Patient Update: July 5th

Patient Update: July 5th

Seals:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charles “Charlie”– Charlie continues to do well with his rehabilitation. He continues to eat in the water with minimal assistance, taking the fish right off of the tongs and swallowing them whole without any problems. He is thoroughly enjoying swim time, playing in the water with his roommate Parker! The inflammation on his rear flippers have formed blisters and staff has determined it to be dermatitis. The cause of it is unknown but it could potentially be bacterial.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parker-Parker is doing well, with no significant changes in her health. She is also doing well with feeding in the water. She takes the fish off of the tongs with ease and is able to swallow them well. She needs slightly more assistance than Charlie but they are both excelling at a good pace!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sugar-Sugar has now fully transitioned to fish gruel and staff has started to assist feed her with whole fish! She is doing well with this so far and we are hoping she can begin tong feeding in the next week or so. The lesion on her right cornea is beginning to develop more, so we are monitoring her closely and continuing treatments with Terramycin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jones-Jones (above left) has been doing much better since he returned to Dry Holding with his two roommates. Staff has started assist feeding him as well, and he seems to be doing well with it so far! He very much enjoys swim time and playing with his roommates in the water. We have noticed him squinting his right eye more, due to the lesion, and as of Sunday, July 1^st, we have noticed an opacity in that eye. We are treating it with Terramycin and are continuing to observe that eye; however, his left eye looks great!

Piscataqua “Cat”-Cat (above right) is still doing well and she has remained clear of any health issues so far in her rehabilitation. Over the past week she has adjusted to having roommates in Dry Holding and enjoys playing with them during swim time. She has developed an interest in fish, as we have begun putting fish in the pool with them while they swim. She plays with the fish and has started to mash them in her mouth. Staff is also working on assist feeding with her. These are both exciting steps towards eating fish on her own!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nemasket “Nemi”-Nemi continues to have the large opacity in his right eye and we are continuing treatments with Terramycin to prevent it from worsening. He is fully transitioned to fish gruel and now that his stomach is able to digest fish properly, staff is starting to work with him on assist feeding. He has started off very well but there is still a long way to go since this is all very new to him. He seems to really enjoy swim time and it noticeably developing his muscles by the amount of time he is able to continuously swim in the pool!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magalloway “Maggie”-Maggie’s eye is still very opac and we had noticed a raised bubble on her eye that began to enlarge. Unfortunately we had to discontinue the saline ointment that we were using for treatments due to the fact that her eye ruptured. We are monitoring her closely due to this significant event. She is also being assist fed as of this week; she is doing well with it but also has a long way to go. She greatly enjoys swim time with her four roommates!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allagash “Allie”-Allie has not shown any significant changes in her health over the past week. She is doing well and we are still continuing treatments for the ulcers present in her eyes. She is undergoing assist feeding as well and she seems to be doing very well with it so far! She thoroughly enjoys swim time and is developing her muscles in the slightly deeper pool that we have in the Pup Room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moose-Moose is still battling the same respiratory symptoms that we noticed last week. He is still hacking, coughing, and sneezing throughout the day, so we are continuing to monitor him to ensure the symptoms do not worsen. He is being assist fed by staff after being fully transitioned to fish gruel, and he is doing very well! Moose definitely loves his swim time, as he never wants to be taken out of the pool. Since he, along with his four other roommates, are still learning to haul out, we have to take each of them out of the pool after they have received a sufficient amount of swim time. Moose is usually the last one taken out, as he has learned to go under water and swim around to avoid us for as long as possible!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicopee-Chicopee was unfortunately placed back in ICU on Saturday, June 30^th, after her right eye ruptured and she lost the lens of that eye. This was a very painful process for her and it is likely due to the Phocine Herpes Virus 1. In addition to this, she was suffering from a high fever. While in ICU she was treated with eye flushes and medications, and efforts were made to bring her temperature down. After these treatments she started to become more alert and returned back to her normal behavior. She started to play with the towels that we had placed in the ICU with her and she would end up destroying the bed we had made for her! This is how we knew she was feeling better! She has since returned to the Pup Room with her four other roommates and she has started to participate in swim time with them. She is doing very well so far!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bear-Bear (above bottom) has undergone a significant health problem during the past week. Staff began to notice discharge from her left ear and it was decided that radiographs had to be taken to determine the cause of it. Our vet conducted the radiographs this past Tuesday and these confirmed that Bear has a middle ear infection, also known as otitis media. This infection has caused her ear drum to rupture and it is responsible for the discharge from her ear. She is being treated with antibiotics and routine ear flushes, which seem to be helping her condition. She will be reevaluated in two weeks with another set of radiographs to monitor the progression of the infection. In the meantime, Bear and her roommate Andy are receiving more supervised swim time as their muscles are developing and becoming stronger.

Androscoggin “Andy”-Andy (above top) has remained the same since last week, with no significant changes. We are still monitoring him in order to prevent his conditions from worsening. He is also still enjoying the company of his roommate Bear, and they are thoroughly enjoying their supervised swim time as they become stronger and are able to cool off in this summer heat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mattapoisett “Matt”-Sadly, in the early morning of July 4^th, our newest seal Mattapoisett passed away. He was a male harbor seal weanling, most likely freshly weaned from his mom. He was rescued by Seacoast Science Center from Hampton Harbor, New Hampshire and was brought to NMLC for rehabilitation on July 1^st. Matt was brought in as a human interaction case, noticeably emaciated with dermal lesions and an umbilical infection known as omphalitis. During his time at NMLC he underwent severe hypoglycemic events. He would have times of alertness and feistiness, followed by a period of severely lethargic and unresponsive behavior. These events were due to his glucose imbalance and these factors eventually led to his passing.

 

Turtles:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gunst, Etta, Bruiser– All three of our Kemp’s ridleys in house are doing well; each of them are eating well and swimming as they please. Our veterinarians are still waiting for the final reports from their CT scans in order to determine the next step for their rehabilitation.

 

 

Posted by Gabriella N. 

Gabriella is a second semester intern who recently graduated from Roger Williams University with a degree in Marine Biology.