleton just because they're not able to, to chew them. We've just got 2 to go, so I'll quickly, whiz through these.

I thought I would do, a sort of case study on large waterfowl. So a classic, is a crash landed swan. Sometimes, when the weather's quite bad, roads can be mistaken for like for sort of rivers, lakes and things like that.

So, this, this pair presented really lethargic, too weak to walk, and they were brought in, they were very dehydrated, this had sort of minor wounds and sort of buffs to the wings, very kind of down and out. With these guys, you do need two people to examine them, one sort of to restrain and one holding sort of under the arm or between the legs. They're very, very powerful.

You do not want to be hit in the face by a swan's wing. Speaking from my experience, so these guys were given antibiotics, pain relief, Vitasil for capture myopathy, they do get very stressed, the wounds were cleaned and they were both popped on a drip. We did proceed to X-ray just because both of them weren't, weren't standing, but actually X-rays revealed no obvious injury, and sort of after gaining strength, some sort of 3 or 3 or more days of support, they started walking really well.

So pain relief antibiotics and ongoing fluid therapy, tube feeding, as they weren't eating initially, so again, with Emirates, and sort of provide them with a, a large bowl of corn and some water and if you've got a large walking kennel, that's, that's ideal. And actually these guys after a week of supportive care, they were released. So last one we just just fly through, couldn't couldn't leave out an amphibian, so the injured toad, this little one presented after Gardiner brought him in following a swimming injury, so he'd accidentally sort of slipped into the toad.

These ones sort of handled them with care, they are really slippery, but obviously make sure you're wearing wearing gloves to handle these. This one had a very large wound to his abdomen. But otherwise it was really bright, carrying on like nothing, nothing was wrong.

so with these we would mix, 200 mLs of, of lukewarm water with repora or sort of, non-chlorinated water, and add batrol, and if they are injured, add some meticam as well, clean the wound with saline, and this one I sort of packed with intrasite until we were able to, to stitch it up. And no sort of further diagnostics were needed, no need for x-rays, he was sort of getting around absolutely fine, provide them obviously with a, with a tank with some water and some sort of stones, ideally out of the water so he can pop out of the water if he wants to. And wax worms and bloodworms, diet wise, which you can sort of easily get from pet stores.

And this little one made a really, really good recovery and was released once that wound was healed. We did surgically close it, so once that surgical wound was healed, he, he was released. So, obviously the, the main aim with nursing any wildlife, casualty in practise is that you want to be able to rehabilitate them and release them.

Now, providing that short-term nursing for these casualties and then passing them on to a rehabilitation centre is, is great, and you know. You can transfer them to, to a wildlife hospital sort of after triage or after a short period in practise. So it'd be, it's really, really ideal to try and build a really good rapport with your local, wildlife hospital or rehabilitation centre.

And a great place to find your closest one is Help Wildlife. It's a really amazing, resource, charity, absolutely free of charge, and it has a full directory of all the wildlife hospitals, in the UK. And you know, if you do have something that comes in like a hedgehog or a pigeon or or a small bird, and you, you know, you're happy to treat it, and, and release it yourself, always do seek the advice of a wildlife hospital, for sort of the best time of day, location, and whether it should be soft or hard released, etc.

Cos they'll be happy to give you, give you as much information as, as you need. So that is that everything from me. There's just a little list of my references, and thank you so much for listening.

Sorry it was a bit of a rush through some of the case studies at the end. I went on for a little bit longer than anticipated, but I hope everyone enjoyed it. And if you do have any questions, I'm more than happy to answer.

I also popped my email on there if you've got anything that you think of after the webinar, feel free to email me anytime. Thank you. Thank you for that great presentation, Gemma.

We've had a really good turnout, tonight and such useful prac practical tips for the everyday encounter with the British wildlife. I've taken countless notes and thoroughly enjoyed it. So we are going to open the floor for any questions that haven't already been added to the Q and A box.

So if anybody would like to take that opportunity to pop any questions there, although we have got quite a lot coming through already, so we'll do our best to answer as many as we can. Failing that, you can, contact us by email, and we will do our best to get some answers back to you. So I just wanted to mention that the roots of euthanasia section was really useful, too, and I think anyone who has worked with me over the years will know that the occipital sinus is definitely my go to route for bird euthanasia.

So I learned that from a great vet many years ago and it seems to be so fast and avoids any delays or unnecessary suffering, doesn't it? Yes, yeah, it can be so stressful, so yeah. Really great, great.

And I loved all the images of wildlife in bandages as well as a passionate wound nurse myself. I really enjoyed that wound management content and absolutely agree that we should delay primary intention closure on any contaminated words. Yes, yeah, definitely, but I guess it's much more complicated decision given the handling and monitoring limitations.

Yes, yeah, yeah, that's always the tricky thing. And, and often these wildlife hospitals have, I mean, we have hundreds and hundreds of patients and so it does, it sometimes you do need to speed things up, but, I still strongly feel that if it is an infected wound, you know, delay until that infection is under control and then, and then intervene. Definitely, so we had a great practical question come through from Sarah, which is what's the best way to uncurl a hedgehog, but I know that you did then go on to answer that, and it seemed to be a little.

Shimming what it is, yeah, yeah, we, we call it a bounce technique and you do literally have to sort of bounce them and yeah, having sort of one hand under the front end, one hand under the kind of back legs, and, you can kind of pop your fingers then under once they start to uncurl you can pop your fingers under their under their chin, and as you bounce then they start to relax, and you can sort of use your thumb, on your, well, it depends what, what. Hand, I guess, if you're right, right-handed or left-handed, but you can use your, I'm right-handed, so I tend to, sort of stroke the back of their spines with my, my right thumb. And that kind of releases the back end whilst you're kind of pulling out the front end, and it, it tends to work, work quite well.

But, but equally, you know, if you're really struggling, don't, don't be afraid to anaesthetize them. You know, I know a lot of people will be worried about, oh, if they've got in sort of internal. Injuries, we really want to put them under anaesthetic.

But it's much better to do that to get a thorough exam, because you don't know what's going on, in that, in that hedgehog ball. So it's much, much better to, anaesthetize them and, and fully examine them rather than sort of leaving, leaving them to curl. I've definitely seen in practise some kind of, horrible ones where, you know, your, your, wildlife nurse or the person who normally deals with wildlife has been off and hedgehog's.

Left and I've, I've seen ones with sort of missing both back legs and things like that where they just haven't been sort of uncurled. So yeah, definitely, definitely more important to, to to uncurl them straight away. Yeah, and I think you hit the nail on the head that it just comes down to experience a lot of the time, doesn't it definitely, yeah.

So we've had a question from Janice who was asked, would you stabilise fractures with the patient conscious? It does depend, on the patients. Most of the time, in triage we do tend to, do it whilst they, whilst they're conscious, especially kind of our small, our small animals.

Obviously you have given them pain relief at this point. If you do have the time, often, in wildlife hospitals, you know, you're, you're sort of dealing with 1015, 20 patients at a time, and, you know, triage is just full, especially during sort of busy times like this time of year. Ideally you would give them pain relief, you know, leave that pain relief to, to kick in and then stabilise them.

With large animal casualties sometimes, we will have to sedate them or anaesthetize them anyway to stabilise those fractures. So yeah, normally with sort of large, larger animals, they will be anaesthetized, just from a handling point of view, and with the smaller animals give them pain relief, and then stabilise as as soon as possible. Great.

So Caroline has asked, can you use IP fluids in small mammals? You can, it's not something that I have a lot of experience doing. We do tend to just do sort of subcut and and oral fluids, but it doesn't mean that you can't do it, it's just not something that that we tend to do.

At the hospital, and yeah, I don't, I don't have that much experience with it, but there's no, no reason why you can't, you know, in practise I've definitely, definitely used it in, in puppies, so, yeah, there's no reason why you can't. It's just not something that, personally that I, I do. OK, great, thank you.

Then, could fipronil be used with hedgehogs? They're so good, so this question comes up every time I do anything to do with wildlife. It's that big, that big can we use frontline on, on hedgehog's question.

Personally, I, I don't, but equally I have in the past and I haven't had any problems. I think the main issue with, frontline or, or friol is that if it's used in a space where there's no ventilation. And it's too concentrated dose, so too much is used, then it can be quite toxic.

Obviously it can't be used in in rabbits, and there's sort of evidence to show that maybe hedgehogs have a similar reaction, not quite as extreme. But we tend to just use the Johnson's, insecticidal spray, and that works really well, you know, you can literally see the fleas flying off. And I've never had any problems with that.

But equally I have used Frontline in the past and not had any problems just because I haven't used, too much. I think, I think in the past it's been used slightly or slightly overused and. That's why there's been issues, but yeah, I think if it's used, appropriately and with good ventilation, I know there's other wildlife vets and nurses out there that, that use it and have no problems, but yeah, personally, I just, I don't use it.

OK, great. So somebody has also mentioned that when they volunteered at a wildlife centre, in the past, they were advised not to feed cat food to hedgehogs. Now is that only fish flavoured specifically, or?

So yeah, we don't, we don't really have a problem feeding them cat food, and the kind of don't feed them fish food, is a little bit of a, of a myth. It's more. They just don't like it.

They don't like the taste of, of the fish foods. They're more likely to not eat it. But, at the hospital, obviously, we are a charity, so a lot of the food that we receive is, is donated.

We don't really tend to see a, a, a massive issue with them eating cat food. I definitely feed the ones that come into my garden, wet cat food and wet, and cat biscuits, and, yeah, I don't, don't see an issue. I'm glad that you said that because I think that's been my go to for the past 14 years.

Yeah, yeah, no, no. So, the next question then is, is it OK to release pigeons, as somebody's mentioned that they've heard different advice on releasing them over the years. OK, I guess it it depends on the situation, you know, sort of in what context, like what's been wrong with the pigeon or what kind of pigeon.

Feral pigeons were pigeons, collar doves, they're absolutely fine to release. We do sometimes get a lot of, sort of racing pigeons, that have sort of almost come to their, the end of their days racing. And they're sort of quite, they come in quite skinny and not really being able to survive in the wild, so they're the only ones that I would be a bit, cautious about releasing, probably soft release then just because unless they've had a sort of, you know, a stint where they've been fattened up, 9 times out of 10, they're just quite emaciated because they don't really know how to survive, but.

Yeah, in general I, I don't see a, a problem with releasing pigeons. I don't know if there was like a specific case or something, that you meant with that, but, but yeah, there's no, in terms of sort of legislation, there's, there's nothing to say you can't release pigeons. It's about as satisfying as it gets when you've nursed a pigeon back.

Yes, yeah, it flies off you need to chase it around the park, which is probably not the right time to re-release in that case. No, no. So could injectable be used as a po I assume they're referring to a topical preparation in exotic animals.

Yes, so if you're sort of referring to the the flush for things like maggots and things, yes, that, that can be used for the, for the ivermectin flush. There is a, I'm trying to think what it's called now, I. There is an ivermectin sort of, it's a drench, it's like a large animal drench and that's that's what we tend to use per O in bids of prey.

But yeah, the, the panammetic injectable can be used to make up for the for the flush, for wounds, for sort of maggots and things like that. Great. Then Chloe's asking, where would you place the IV in a swan?

In a swan, so they've got a, right at the bottom of their leg, just above where their feet are. They've got a really, really beautiful, medial vein there, and that's probably the, the best place to pop it, just underneath the, the tarsus, so you can just. Sort of a razor vein above, above the tasks there.

And that's the probably the best place, best place to pop one. It's quite easy to secure there. They've got almost like a claw at the back of the tasks, and you can sort of, secure the tape there.

So that would be the, the best place to pop it. Great. We've had a couple of questions come through here on capture myopathy.

So, essentially asking, is there a possibility to elaborate on the signs, and do you assume that they will have it and treat for it regardless. Yes, so there's, there's certain species that you, you kind of just have to assume we, we'll definitely have it following rescue or capture. So our, our deer, hares, rabbits, those species, those kind of prey species that are, are very, very stressed, anyway, just assume that they, they will probably have it, and, sort of swans and geese 9 times out of 10 as well, will, will probably have it, .

Capturopathy, probably the easiest way to explain it is that you know, a lot of these sort of the deer, particularly the deer, if they have been involved in a road traffic accident or for example, they've been stuck in a fence or something like that. And they've been sort of juggling for a while, you know, these animals normally by the time someone finds them, or, a rescue centre or, or, they've been brought into you in practise, they've, you know, how long have they been stuck in that fence, potentially hours. They've then had to deal with a car, stressful car journey, you know, they then get to the practise and you're having to, to triage them, to give them a clinical exam.

And by this point they are normally, extremely, extremely stressed. And normally with, we use the sort of the cell, the selenium to kind of counteract the, the effects of this. So it tends to almost be, sort of like a buildup of, similar to us when we get a buildup of that lactic acid, it gets to a point, in these animals where, their, their organs can, can even shut down.

They've. Sort of got, got into a point where they're so, so stressed. Those creatinine levels are kind of through the roof.

We've had, we went through a period where we were taking blood samples from, from deer when they came in and their creatinine kinase was just off the chart, where they were obviously so stressed, you know, they've been hit by that car or stuck in that fence for hours, you know, by the time we get a rescue out, it's been a few more hours, by the time they get, get to us, . So that's kind of why we why we treat for that. But yeah, it's normally those those prey species that will will suffer with it the most.

Perfect answer, thank you. Nicola has asked, how should you safely restrain a bat? A bat?

So sometimes it does, depend on the species. Some bat species will prefer to kind of be almost enclosed, so some of the smaller ones, prefer if you're sort of just holding them in the palm of your hand to even just pop, pop them the other way and sort of pop your thumb. And fingers around them, so they're almost, almost like they're in a little mini cave, and they sometimes feel more comfortable like that.

You can either hold them by popping them in between your finger and your thumb. Or, or sometimes if they're, you know, when you, when you're picking them up and they're particularly feisty, I wouldn't call it a full scruff, but you can kind of pick them up with that skin, at the back of their neck and then secure them nicely once you, once they're in your hand. But, but yeah, sometimes with these, I mean, they're obviously, they're very small and they can be quite fragile, but they're also very, very feisty.

I always say that bats have almost like small man syndrome. They're, they're very, very tiny and very angry. Which you can't help but think is very cute, but obviously they, they can bite you, so, obviously be very careful.

But yeah, normally the best way to secure them is sort of between your finger and thumb, so you've got them nice and securely in one hand, and then obviously you can give them any sort of medication or anything, or use your other hand to pull out the wings and examine them properly. Great, that takes me back to, a scenario with a bat in practise many years ago where we had a day trip to the hospital after treating a cat that was bitten by a bat. Oh gosh, one for another time.

So we have, a great question here from Frankie. Is there a way to tell what species of baby bird is when they're pink wiggly things? There is, and it does take a lot of experience and practise.

I mean, I've, I've been sort of only, working with solely wildlife for the last almost 2 years now, and I still really struggle. So when they're that pink stage, yeah, they call them plastics. I still find it really hard.

The only one I can absolutely nail every time is a blackbird, because they tend to have really black eyes, so you can tell that it's a blackbird. And, sort of baby pigeons will start to have bits of, yellow fluff, but to be totally honest, even I get it wrong sometimes. Obviously it's important to kind of differentiate at that age, so you, you know what to feed them, but in total honesty, when they're at that plastic stage, as long as you're provided.

With some rehydration, I wouldn't worry too much. There are some absolutely fantastic guides. I think RSPB have a really, really good one.

We have one, at the hospital, and one of our nurses made a whole book, of all the baby birds, but yeah, I, I still struggle, and I still struggle with the small brown birds, you know, is it a dunnock, is it a robin? Is it a, a chaffinch, it is, it is quite difficult, but, I think the most important thing is, don't stress too much about the species, especially when they're, when they're that age, as long as you're providing them with sort of rehydration and, and heat, focus more on that than than species. Obviously it's really interesting to know what they are, but yeah, sometimes when they're really tiny, as you say, pink and wiggly, it can be quite difficult, but.

Yeah, getting a good sort of bird guide, in practise is, is great and it will have pictures of, of each bird at all life stages, so it's really handy to refer to, but. But yeah, even we struggle sometimes, so don't, don't worry too much. Great.

I think that leads us quite nicely onto the next question, which we've had a couple of questions, asking a similar thing. So if you work at a practise where bats aren't very comfortable, thoroughly treating wildlife, is there anything helpful that the team can do prior to transferring the animal to a specific hospital? Yeah, so, when I was in practise, I sort of almost made like a little wildlife box, with, you know, really, really basic drugs, really basic equipment, you know, a little carrier to put wildlife in, and I also kind of collated, a load of like drug doses and sort of recommendations from.

From different sort of wildlife hospitals from online, just doing my own research really, and put together, almost like a little guide. OK, so a pigeon comes in, this is what you do with it, a small bird comes in, a hedgehog comes in. And, and by having kind of that guide and that, that go to, I think it makes everyone feel a lot more comfortable, you know, if they've got something written down on paper, they can say, OK, I've got this animal, this is what, you know, the person who normally deals with wildlife and the practise does with it, and so that's what I'll do with it.

But also really important to remind them that they, they do have a duty of care, and whilst they are a, you know, a cat, a dog, a rabbit, an equine, a, a farm vet, whatever, they still do have a duty of care to these animals. And just because it has feathers or scales or spines, you know, it is really important to, to still treat these animals and at least at the very least, provide them with pain relief, antibiotics if needed, and, you know, combat any shocks, so fluid therapy and and keep them nice and warm. And you know, maybe just to remind them not to feel ashamed of asking for help.

So, you know, ring your local wildlife hospital, you know, contact them and say, I've got this animal in, what do you recommend that I do with it? You know, a wildlife hospital is never ever gonna, be annoyed at you for contacting them for advice. That's literally what they're there for.

So, yeah, just, just reminding them that they do have that duty of care and, and to always ask for help if they're not sure. Really good advice, thank you, Gemma, so. We've had, lots more questions come in, but I'm just conscious that the time is going on here.

So I think if there are any more burning questions that anybody has that we haven't covered tonight, then please feel free to message us. We have had a few requests for some specific slides in relation to doses. So, there's potential that we could maybe arrange to get them popped, underneath the presentation on the website.

So, we'll have a look into that and if that's possible, then we can possibly have them there, so. I think we will have to draw a line, under the questions there. So on behalf of, on behalf of all of us here at the webinar that, I would like to thank our speaker, Gemma for a wonderful presentation this evening and the session.

Thanks, Gemma. Honestly, it's been great and I think I've thoroughly enjoyed it. And by the looks of all of these questions coming through, I think everybody has thoroughly enjoyed it tonight as well.

So amazing. This session will be available on demand in the next 48 hours. And once again, a huge thank you to many pets for sponsoring tonight's webinar in celebration of all of the fantastic nurses during this year's Veterinary nursing Awareness Month.

So thank you all for joining us and good night.