The blind Great Horned Owl

We received this wonderful Great Horned Owl on the 14th of August 1998. It was evident from the condition of the bird he had not been incapacitated for any length of time. We could tell this by how well muscled and hydrated the bird was during the intake examination.  The Owls' problem was, he was totally blind.

We examined him and could find no evidence of any trauma, but we suspected the blindness could be a symptom of metal toxicity. We had radiographs made and found no evidence of any form of metal toxicity present. Perplexed, we once again we called on Dr. Dan Lavach, DVM, of the Eye Clinic For Animals, Garden Grove, CA., and expert ophthalmologist, for his expert advice.

Dr. Lavach also found no sign of trauma and performed an ERG (Electro Retina Graph). The ERG also was normal. Dr. Lavach deduced the probable cause of the blindness was a brain lesion. We now had to find a neurologist that was familiar with Raptors and brain lesions.

After many hours of researching and not being able to find any information on the subject we could find only one group of neurologist for animals. They felt the anesthetic needed to perform the MRI could be fatal to the patient. With this information, we had the impossible task of trying to find a cure for this wonderful bird. Unfortunately, we were unable to help this Owl and he died in the hospital. The brain lesion was confirmed after the death of the owl.