Fawn with Broken Leg Gets Help from Wildlife Clinic, Chiropractor
URBANA - On July 13, a 12-week-old fawn that has been receiving care at the University of Illinois Wildlife Medical Clinic since May 28, will get a little help from outside the veterinary hospital: Andrew Tunstall, owner of Tunstall Chiropractic in Champaign, will use a technique designed for his human patients to try to break down scarring and fibrous tissue adhesions in the fawn's leg muscles near the site of a fracture.
FACTS ABOUT THE CASE:
On May 28, a family from rural Mattoon, Ill., discovered a very young injured fawn in a hay field behind their house and brought it to the Wildlife Medical Clinic at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in Urbana, Ill.
The fawn, which has since been dubbed "Woody," had a broken right rear femur that was "at a 90-degree angle to where it should have been," according to Stacy Burdick, a veterinary student who co-manages the Wildlife Medical Clinic.
On June 8, four clinical specialists at the Veterinary Teaching Hospitalorthopedic surgeon Dr. Roy Barnes, surgery residents Drs. Kathleen Ham and Kahrma Wagner--Wright, and intern Dr. Melissa Hoffer--spent 4 hours in surgery, using pins, a bone plate, and screws to repair the fracture.
While X rays show that the bone has healed well, the fawn has not been using the leg despite getting therapeutic exercises devised by the Veterinary Teaching Hospital's animal rehabilitation expert Kim Knap.
On July 13, Dr. Andrew Tunstall will treat the fawn to try to break down scar tissue at the fracture site and improve the use of leg muscles that have contracted, limiting use of the leg. Stephanie Simon, a summer intern at the Wildlife Medical Clinic, will be on hand to assist with the procedure, which will be done under general anesthesia.
The Wildlife Medical Clinic is a not-for-profit organization run by volunteers (mostly veterinary students) and supported by tax-deductible donations from the public.
The Wildlife Medical Clinic treats more than 2,000 animals each year and is staffed 24 hours a day. Injured and ill wildlife cases (except skunks and bats) are never refused. The phone number is 217/244-1195, and the Web address is http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/wmc/.