Martin - rest in peace

Sadly, Martin the owl died last night. I have not been posting updates on this story for a while, so I thought I would tell you about his last days.

After my last post, when Martin was spitting out all the food I gave him, I decided to start feeding him liquid foods. I liquidised mincemeat and kapenta fish, which I then sieved and fed him through a syringe. Later I added raw egg to his diet. Liquidised mincemeat did not work very well, so I soon cut that out. I also continued him on antibiotic through his water for a week.

He appeared to improve slightly and was willingly taking the liquid food. Since the liquid food was largely water, I fed him three times a day to try and get enough food into him. But still he did not seem to put on weight. He never bathed, so was quite a sight, with dried raw egg all down his front, where he had dribbled. I had to give him a forced bath several times, but it was not very successful, and he never preened his feathers afterwards.

Martin appeared to do nothing but sit on his perch all day, staring into space. It was as if he had given up the will to live. But at the same time, was refusing to die. I expected him to drop dead at any time, but he did not, for a whole three weeks. Most of the birds I have kept have either died within the first few days or lived. Martin just kept stubbornly hanging on the edge.

I tried to give him more privacy in his cage, hanging curtains around it, to make him more comfortable, but he showed no sign of appreciation.

For a whole week I kept trying him on solid food, but every time he would spit it out. Eventually, on 21st October, he started accepting mashed kapenta, a good sign. But a few days later he began refusing to swallow solids, so we were back to liquids again. He appeared to be having some difficulty breathing at the same time as eating, as if he had a stuffy nose. I decided to start him on antibiotic again.

Yesterday I noticed he looked very poorly, was squinting up his eyes as if in pain, and looked much weaker than usual. He still took his syringes of food. But by evening he was so weak he could hardly stand up or keep his eyes open.

This morning I found him dead. He had hung on to life for a whole three weeks. I still do not know exactly what he died of, or why he survived for so long after his injury. But he was not a happy bird while in captivity and I am relieved that now he is at peace.