ATHENA TOOK FLIGHT
- Kathy Halamka
- Apr 30
- 2 min read
Phone calls at 3am rarely bring good news.
I can still clearly remember the middle of the night call in September 1997 telling me about my mother’s sudden sub-arachnoid brain bleed 3300 miles away in California. The sudden but abrupt clarity of thought when you receive hard news wakes you all the way.
Last night, the phone rang at 3:15am to let me know that MSPCA Angell West had done everything they could with intubation, CPR and resuscitation protocols, but our Athena goose was not revivable after delayed complications from the anesthesia from her operation. She has taken a final flight; may she be without pain or suffering, and find peace
We make decisions for each rescue animal here based on their individual needs. A good prognosis, and a long future life possibility will make use try the proper medical interventions. Last week we had one sweet elderly rooster with a profound high pressure sinus infection. His prognosis from surgery was only fair, and had risks. We chose not to do the surgery for his sake, and we laid him to rest. Geese are long lived, intelligent and social. She had been keeping Hera company while Hera’s wing surgery healed, preferring to soak in a standing tub of water to reduce the gravity weight of the mass . Two years ago we had consulted another local bird veterinarian who indicated that they did not have any recommendations. For Athena Goose, she was only 12 and could have another 10 years of high quality life if her non-cancerous abdominal lipoma was removed based on the advice of the AngelWest team. We absolutely knew about the anesthesia risk but her decreased quality of life was such that, without surgery, we would need to euthanize (surgery yesterday took a two pound lipoma out, only half of the lipoma).
Several years ago, Dory Pony was at that same crossroad. Her bone-on-bone knee pain from arthritis meant surgery or euthanasia and it was a long road of recovery - yet you all see her today loving life with her son Squirt.
We seek to show that we normalize this level of well thought out care for all our rescues. They deserve every consideration, their lives truly matter.
