From Wild Care Oklahoma
Great Horned Owl #25-9357 arrived via Oklahoma State University Zoological Medicine Services. Found by a member of the public, the staff there noted the owl as pale*, quiet, and showing an unexplained wing droop. After initial supportive care and an overnight stay, the owl was transferred to WildCareOklahoma for further treatment.
On intake, we confirmed the wing droop and found he was severely emaciated and dehydrated, despite receiving fluids the night before. Radiographs showed no fractures, so patient #25-9357 was placed in a supportive body wrap, started on anti-inflammatories, and carefully started on a refeeding protocol.
Over the following days, this owl's hydration and mentation steadily improved. The owl gradually transitioned to solid foods through tong feeding-small portions given slowly to safely restart his digestive system, as shown here.
With no fractures or external injuries identified, we suspect possible nerve damage from blunt force trauma. For now, this patient is resting in an outdoor enclosure and receiving regular checkups as we monitor his weight gain, strength, and recovery.
A commenter asked how they can tell if an owl is looking pale since it is covered in feathers.
We check mucous membranes as a part of our intake exams, like in the mouth! A hydrated and well animal would have pink and moist mucous membranes.
Don't count it out! That lady is wearing those heavy leather gloves for good reason!
I talked a while back in an AskLemmy question about that in addition to the fight/flight response we have been taught about, there are now the additionally accepted "freeze" and "fawn" responses. Freezing is when they lock in place to wait out what is going on to see what is going to happen. They don't know if there is a fight they can actually win, or if running is just going to trigger a worse response from their potential attacker. Fawning is when they act compliant with their perceived aggressor to see if that will keep them from getting hurt.
This is why I mentioned on the male/female barn owl post this morning that anthropomorphizing animals can be dangerous for them. People see the owl cafe video or other things like that where wild animals look to be having a good time being cuddled or petted or what have you, but in reality, they can be really freaked out and are just trying not to be hurt, like when people comply with robbers, etc. Animals don't always react in a way that makes sense to us, since they don't have our emotions and they live in a world with a very different set of rules than we do.
So if any of you haven't read about freeze/fawn responses (freeze is pretty universal now, but different people call fawn different stuff) I'd encourage you to read more about it to get a more up to date understanding of what we know about animal reactions.