A Visit to the Vet

On Wednesday, October 20th I had to take Rigel to see the vet. I noticed on Monday evening that his left tarsus was a bit swollen. On Tuesday it was much worse, and a close examination revealed an abraision to his leg. It was not too serious, no scales were rubbed away, however the tissue below the scales was red and swollen. Dr. Dean Rasmussen (a falconer himself . . . and the vet of choice for all the local falconers) checked him over, and prepared some medication for him. Rigel also conveniently gave the doctor a mute sample (that's a "dropping" for you non-falconry folks). A quick check under the microscope, and the doctor said he didn't see any signs of coccidia. Other than the leg, he's in good health, and it will heal quickly.

I brought home a small vial of medication to use on Rigel's leg. It is primarily something called DMSO . . . which is a topically applied anti-inflammatory, but which also has the property of being quickly absorbed into the blood stream through the skin, and will act as a carrier agent for any other chemicals which are mixed into it. This mixture had an antibiotic added, and some other unknown chemical called "Dex". I don't know what that is, or what it does. The mixture seems to be working just fine, as the swelling went down by the next day. DMSO also has another unpleasant side-effect . . . it gives the patient 'bad breath'. So, Rigel is breathing sour garlic breath. I have to be careful when I treat his wound, that I not get it on my skin . . . or I too will get bad breath!

Rigel is being tethered by only one leg, and being kept upstairs in my spare bedroom, with the windows darkened. This will hopefully keep him from bating too much, until he's healed.