Boltz Update 5 October 2020

What a difference a few days make, Friday, we thought the prednisone wasn’t really helping, so we had a plan to slowly wean him off.  Over the weekend, Boltz’s transition off of prednisone had some issues.  While the Wolf care team logged their assessment as “looking better than a week ago” on Saturday, the Sunday check showed more instability.  They reported some swaying, stumbling and crossing of his back feet, which is symptomatic of Degenerative Myelopathy.  But, research has shown that DM is not typically impacted by prednisone.  So if he declines off when he is weaned off of prednisone, it may not be DM.  We are developing a treatment plan that includes additional testing, but we want Boltz to be stable before doing another immobilization.  We will also take the time to research all options that we want to test so we maximize the opportunity of this next medical exam.  He remains alert, has a good appetite and is very attentive to the actions in the Exhibit Pack, the wolf yard and with Grizzer’s movements.   As with Grizzer’s webcams, I will turn them on and off throughout the day.