Grizzer – Showing Improvement

Thanks to those concerned viewers who have been emailing about Grizzer’s back right leg issue and his time away from the webcam.  I always welcome emails and am most grateful that people care about our ambassadors as much as our wolf care staff.  Determining the cause and subsequent treatment for Grizzer’s leg has many issues that are impacted by his age and overall health condition.  Every decision is made with an assessment of implications and alternatives, especially related to risk assessment.  Our Vet has several aspects of treatment that we are trying, but they all begin with documentation and observation.  Medications are prescribed and staff work diligently to document even the slightest change with each treatment by analyzing video.  This week’s image is clipped from video assessment on Monday, April 10th.   Initially, because the timing correlated with the increased activity with Luna, our vet wanted to rule out the cause as an “Acute Sports Injury”.  Typically, these injuries diminish with a short duration anti-inflammatory.  In Grizzer’s case, we documented limited change with an anti-inflammatory, indicating that it may be more characteristic of an age-related ailment.  He was switched to an analgesic, to address pain issues and he seems to be improving.  In this photo, he is standing on his right leg to do an RLU (raised-leg urination).  This is a noticeable improvement and we hope this allows him to feel better and improve his overall health so we can prepare him for immobilization and a trip to the vet clinic.  We also decided to reunite Grizzer and Luna as pack mates.  While they were separated, Grizzer showed a bit of anxiety about the separation, and anxiety is not a path to improving overall health.  They are now utilizing all three retirement areas and the webcam is focused on the largest area known as the “East Side” Retirement area.