Patient Update: July 19th

Patient Update: July 19th

Seals:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charles “Charlie”-Charlie (above middle) continues to do well, with no significant changes this past week. He is thoroughly enjoying his time in DJF; so much so, that we rarely see him out of the water. This is good, because we know he is developing enough muscle to sustain extended periods of exercise! He is always eager to eat and he is doing very well with mass feeding and learning how to compete with his three other pool mates. Since there are no changes in his health, we are just waiting for him to gain more weight before being considered for release. But, he is well on his way!

Parker-Parker (above right) is still doing very well and we have not noticed any significant changes in her health. She loves being in DJF and is constantly swimming around and playing with the EED (Environmental Enrichment Device) that we put in the pool for them. She is getting stronger and steadily gaining weight, which is exactly what we like to see! She has a good appetite and is doing extremely well with mass feeding!

Moose-Moose (above, top left) is doing well and he has achieved an exciting step in his rehabilitation—he has been moved to DJF with Charlie, Parker, and Nemi! He loves swimming around in a larger pool and he will start to gain more muscles to sustain longer periods of exercise. He is still very talkative and lets us know when he is hungry. He is doing very well with mass feeding in DJF and has quickly learned how to compete for food! We will continue to monitor his weight and make sure he gains enough to prepare for release.

Nemasket “Nemi”-Nemi (above, bottom left) has not shown any significant changes in his health and he has achieved another exciting step in his rehabilitation. He has been moved into DJF with Charlie, Parker, and Moose! Nemi absolutely loves having more room to swim around, and he hardly wants to be out of the water. He continues to do well with mass feeding and he is learning how to compete with two more pool mates. We will continue to monitor him to make sure he gains weight and muscle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sugar-Sugar has had a better week this past week. She is still sneezing every now and then but her respiratory symptoms seem to be resolving. We were monitoring her right eye during the week, but we are happy to say that the eye has been more active and there were days where she would not squint at all! We are continuing Terramycin for that eye in the hopes that she will continue to have more days without squinting. We are still working on tong feeding with her, as she is experiencing some challenges with positioning the fish and swallowing them. But, we will keep working with her and hopefully she will be moving on to mass feeding in the next couple of weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jones-Jones has had another difficult week. His eyes seem to be worsening, so we are monitoring them closely and keeping the same treatment plan for now. His ear infection has seemingly improved, due to treatments and routine ear flushes, but the rate at which the ear drum is healing is still uncertain. He will be receiving a repeat canalography next week, following the completion of his first round of treatments. This will allow us to reassess the status of his middle ear. We have also noticed skin lesions developing on both of his rear flippers. His right rear flipper webbing is showing signs of dermatitis, while his left rear flipper has an unknown cause but is more mild that the right. We will continue to monitor him closely to ensure these conditions do not worsen, hopefully next week will be better for him! In the meantime, he still loves being in his pool and he is doing well with feeding!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Piscataqua “Cat”-Cat is doing well, per usual. She is still in Pod 1, but Allie has now been moved into the pod with her. They are doing well together, and Cat has gotten used to having a roommate again. She is still being assist fed, as she has been facing challenges with this. She has been mashing the fish and has not learned how to position the fish in her mouth and swallow them properly. She also does not show a significant interest in the fish yet. We are hoping that she progresses in the next week or so and she can move on to tong feeding!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allagash “Allie”-Allie has been doing very well, with no significant changes in her health. She has also achieved an exciting step in her rehabilitation—she is now mass feeding! She did so well with tong feeding that she is now able to eat fish on her own! In addition to this, she has been moved into Pod 1 with Cat this past week to prepare her for our largest pool. She is doing well with this and she loves being in the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicopee-Chicopee is still learning how to operate with one functioning eye, but her ruptured eye is looking better this week. It seems to be shrinking, so it is undergoing a healing process. She is definitely feeling better, as she has been very feisty and talkative. We are happy to see this from her, as she has had a difficult time in rehabilitation thus far. We have noticed some nasal discharge from her right nostril, so we are monitoring that closely. She is doing well with feeding and still has an interest in fish. Hopefully we can move her to tong feeding in the next couple of weeks. She absolutely loves swimming and is definitely strengthening her muscles more and more each day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magalloway “Maggie”-Maggie is doing better this week and is learning how to adjust with one functioning eye. The opacity in her right eye has shrunken and looks better than it has over the past few weeks. She is able to follow fish with her one eye and is doing very well with it; she is very close to eating in the water! This means that we might be able to tong feed her in the next few days! She is still coughing and hacking, so we are keeping an eye on her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bear-Bear’s ear infection is progressing, as we have continued routine care with ear flushes and repeat canalographies. We will continue to monitor her condition closely and we will be performing the third canalography next week to determine if the ear drum has started to heal at all. If she does not improve, our treatments will need to be reassessed by our veterinarian and staff members. Seals in the wild that have a ruptured ear drum are still able to dive but it could be painful for them if they are diving to great depths; however, it does not prevent them from diving for food or to escape from predators. We are hoping that she begins to heal while in rehabilitation. She is still dealing with an opacity and lesion on her left eye so we have started using a saline ointment on her eye in addition to the Terramycin. On a better note, she has been doing well with feeds and we are still hoping to begin tong feeding soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Androscoggin “Andy”-Andy is doing well, though we have noticed some coughing and hacking episodes this past week. We will monitor his condition to ensure he does not worsen. We are still continuing Terramycin treatments on his eyes. Staff is still working on assist feeding with him but we are hoping that he can begin tong feeding soon. He still loves swimming in the pool and rarely comes out to rest; he is surely developing stronger muscles.

 

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.