Raptor Emergency and Critical Care: Assessment and Examination

Raptors are commonly presented with traumatic injuries and therefore need emergency stabilization. Triage is key to a successful outcome. History may be minimal, but field guides can help determine signalment. Raptor physiology, temperament, and presentation status make it challenging to evaluate respiratory, cardiovascular, neurologic, and musculoskeletal systems. Priority should be given to emergency stabilization, with a visual evaluation preceding manual restraint for physical examination, which should then proceed in a stepwise manner. The suggested minimum database should be tailored to the individual veterinary clinic but can be accomplished with minimal time and cost. Further diagnostics should be based on suspected or common diagnostic differentials in the affected system.

Raptor Emergency and Critical Care: Assessment and Examination Academic Article