Small Mammals Practical - Blood sampling and nasolacrimal duct flush

We had our second Small Mammals practical this afternoon and learnt all about blood sampling in rodents and rabbits.

We were able to take blood from the medial and marginal ear veins and the saphenous vein in the back leg.

I got the ear vein straight away as we've done that quite a few times before but couldn't get the saphenous; the vet tried afterwards and he struggled too so I didn't feel too bad!
The other rabbits saphenous was much more prominent and other people got that one fine.

We also did nasolacrimal duct flushes which is when you place a catheter in the nasolacrimal duct in the bottom eyelid. It is then flushed with saline which comes down the duct and out the nose to remove any blockages or pus.
The flushed material can be collected and sent for microbiological culturing.

Northern Goshawk necropsy; Aspergillosis and Trichomonas

I saw a necropsy of a juvenile wild Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis gentilis) today, which sadly died after being brought into the clinic last week.

He had anklets put on his legs so that he could be perched and fed on the glove but was found collapsed on Sunday afternoon.

The bird died from chronic Aspergillosis seen as spores and large granulomas in the air sacs.
They think the bird had been ill for several weeks as the granulomas were so big and that would coincide with his capture and being brought into the clinic.



He also had secondary Trichomonas gallinae parasites seen in the mouth which were probably elevated due to immunosuppression.