Peanut's mobility is far less than Bolts, but she does try to keep up. She is still a bit stressed outdoors, and whines a lot or finds a corner by Aidan's enclosure and curls up in a ball. We are trying to keep her up and active, but she's young and needs her rest. Her weight today with the new scale is 9.4 lbs at 39 days of age. She's still tracking about 1.4 lbs behind Nyssa who was 10.8 lbs at 39 days of age. You will see staff diligently offering meat, formula and kibble to the pups either asleep or awake (they lap more formula when they are asleep. The vets have started both pups on Glyco flex to encourage healthy joint development, in addition to the Nutri-drop vitamins and Nutrical Paste. We want to do all we can to maximize nutrition.
It's been a busy weekend with the start of the public programs scheduled at 11, 1 and 3 pm. We actually started last Thursday with some special previews for the Ely and Babbitt school districts. Educating the youth of today is our best investment in wolf education and the kids and the pups enjoyed the programs. The public programs began on Friday, and unless there's a medical or behavioral reason for a pup to miss a program, they will be coming into the auditorium. We have a small area fenced off with dog beds and blankets along with a new toy or food stimulus each day. Peanut really enjoys the chance to steal items from Bolts, it's the only time they two of them are allowed together due to her restricted activity orders from the surgeon. The pups are in the auditorium for about 15 minutes, and it is a challenge to keep her from being too active. Inevitably, wolf care staff or pup care participants have to pick her up and hold her to keep her from running. She gets her sutures out today, and we have 2 more weeks of restricted activity before the 1st set of follow up x-rays to determine how she's healing and if her bone density has improved. We also received a nutritional formula specially designed by the U of Minnesota nutritionist. Her test results showed that we were low in Vitamin D, so we had been having her eat liver as her main meat source. She was less than thrilled, so with the new supplement, she can have whatever meat she wants. Her weights since the last posting: <li> 5-21 – 11.1 lbs <li> 5-22 – 11.5 lbs <li> 5-23 – 11.7 lbs <li> 5-24 – 12.3 lbs <li> 5-25 – 12.8 lbs <li> 5-26 – 12.9 lbs <li> 5-27 – 13.1 lbs <li> 5-28 – 13.6 lbs <li> 5-29 – 13.8 lbs <li>
As you already know, the Name the Pup Contest voters selected Luna as the official name for this pup. She wasn't as keyed into her name as Boltz, so the change is not as much of an issue. She's becoming a handful during programs, as it is the only time her and Boltz are together. Anytime Luna is set down in the program pen, she tries to dominate Boltz. Our job is to protect Luna from re-injuring herself from too much activity, but we also have to protect Boltz from a frustrated Luna who wants to be off of restricted activity. We have x-rays scheduled for next Tuesday to see her progress on the femural plate. These will be sent to the surgeons in St. Paul and it may be a few days before we get an update. I will try to post something as soon as I hear. Here are Luna's weights since the last posting.<br> Date Days Old Weight in lbs.<li> 6/4/2012 72 16.3<li> 6/5/2012 73 16.4<li> 6/6/2012 74 17 <li> 6/7/2012 75 16.8
Luna had x-rays on Tuesday at the Ely Vet Clinic. The radiographs have been sent to the University of Minnesota for review, but as of this posting, I have not heard a response. Based on the interpretation here in Ely, the frustration levels of Luna with restricted access and the concern over loss of social contact with not only Boltz, but Aidan and Denali, we decided to give her short bouts of freedom in the wolf yard. We started this on Tuesday, and we have noticed a significant improvement in her mobility, ability and speed. We have to be careful of her interaction with Boltz, not because Boltz is too rough, but Luna is too aggressive as she lunge attacks him. Luna has been making good progress with her weights. Here are her weights since the last posting:<br> Date Days old Weight<li> 6/8/2012 76 17.3 <li> 6/9/2012 77 17 <li> 6/10/2012 78 17.9 <li> 6/11/2012 79 18.5<li> 6/12/2012 80 18.8<li> 6/13/2012 81 19.1<li> 6/14/2012 82 19.3<li> 6/15/2012 83 20.4
Luna seems much more relaxed with the routine of alternating yard time with Boltz. She favors her back leg when she comes out of the lab in the morning,even though we have a thick comforter that covers her kennel, the confinement makes her stiff. Once she can move around the yard, she is quick to respond and walks with a better gait. On a recent warm afternoon, she spent some time at the lab door. As soon as a staff member opened the door, she quickly entered the air conditioned lab and the comforter that covers the floor of her kennel. <br> Weights since the last posting:<br> Date Days Old Weight in Pounds<li> 6/16/2012 84 20.1<li> 6/17/2012 85 21.3<li> 6/18/2012 86 21.2 <li> 6/19/2012 87 21.4 <li> 6/20/2012 88 21.5<li> 6/21/2012 89 22.5<li> 6/22/2012 90 23 <li> 6/23/2012 91 23 <li> 6/24/2012 92 23.5
Luna has had some good moments in programs, and sometimes she has brief moments in programs where she has to be removed because she aggressively mobs Boltz and puts too much activity on her leg. Her next set of x-rays in July 10th, what we hope to learn on those x-rays is if the calcium growth is continuing on the plate, if the plate is in the proper position and if the femur fracture is lightening in color, indicating healing. If conditions look good, we will cautiously allow them time together outside, but keep them separate in the lab due to slippery floor conditions. If that goes well for a week, we will want to start giving them both time in the pack holding area. Luna and Boltz both have a pattern of holding at a certain weight for a few days, then gaining over a pound. She did this yesterday and now weighs in at 29.1 lbs. <br> Here are the weights since the last posting:<br> Date, Days of age, and weight in lbs.<br> 6/30/2012 98 26 <li> 7/1/2012 99 26.5 <li> 7/2/2012 100 27.9 <li> 7/3/2012 101 27.7 <li> 7/4/2012 102 27.8 <li> 7/5/2012 103 27.7<li> 7/6/2012 104 29.1
Peanut started a specialized nutritional supplement as prescribed by the University of Minnesota. We've given her slightly more room in her outdoor area, but she gets aggravated with confinement. Her 4 week post surgical x rays will occur on Wednesday, June 13th. At that time, we hope to see improvement in bone density and that the plate on her femur is healing well. If we see this improvement, we will ask the surgeon's if we can give her more activity. While confinement helps protect her bones, it doesn't do much for muscle strength. She is extremely active when she is outdoors, and wolf care staff must be very diligent to keep her from climbing and jumping. Her weights since the last posting are:<li> 5/30 – 14.2 lbs<li> 6/1 – 15.0 lbs <li> 6/2 – 15.3 lbs <li> 6/3 – 15.8 lbs
Luna's been having a slow, but steady weight gain. She might stall at a certain weight for a day, the gain .5 lbs the next day. She is consuming about a pound of meat a day, but does have her day when she consumes nearly 2 lb of meat. We continue to keep both pups on Esbilac formula to provide additional calcium in their diet. Luna's excitement level when she's in a program with Boltz is increasing. The next set of post-surgical X-rays are scheduled for July 10th and hopefully, her improvement will allow more time with Boltz. The separation seems to be increasing the frustration level for Luna, she is showing some strong redirection (head shaking, snapping, and biting) to the toys in her enclosure, and occasionally staff. <br>Here's his weights since the last posting showing date, age in days and weight in pounds. <br. <li> 6/25/2012 93 24.5 <li> 6/25/2012 93 24.5<li> 6/26/2012 94 25.5<li> 6/27/2012 95 26<li> 6/28/2012 96 25.1<li> 6/25/2012 93 25.5<li> 6/26/2012 94 25.5 6/27/2012 95 26 6/28/2012 96 25.1 6/26/2012 94 25.5 6/27/2012 95 26 6/28/2012 96 25.1
I would like to introduce our newest ambassador wolf, nicknamed Peanut by staff. She is a black color phase assumed to be the Great Plains subspecies of the gray wolf. She has so many similarities to Nyssa. This will be an exciting time to watch them grow and develop personalities. Yes, she is already 5 pounds, with her whelping date estimated at April 4th, she would be 16 days old today. We included more details of the pup socialization process and video in Youtube that shows a young, but robust pup.
Peanut is estimated to be 19 days old today. We are making every attempt to post logs each day. The challenge of early pups is the need to maximize socialization, but the Pup Care program (which incorporates 5 – 6 people per week) wasn't scheduled to start until late May. So, wolf care staff are doing double duty on pup care to ensure the pups get the highest care possible, which means that wolf logs are pushed to the 3 am shift. Peanut is doing extremely well. She is eating a ground meat mix and is not shy in the food bowl. We struggled with a bottle transition, so her formula is still delivered by syringe, but her most likely consumption is lapping formula from the staff's palm. This is a slow process, but great for maximizing socialization. She is a vocal pup, responding with good dominance when Bolts gets to be too much. We do protect her from interactions that seem too intense, but this only seems to give her more confidence to assert a higher tail and louder growls when she does get to pin Bolts. To give you an idea of her growth, staff recorded the following weights: <li> 4/23 – 6.1 lbs <li> 4/22 – 5.8 lbs <li> 4/21 – 5.5 lbs <li> 4/20 – 5.3 lbs <li> 4/19 – 5.0 lbs <li> 4/18 – No weight taken <li> 4/17 – 4.4 lbs <li> 4/16- 4.1 lbs <li> 4/15 – 3.9 lbs <li> 4/14 – No weight taken <li> 4/13 – Pick up day 3.0 lbs
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