Megabattie

Belladonna part 1: injured flying-fox newly rescued in care.

Belladonna is an adult female Grey-Headed Flying-Fox who crash landed in a swimming pool enclosure. She was lying in the wet on the tiles with her feet hooked into a grille. The van driver noted that her eyes were "wrong", and her left eye bulged more than the right, but it's hard to tell, other than that her pupils are fixed and dilated, which would indicate raised intracranial pressure (swelling or bleeding in her brain). This little lady, however, is quite bright, if a little quiet, so I'm scrambling to figure out what's going on. I've got a few differential diagnoses: detached retinae, ocular nerve trauma, a very slow brain bleed, poison ingestion, or some sort of ocular disease process going on, but I just don't know. I couldn't get a vet appt today, and I don't know if I will get one on the weekend. At this stage she doesn't appear to be suffering, and the analgesia is controlling whatever pain she may have, so there's time to wait and see. She probably is pregnant, so there is the (mid term) pregnancy to consider in her management. Her name was suggested by her hugely dilated pupils; belladonna (deadly nightshade) is plant from which the drug atropine is derived, and atropine dilates pupils. Belladonna eye drops were used in Renaissance times by women, who thought dilating their pupils made them look large, dark and seductive. Tolga Bat Hospital takes donations for our batties. Tolga is an awesome place in Far North Queensland, which has charity status. By sending donations to them, they get a percentage (and deserve every cent) and they can allocate money to me for batty expenses without it becoming part of my income stream (which makes tax time difficult). https://tolgabathospital.org/donate/ Mention Megabattie or Meg in the PayPal message box and the money will find its way to me. If no message box appears, please email Jenny to tell her that the money is for me. IMPORTANT: If you pay through the PayPal Giving Fund, can you please email Jenny with the AMOUNT DONATED and the name under which you have donated, OR just forward along the PP receipt. The Giving Fund doesn’t charge any fees (so the bats get more money) but PP doesn’t itemise out the amount, they just send a total every month, and we don’t know if the money is for Tolga or for Megabattie. Here’s Jenny’s email. [email protected]