Our Dr. Evan Mavromatis took his surgical skills on the road last week to perform a surgery on a patient that he doesn’t see every day.
 

Astrilla the snowy owl is a permanent resident at The Owl Foundation, which is located in Vineland Station in Ontario’s Niagara region. The Owl Foundation helps rehabilitate injured, sick and orphaned owls and occasionally other raptors with a goal of releasing them back into the wild where they can survive on their own. But, in Astrilla’s case, she has permanent injuries which compromise her ability to survive on her own and she cannot be released back into the wild.

The zoologists at The Owl Foundation noticed that Astrilla had a lump that would change in size and there was concern that she may have had a hernia. They contacted our Dr. Evan, who travelled down to the Niagara region last week to take Astrilla to surgery. Fonthill Animal Hospital, in nearby Pelham, generously donated time in their surgical suite so Dr. Evan could perform the surgery on Astrilla.

It turns out that Astrilla did not have a hernia after all, but there was a suspected benign fatty mass on her abdomen that needed to be removed. Dr. Evan successfully removed the mass and we are pleased to report that Astrilla had a quick recovery from her surgery. The Owl Foundation says that she is doing well and is already back home in her outdoor enclosure.

We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to Dr. Claire Todd of Fonthill Animal Hospital for kindly offering time in her clinic’s surgical suite so Dr. Evan could perform the surgery on Astrilla. We would also like to express our deepest gratitude to The Owl Foundation for everything that they do to help owls and other raptors.