News, Spring 2008, page 1

Newsletter - Spring 2008
(click to link to pdf download)

Sanctuary Update

Spring has been another extremely busy season at Wolf. Unfortunately because of the amount of material in this edition of the newsletter, we are very limited on space for the general Sanctuary Update, so it will be very abbreviated.

The passing of residents is always very difficult. Although we know their spirits are doing great, they have left a very large void on the physical plane. Shadowhawk’s symptoms and passing happened very quickly and left all of us in shock (click to read story). Faelen’s passing was horrible, even though we never had the chance to meet him in person (click to read story). Lakotah Sioux’s passing may have been the worst, even though we knew for month’s it was getting close. She was the last of the original animals who helped to found Wolf and develop its philosophy (click to read story).

As we grieve the loss of these individuals, we also try to focus on the fact that their departure does allow us to save another individual’s life. We celebrate being able to bring Nashoba (click to read story) and Rajan (click to read story) to the Sanctuary.

Wolves are very stoic in their management of pain and illness. During Spring, Kenai pushed the limits of our abilities to recognize and treat illnesses presented by the residents (click to read story). Nugget also scared us a bit with a short bout of some sort of infection, which was treated successfully As I write this article, we are in the middle of another serious situation with Indigo, which we will have to wait to report on to you until our next newsletter.

Spring is always very busy with Winter cleanup, surprise snow storms and preparing for our largest fund-raiser -- the Waltz for the Wolves (click to read story). This Spring: the hummingbirds returned about a week early on April 27th, included a pesty bear looking for free lunches and a rather freak tornado (EF 4) that hit in the town of Windsor. This was close enough to the Sanctuary that we received a good pounding from hail and had some of our volunteer’s homes affected. The wolves were not so thrilled when getting hit by the hail, but had a wonderful time playing in it afterwards.

We also felt very honored, even though indirectly, as one of our senior volunteers and volunteer coordinator, Brandy Russell, was selected as the United Way of Larimer County’s Healthier Community Award for volunteerism. Brandy started with Wolf in 2002 and her passion, dedication and hard work has been literally a live-saver. She helped build the WideAwake facility, been on rescues to pick up animals, helps to organize our fund-raisers, takes animals to public events as well as doing routine chores around the Sanctuary. Congratulations to Brandy!

We again have had to turn away a tremendous number of homeless animals. This quarter there seemed to be an extra large number of pure wolves, who even have fewer places which can accommodate them. In total we turned away over 110 animals just from situations where folks actually followed up with photos and data on the animals.

Thank you again for all you do for the wolves.

Kenai -- The Will To Survive

Kenai easily wins the heart of all who venture into his habitat. As soon as you sit, his full 150 lbs. begins scent rubbing all over your back and head, an experience not explainable in words. He also has a habit of biting people on the back of the head. It’s meant as a love bite, but he just doesn’t realize how strong he is. However, visiting with Kenai is one of the coolest things you can experience.

His weight really is not his fault, although it definitely suits his personality. Kenai has hypothyroidism, which slows his metabolism and creates skin and coat problems. He receives medication twice a day for the issue, which may have saved his life. On 31 May, Kenai wouldn’t come down for his night meds, highly unusual considering his wolverine-like appetite. Kiley hiked up the hill in the dark to check on him, but he stayed away from her, also atypical. Maybe it was just a fluke though. Surely he would be fine tomorrow.

The next morning, a volunteer was passing out morning meds. Again, Kenai refused to leave the top of the habitat. Kiley immediately ran to check on him, as Kenai has dominance issues with Steve and Frank, and won’t let them near him. He again ran away, and was very wobbly on his back end. In daylight, it was obvious he was not well. Finally he came to Kiley, who tranquilized him for a blood draw. While awaking from the drugs, Kenai threw up multiple times, some of them bloody.

The blood results shook everyone to the bone. Kenai’s liver was failing, there were textbook signs of infection, and 104.1° fever. Our vets immediately recommended two strong antibiotics, but we could not get him to eat. We tried everything in the pantry, but nothing! He wouldn’t even drink water. Thankfully Kenai is a sweet animal, as his pills were crushed into slurry, sucked into a syringe, and forced down his throat. Certainly he would be feeling better soon.

On 02 April, Kenai was actually getting worse. Now his left leg showed neurological issues as the paw was turning under. His antibiotics were again crushed, and he patiently allowed Kiley to force them down his throat again. Hours later, still no improvement. Kenai was still refusing food and water. We began subcutaneous fluids. Kenai was much perkier after some hydration! Great news, he would start improving tomorrow for sure.

Next morning, Kenai still refused food, and actually fought Kiley when she injected his antibiotics down his throat. Generally that means they are improving. But half a day later, he still refused food and water, and would no longer get up. He was dying.

Now the tough decision. Although somewhat social with people, Kenai hates traveling, and the stress of taking animals to vets can actually kill them. So what was in his best interest? Euthanasia? Give him another day? Or take him to the hospital?

Some serious soul searching took place. If he was not going to survive, the best thing is to let him spend his last hours in his home with his family. The chances of a 12 year-old surviving such a serious illness were next to none. Flash back to his arrival at Wolf: barely 4 months old, terrified of everything. A volunteer used to sleep in the dog house with him so he would recover. Now look at the magnificent wolf he became. We had to give him every possible chance to survive, he must go to the hospital. How were we going to carry a 150 lb animal plus a 50 lb kennel down the mountain? Luckily, Kenai’s fear of Frank forced him up and he walked down the mountain on his own. He was knocked out, and safely loaded in the truck.

At the hospital, Kenai’s breathing became labored. IV fluids were rushed in to rehydrate him, but X-rays showed severe pneumonia in addition to liver issues. Kenai would have to stay in the hospital. Fortunately, he was feeling well enough to drink water and bite the IV stand before the Wolf staff left at 2 am.

Wolf received an emergency call from CSU on 04 April. There was an abscess around the lungs that had ruptured into the chest cavity. Emergency surgery was required to insert chest tubes into both sides of the chest, or Kenai had no chance of survival, which was already low. Everyone panicked; we had made the wrong choice. Without chest tubes, Kenai would not make it back to Wolf. Surgery was approved. The vets cautioned that the pneumonia really needed surgical removal, a procedure we were not willing to put him through. He survived surgery, but required intense aftercare.

Kenai was finally ready to come home on 06 April after winning the affections of all the CSU staff, including the volunteer who slept in his dog house with him as a pup. However, the chest tubes needed to stay in. Steve and Kiley were taught how to perform a lavage on him. Lavaging is a very delicate process of pumping 1000 mL of warm saline into the chest cavity, letting it sit for 1 hour, then gently pulling it back out. It helps remove the infection, blood and extra fluid from the around the lungs. They left CSU wide-eyed and wondering how they were to pull this off twice a day for at least a week, especially since one of the tubes was very problematic. We should note that the entire process is extremely painful, and requires humans to stay in the hospital for weeks on end.

A special containment area inside Kenai’s habitat was built so he could recover next to his pack mates. Eight volunteers spent hours building a small pen with a deck, dog house, and everything padded to eliminate chances of injury. Kenai was excited to come home, but very upset that he had to wear an e-collar. He continuously banged his head against the fencing, but could not remove it. His water and food consumption was limited, but at least he was hungry.

At dusk, Steve and Kiley went out to perform the first lavage. Putting the fluid in went great. An hour later, they could not get any fluid back out. Emergency calls to CSU were made, everyone was freaked out. Nurses recommended waiting another hour and trying again. Nothing! Okay, wait another hour, still nothing. By now it was after midnight. Staff agreed to switch off checking on Kenai during the night. Kiley goes out at 2:45 am, and cannot get any fluid out of the chest. Steve goes out at 5:30 am with no better luck. Snow had started falling, and Kenai was wet and cold, so Steve wrapped him in a blanket. By 8 am, there was 6 inches of snow on the ground, and Kenai was soaked and freezing due to the amount of shaving needed to insert the tubes.

We needed to bring him in the house. The bathroom was rearranged and fitted with a dog bed. Kenai knew exactly what we were doing when we walked out to leash him, for the first time in his life, to get him to the house. He immediately took Kiley on a run to get into the house as fast as possible. He walked into the bathroom like he had done it a million times and laid down. Steve spent hours gently drying him off, cleaning and dressing the tubes. The morning lavage went much better, and Kenai seemed more comfortable.

Kenai spent 8 days recovering in the house. There were many trials and tribulations involved. He is not house-trained, and more often than not began urinating, or worse, before reaching the front door. We had to be very creative in getting him to take his meds, so many hours were spent cooking for him. Kenai enjoyed a spa treatment, with Steve carefully brushing out his matted undercoat, washing the shaved areas around the chest tubes, trimming his nails, and basically being completely spoiled.

Once feeling better, Kenai was no longer happy in the bathroom. He would randomly bite things to let us know his feelings, once going out of his way to bite Frank’s computer chair. It was then he decided Frank’s bedroom was way better than the bathroom. He took over the spot next to the bed, and was very intrigued by looking in the mirror. Kiley slept on the couch every night to be there in case of emergency. That was good the morning he decided to try to go out the window. He was quickly ushered outside, and then refused to come back in the house for some time.

After the vet pulled the chest tubes, we had to wait 48 hours before letting him go back home. Kenai was showing significant improvement by them, although had to be on antibiotics for 8 weeks, and have follow up x-rays. Fortunately, all appears well now. We continue to keep a close eye on him, but for now he is back to scent rubbing his humans and giving love bites on the back of their heads. Many people have congratulated us for getting him through this illness. Apparently, most animals don’t make it. However, we think all the credit goes to Kenai. It was his will to survive that got him through.

Continued -> ->

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