lakota – Sep 10, 2007 12:00 AM

Lakota did extremely well with the surgery and immobilization. She was drugged at 7:04 am Central Daylight time, and at the clinic by 7:30 am. She weighed 92 lbs, which was the same weight during one of her 2001 exams, so in 6 years, she hasn't lost a pound. She is in exceptional shape for a 14 year old wolf. The growth was successfully removed and will be sent in for a tissue biopsy, although all indications show it as benign, we want to make sure. We also are doing a full blood panel to look at other age related issues such as BUN, glucose levels any any signs of abnormal readings. The conditions were ideal, with morning tempertures around 46 degrees farenheit, warming to the mid 60's. When a wolf is coming out of anesthesia, we usually bed them on a wool or fleece pad with hot water bottles. Lakota's video shows her recovering in the holding area with the full compliment of pads. Wolf care staff stayed with her until she regained full mobility, and placed her back in the enclosure with Mac around 3pm. We placed a full bale of straw in all the den boxes for comfort. Her incision is very dry and clean and she shows no sign of scratching. Although, most of the scratching response will likely come during the healing process. She is on daily pain treatment for 6 days and antibiotics for 7 days. She is doing very well and staff will check on her through the night.