So yesterday (Wed) we started out searching
for a black rhino female who is pregnant and lame. We found her and everyone emptied out of the
back of the land cruiser. I decided to
stay on the vehicle for a simple reason.
The philosophy is that you will be fine, if you can outrun someone
else. I looked around me and fully noted
that Kenyans surrounded me. Kenyans are
notoriously fast runners. I made the
mental decision that I would be the slow one in the running game. I chuckled at this, but knew it was
true! We watched her for a while, but
alas decided not to pursue any medical action for the risk of harming the
baby.
Mutinda then showed me the human clinic
located on Lewa. It really does have a
state of the art lab. Shortly, a
villager came up to us and said their local cat had an abrasion. I felt quite like Dr. Dolittle jumping from
species to species. We walked to the
village and waited for them to catch the cat for us. Mutinda asked me to do my physical exam and
state what I thought that we could do. I
was shown the wound, which actually is a burst mammary tumor. I also found another mammary mass cranially
located to the obvious burst one. Now in
cats, mammary tumors are about 90% Malignant.
The size of these masses really dictates how the cat will do. The ruptured mass was about 3.5 cm. This put her into the “bad” category. Based on literature, she has about 6 months
to live. However, we want to make things
more comfortable for her. She still has
kittens, although they are about 8-10 weeks old. They are not still nursing, but they still
heavily rely on their mother to teach them how to hunt, especially in an area
where meals are not provided for them.
We put off surgical removal of the masses due to the cat’s poor
condition (thin, dehydrated). Today I
went to the grocery store (in the midst of other patients) and stocked up on cat
food for the owner. I will go and
deliver this tomorrow. Hopefully we can
put weight on her and also rehydrate her enough that the anesthesia would not
be such a risk.
On the walk home last night, tree hyraxes
serenaded me. Who knew something the
size of a cat could make such a fuss! Google the sound of a tree hyrax and you
will be shocked. They normally serenade us at 5 am, but every once in a while,
they kick off at other times.
Speaking of other patients…
Today we started out by immediately going to
Ol Pejeta again. They had called saying
they had a Grevy’s zebra that was poorly.
Grevy’s are horribly endangered.
Now for those of you who don’t know…I
worked alongside a wonderful researcher, EB, 2 years ago at Lewa. I came to Lewa to assist her on her
project. It was then that I fell in love
with not only Africa, but also Grevy’s.
So Grevy’s hold a very dear spot in my heart.
So this Grevy’s was a juvenile and was
quite obviously poorly. She held her
head in a funny way; she was skinny, and just not quite right. We decided to immobilize her. It was such a flurry of quick thinking. I had a bag full of all the things that I
needed. I immediately went to work doing
my physical exam and drawing blood samples.
She had swollen joints, was very anemic, and was covered in
ectoparasites. We jabbed her with
antiparasitic treatment, antibiotics, and vitamins. Others were taking stool samples, body
measurements, monitoring her anesthesia, getting tick samples, and cooling her
off with water. From the time of darting
her, to reversing her was 20 minutes. The
antidote we gave her worked immediately and she ran off, stumbling a bit.
It was absolutely amazing to finally touch
a Grevy’s. There was no time for awe during
the anesthesia though; the awe came after the fact. The whole time we were working with her, we
were watched by 2 Northern White Rhinos.
There are only 7 Northern White Rhinos left in the world. 4 of them are at Ol Pejeta. It was surreal.
We left Ol Pejeta and made our way to Mpala,
a research conservatory. There was a
report of a limping elephant. I was so
glad to be heading to Mpala again. I
went there a few times during my last trip to Kenya. During the long drives that we have (for
example, it takes 1.5 hours to get from Lewa to Ol Pejeta, 1 hour from Ol
Pejeta to Mpala, and 2 hours from Mpala to Lewa) I get Swahili lessons from
Timothy. We stick to basics, but it is
still fun, and makes both of us laugh as we bounce around in the back of the
land cruiser due to bumpy roads.
Timothy is going to be coming to London for
3 months starting in July. His mum works
for the Kenyan Embassy there. I have
offered to show him around the RVC, as he is interested in a Masters there.
We made our way up to the research station
and upon arrival at Mpala, I walked over to the lunch area. I knew my friend Matt was there! It was a great reunion. He and I had been talking about me possibly
coming to visit at Mpala this weekend…but there I was! He came out with our team to go and find the
Elephant, and it was good to catch up with him.
We gave updates on all those that we both know.
We found our elephant, which no longer was
limping. We even made him run, to see if
that showed any lameness. Everyone also
got out of the vehicle, sans Matt and I.
We share the same philosophy that we would be the ones left behind if
everyone had to run! We also decided not to do anything with him, as he had
seemed to recover from his lameness issue.
We then made our way back to Nanyuki (a
close town to Lewa). I ran in to get cat
food and we were on our way back to Lewa.
I received compliments from Methenge (assistant to the vet). He said that I work very quickly with the
patients. He said I just do it. From someone of few words, I felt an
overwhelming sense of pride with that compliment. Maybe
it is because I bring Biltong (dried meat) for him. J
Once back in Lewa, we came across an impala
that seemed to have hives all over him.
We will monitor this and see if we need to take any action.
Updates:
Lioness with the abscess that we treated
has been reported to be doing much better.
Elvis (the rhino in the hut) has been
reported to not be limping anymore.
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