Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-01-11
Where Household Pets Have Trained
Surgeons.
WHAT TREATMENT CONSISTS IN
Put to Bed With Hct-Water
Bottles.
THE NCY ARD


''The splints must stay OH this canary's
leg for ten days. And it must have a
strong tonic during it's convalescence.''
The bird doctor laid the patient on its
bed of absorbent cotton and turned to the
next case.
Your wings droop badly, tongue heavily
coated, some fever enumerated the spe-
cialist as she rapidly diagnosed the patient.
II must have your temperature The
bird, forlorn parrot, was thereupon wrap
ped in cotton and medical thermometer
was inserted under it's wing.
and this invalid has badly congested
cold. He should respond to the treatment
by this time The patient under inspec-
ton. finch. was extended full length on a
hot-water bag and it's head rested on a
pillow. A thermometer was tucked under
its wing. Temperature down to ninety
eight. You can get up and move about a
little today The bird physician and sur
geon, with formidable looking equipment
of knives, bottles and bandages, continued
on her rounds.
The bird hospital is an amazingly we'll pa
troniZed institution. The pet bird popula
ton is large, and as rule can we'll afford
the luxury of medical attendance. There
Is no end to the ailments the household
birds are likely to develop, and accidents
requiring prompt surgical attention are nu-
merous. In the New York bird hospital
conducted by Miss Virginia Pope. there are
frequently as many as 500 patients at a
time. Their complaints vary from slight
1nd1spoSitfon and chronic diseases to frac-
lures demanding instant attention. The
medical and surgical work is performed by
an experienced. intelligent and sympa-
thetic hand. The death rate is low.
The bird hospital with it's 500 patients
comprises several wards; large, light rooms
for the convalescents and small darkened
a OF nd
the patients requiring rest and quiet All
about the main wards are ranged the pri-
vate wards in great variety. There are
large, airy cages with lofty perches, and
dark boxes with hot-water bottles. mat
tresses, cotton pillows and warm flannel
coverings. Ordinary boarders are accom-
modated here for a fee of % cents week
In cases where delicate surgical operations
are performed or stubborn disease treated
the doctors bill is comparatively large
Surgical operations frequently cost IS or
$40. The bird hospital, like many other
modern institutions, is partly a charity
There are free wards or perches for all No
sick or injured bird ever applies in vain for
admittance.
List of Diseases.
The list of ailments as recorded on the
blotter at the bird hospital is naturally
long and varied. Probably nowhere else in
the entire animal kingdom is sickness as
common as among the feathered household
pets. The pet canary, for instance, is often
tenderly, but seldom intelligently cared for
at home. The commonest complaint is a
cold The bird hospital cures very large
percentage Of colds. In ninety-nine cases
in the hundred the owner of a bird allows
the cold to develop into some complication
far more serious The delicate threats are
readily attacked by asthma and inf1amma-
ton. Enteric disease is also very common,
and is exceedingly contagious. Seed eating
birds especially sensitive to it. Pneu-
in fbo. R,o
stages. The death rate due to phthisis is
also large. 1t is especially likely to attack
parrots, and is very contagious. 1t is said
that fully 80 per cent of parrots suffer from
phthisis more or less seriously
There a time when the only pre-
scription for a sick bird was to wiring
its neck" This heroic measure Is still a
matter of common practice. But there
are many who take their feathered pets
to the bird doctor when disease appears.
The nature of birds complaints has been
a good deal Investigated of late, and with
great success. The medical attention
given to a sick patient in the bird hos
pital is surprisingly like that given to hui
man patients. A birds cold is dag
nosed in the conventional way. First it's
tongue is examined. The condition of the
in eating is quickly observed. The eve
also tells its own story Of the general vi
tally. The dropping of the feathers is of
course, a familiar symptom. The birds
temperature is taken as matter of course
SO carefully are all the symptoms of these
tiny pets observed that the bird doctor is
not content to merely observe fever by the
touch of the hand. A regular medical Their
mometer Is used in this diagnosis. The
temperature is always taken under the
wing. The symptoms are carefully noted
in the doctors note books at regular inter-
walls.
Pills Hidden Away.
And the treatment itself goes on much
ta in tal
reduced doses. The medicines admins
scciated with colds and congestions The
doses are given by pills or liquids The
bird doctor has much the same trouble in.
giving a pill to a bird as to a refractory
child: Pills are usually given in a grape
or mixed with some food. In extreme cases
the dose is forced down the birds throat
Liquid medicines are dropped into the birds
mouth, or the bird, If it will, drinks, drop
by drop, from the end of the finger Hot
baths bandages and warm applications are
usually prescribed along with the medicines
A very common practice Is to tie bird
securely on hot-water bag and cover it
with flannel to ing on a perspiration
Most birds respond very quickly to such
treatment.
By far the most interesting part of this
hospital work is on the surgical side An
emergency ward equipped for the most
urgent cases is open day and night In
appearance the operating room and table
is not likely to frighten the most timid
of it's patients. Miss Pope herself acts as
stretcher, bearer. assistant and chief Of
staff The operating table is nothing more
formidable than artistic dressing table
covered with glistening scalpels, splints and
bandages, chloroform masks, antiseptics
and medicines.
The birds are commonly operated upon
without using chioroform. 1t is only in
cases where considerable cutting Is to be
done or the patient Is particularly rest
less that 1t Is first rendered unconscious
Some bird specialists apply chloroform by
saturating piece of absorbent cotton and
holding it closely down over the beak Miss
Pope accomplishes the same result by plac-
ing the bird in d small box and placing
bottle of chloroform beneath it. The
operations are gone about in the most ap-
proved surgical way. The bird is first
washed with some antiseptic and the in
struments and needles used are all care
fully sterilized. The birds are usually held
In the hand during the operation, though
the larger and more powerful ones are
sometimes firmly bound to the operating
table
Fixing Up Fractures.
The commonest surgical operation Is the
care of fractured legs and wings Tn pipo