Nature of Wildworks Newsletters

Behind the Scenes
Putting the CARE into a Wildlife Care Center

July, 2002

First thing every morning, I make the rounds to check on all our Wildworks critters, giving them 'good morning'---and their daily vitamins. Most days, for maybe weeks at a time, all is serene. More or less.

But, not lately! You know how it is with a family sometimes. Everything seems to happen at once.

Of course, some of our animals-those who have been with me from the beginning---are getting on in years. One of these is our older female mountain lion, Sage. She and her brother Phoenix were two of the first animals I brought to Wildworks.

When she was about five years old, one of Sage's upper canines was broken and became infected. She was treated with antibiotics and the tooth didn't need to be extracted. Although Sage's health has never seemed as robust as her brother's, she has weathered the years comfortably-until just recently. Lately, she had appeared to be losing interest in her food and she wasn't as inclined to play or to groom herself as she usually did.
Then I noticed a rubbed place on her mouth. The bad tooth was giving her trouble again. I called in veterinarian Jennifer Conrad, experienced in treating wild animals. She in turn contacted an oral surgeon willing to work on a mountain lion!

The bad tooth was extracted and I brought Sage back home. But she remained weak and wasn't moving very well. Then, the blood work came back. She was in kidney failure! She needed to be rehydrated through the daily administering of fluids under the skin. My job. Sounds simple. Unless you're working with a mountain lion!

And that was only the beginning. Another of our aging animals, "Sally' the bat-eared fox developed a mammary gland infection.

And "Prairie" the border collie, oldest of our Center's two domestic dogs, suffered an inflammation of the pancreas which developed into diabetes that sent him into the hospital on IV for a week. Now, he requires insulin shots twice daily.

While our younger dog "Hopi", lured into a 'bout of roughhousing by our playful new little fennec fox, unintentionally injured the little fox's leg.

Back to the vet's! There was one eventful day when I found myself making eight trips to the animal hospital. Not only for the health problems of our older animals, but also for injuries incurred from the misadventures of our new youngsters.

"Boxer", our hybrid serval cat suffered a broken leg as a little kitten. His bones were brittle when he arrived at Wildworks due to a lack of calcium in the diet. We corrected his diet and limited his playtime and his leg is now completely healed. But recently, when the energetic youngster leapt into the air after a bird, he landed ker-plunk, right smack onto a cactus! And speaking of Boxer---in yellow-jacket season, the wasps are attracted to the fresh meat doled out to the carnivores. Again, it was Boxer who ended up at the vet's as we learned that he was allergic to the sting.

The next candidate for medical treatment was "Fire" our red-shouldered hawk, when we observed that she was having difficulty perching. While we provide a variety of perches, a bird is likely to develop a favorite one which can cause a condition called "bumblefoot" which requires her to be restrained and treated by applying medication to the foot.

"Moon" our timber wolf also has caused us recent concern. He had been losing weight and we had discovered he was burying his food instead of eating it. I began having to hand feed him. What was wrong? With no evidence of any physical problem we looked for any recent change in his environment.

AH-hah! Foxy, the little fennec fox, is currently housed next door to Moon. He's a cute little baby getting lots of attention and it seemed that the wolf was just plain jealous!

And now there's "Envy's" scheduled surgery. Envy our young female mountain lion came to us as many of our wild animals have, after being confiscated by authorities from their illegal owners who had unwisely tried to make house pets of them. In the case of a wildcat this usually means having it declawed. The declawing ,of course, makes any animal unfit to be returned to the wild. But the declawing of any cat may cause severe problems. It can be painful. It can be crippling. While a cat naturally walks on its toes, a declawed cat may walk incorrectly to avoid pressure on the painful toes, eventually causing severe problems.

Reconstructive surgery is an expensive procedure but it can correct the problem and lessen or eliminate the pain all together. The cost of the corrective surgery on Envy's paws will be $3000.00, which has been generously donated for this specific purpose.

Three of the other wildcats in our care also came to us after having been declawed---"Pablo" a bobcat, "Kato" a serval, and Pan-kitty", our oldest bobcat. We hope it will become possible to give these three special animals this rare gift of restored physical good health.

It is through the generosity of people like you that we are able to continue to care for our wonderful wild family. Our wild critters THANK YOU for your continuing support.

Mollie Hogan
Founder and Director/ The Nature of Wildworks, Inc.

The Nature of Wildworks is a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible organization. All donations go directly toward the care of our animals.

P.O. Box 109
Topanga, CA 90290