Luna- Roll on Back

Luna continues to dictate to wolf care staff where and when she wants body work. For the past several weeks, she seems to want to skip leg work and concentrate on belly rubs.  Her undercoat is extremely thick and when wolf care staff do manage to find her skin under the thick layer of winter hair, it stimulates the scratch response.  The only challenge to this is the toenails that come with the scratch response.  Luna seems to have less wear on her toenails than the other wolves, even Grizzer.  We rarely clip wolf toenails because of the digging and active movements throughout the wooded enclosure.   Luna’s longer nails may be due to the impact of her back right femoral head alignment causing an uneven gait.  Staff are conditioning her to the presence of toenail clippers and so far have been successful in clipping the front toenails but she is still sensitive on her back toenails.  Perhaps some warmer daytime temperatures may make her more sedentary, making toenail clipping and brushing her thick winter coat a bit easier.  We celebrated her birthday on on March 25th with a webinar and a birthday treat of pigs ears.