So I haven't updated yet this week because I knew we would be doing exciting vet-related things all week and I figured I would just update on all of them in one post.
On Tuesday, we did weights on our pot belly pigs. They came to us very overweight so we have been giving them a strict diet (much to their annoyance) to try and get them back down to a more reasonable weight. Denise, the larger of the two, came to us at 307 lbs. and when we weighed her she was only 251 lbs! Sudi, the smaller of the two, came to us at 243 lbs, however she was uncooperative (as animals sometimes can be, we don't force them to do anything they don't want to do!) so we were unable to get a weight on her yet. In preparation for the next day vet visit, we prevented Denise from eating her afternoon diet, which she was not happy about.
On Wednesday, the vets did a medical check up and dewclaw trim on Denise. In order to complete this she had to be sedated. The vets first tried to administer the drugs using a high pressure needle administer. This scared Denise and she moved, therefore preventing the needle from sticking in her and therefore administering the drug. So they went on to use a long stick device which they press into the hind side which puts pressure on the needle, administering the drug. This worked, and Denise sounded like a dinosaur when she got pricked, clearly expressing that she does not like shots, but who can blame her? We then had to wait about fifteen minutes for the drugs to kick in and her to fall asleep. One of the vets then began giving her oxygen while the other vets began doing her physical and trimming the dewclaws. After the procedure was over one of the vets stayed and woke Denise up, making sure she stood up and was coherent before leaving.
Today, we went to the Veldt, the other area of the zoo that deals with hoofstock, and watched a blood draw be done on Nikki, the Indian Rhino. They did a standing immobilization on her, which is when they sedate the animal, but only to the amount that they are coherent enough to still stand up. This partial sedation is done in order to keep the animal standing since Indian Rhinos are heavy enough that if they were to be sedated and lay down, they could make their legs accidentally fall asleep under them, and they would not be able to stand back up which would cause more complications. So, standing sedations are a good alternative, allowing for vets to safely do work on he animal while also keeping the animal calm. We all had to be quiet so that she would not be nervous, and she had eye covers over her eyes to keep her calm. The vets started the blood draw at her tail, which has a large blood vessel in it. After that began to not provide as much blood flow as they wanted, they moved to her ear and were able to get another 20cc of blood. This blood was taken to do tests in order to make sure she is healthy, standard protocol and examinations.
This week was exciting in the vet perspective, I'm glad I got to see so much of what they do with the animals I work with!
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