MacKenzie had a bit of a rough weekend last weekend as the first cool damp nights of fall arrived. Staff called in Dr. Chip Hanson for a vet visit on Tuesday and he recommended we start her on a two coated Bayer Asprin per day. We don't want to try a stronger anti-inflammatory just yet, for concerns of her age and the harshness on her system. She takes her asprin in a meatball every morning, and we are waiting to see the effects. The weather continues to be cool and damp, so extra straw has been added. Our appreciation to Theresa Williams for her donation of straw, we couldn't manage older animals without it.
As we commented in previous logs, MacKenzie is doing much better. The stiffness in her joints is less noticeable, but as you might expect with a wolf approaching 14 years of age, she has her moments in the early mornings and on wet days. One of her best days is on Wednesdays, when Matt Fetterer is scheduled for wolf care. She gets very excited to see Matt and spends a fair amount of time on her back wiggling like a 2 year old. Her video clip this week shows this type of excitement.
This week's logs were written by Walter Loesberg, a regular visitor to the wolf center from the Netherlands. MacKenzie's mobility has improved remarkably, galloping after Lakota earlier this week when Lakota displayed excitable behavior. She is still asserting her dominance over Lakota, especially when Lakota becomes too excited. Although the construction across the road continues to agitate MacKenzie, it has not affected her appetite. During a recent feeding, she settled into eating a deer leg.
As her video shows, MacKenzie fed on her deer leg in her special corner on Saturday night and was doing well through the weekend. On Monday morning, staff came in and found MacKenzie having great difficulty with her back legs. This acute onset of a major problem may be related to a possible spinal stroke or a pinched nerve. It is certainly spinal in nature, but differing from Lucas’s situation, this was an overnight occurrence, not a gradual decline. The veterinarian was here this morning and we are attempting medications to relieve the inflammation and pain. If there is no response by Tuesday morning, we will attempt a medication change and continue monitoring her condition. She is resting comfortably in a full bale of straw and willingly takes her medication. She will get individual meat meals daily to increase her strength and keep her fluids up. We will keep the logs posted in the next few days to keep you updated on her condition. She is an incredibly dignified animal and out of respect for her, we have disconnected the webcams as she struggles with this condition. Please rest assured wolf care staff are monitoring her progress, making her as comfortable as possible as we wait to see the response to the medication.
MacKenzie and Lakota shared some cornish game hens and a 15 lb turkey today. MacKenzie has a good appetite, but was irritated by the ravens attempting to scavenge. Wolf care staff waited outside of the enclosure to discourage the ravens (the resident ravens have a fear of people and fly when they see a human) until the wolves seemed to have their full. MacKenzie took the turkey to the straw bed in the corner, but Lakota took up residence and ended up sleeping with the turkey. MacKenzie was resting in the 2nd den box. Today is the first day with the reduced treatment, staff will be monitoring to determine any changes in her condition.
We've been holding off reporting on MacKenzie until we observed her for a few days with the lower dose medication. On Thursday, the girls were given some cornish game hens and a turkey, as MacKenzie's appetite is very good. On Friday morning, we came in to find MacKenzie guarding her turkey cache and asserting dominance over Lakota with just a stern glance of the eye and Lakota rolled over. She was mobile, but not as active as the days following the initial response of the higher dose of drugs. Her stability seems to be better, but when she's turning around, she sometimes looses support. We are most impressed with her attitude and willingness to interact with both Lakota and Staff. We will continue to keep you posted and to the many people that asked, we are having discussions about the inevitable loss of one of the retired wolves and the management plan for a remaining lone wolf.
MacKenzie is on her 3rd reduction of medication this morning, and seems to be maintaining mobility as the medication is reduced. This is very critical as it indicates she has been healing and the relief is not solely tied to the anti-inflammatory. As many of you know, medication can be hard on the body functions of older animals, and it’s our hope to reduce the medication to a maintenance dose that helps retain mobility without risking other side-effects.
Staff observed MacKenzie in some very social behavior on Saturday. She was pouncing and jumping on the edge of the dex box attempting to get Lakota to come down from the top of the box. Mac's hips still limit her from climbing on top of the box, but she had her front feet on the bench and seemed to be enjoying the social activity. This is the first time the two females were demonstrating social behavior since Lucas's death. Although, staff also noticed Lakota getting more bold with Mac, taking her food and attempting to do a stand-over as shown in this week's photo.
Wolf Care Staff have been busy providing logistical support to a film crew, working on a series called "Ms. Adventure" for Animal Planet. So, needless to say, there's not much time today for wolf logs. So, we'll have the same posting for all wolves. The Retired Pack is settling into a routine, when small amount of food are given, Lakota is fed in the holding area, while MacKenzie gets her fare share in the main enclosure. The Exhibit Pack is doing well, there's a bit of tension between the male's over rank order position, but so far, no real issues. Maya continues to be the predatory wolf, hunting small birds that are landing in the enclosure searching for seeds before their fall migration. Other than a few noisy moments, the wolves are still calm and remaining in a more crepuscular (dawn and dusk) pattern to avoid the heat. All the wolves have begun the winter hair growth of their dense undercoat, so when temperatures increase now, it's even more uncomfortable.
The wolves are enjoying the fall weather which is brining cooler nights. Due to time constraints, this week's logs will be duplicate for all wolves. Some general comments on the videos. In Lakota's video, small rodent populations have increased due to the new seeding in the pack, she enjoys the hunt. MacKenzie's vision may be going, but she can still hear the movement of a ziplock bag of meat in the lab. Grizzer, Maya and Shadow enjoy a pack howl together, with Malik watching the action. Even though Malik doesn't chose to be very interactive with Maya and Grizzer, he still gets his fair shair of beaver.
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