New arrival 19th of november

We are having a particularly bad spell of weather and with that comes pups in difficulty. A white coat was brought to the hospital last night.A male around 10-14 days old underweight but luckily only minor injuries; a grazed rear flipper,eye infection and nasty bad breath.He is called Breeze, a fiesty little man who is settling in well. Breeze was given lectade for the first 24 hours along with vitamins and a course of antibiotics.Hopefully Breeze will live up to his name and be back out in the wild soon.

We are all hoping the weather will calm down but i think it's wishful thinking.Thanks again to all the medics who attended the rescue as it was a truly stinking night.

update 10th of november

Sorry to report sad news but it is an unfortunate fact of life.We had a difficult week with 2 grey seal pups being brought into the nursery days apart. The first pup a white coat female was picked up on 30Th of October on Dunnet beach,she was called Casper. Casper had sustained multiple injuries, her jaw was extremely swollen and damaged.A large wound on her abdomen and puncture wounds covering her entire body.She could not be tubed as she was so swollen and stressed.We consulted with James Barnett our specialist vet and the difficult decision to euthanase her was made.

The next pup to arrive at the hospital was Kai. He was picked up at Broch on the 2nd of November. Kai was a very soft natured pup with a birth defect. His right nostril appeared to be missing, on assessment Kai was found to have a cleft palate,his teeth were misaligned he was suffering from a very nasty infection of the mouth and sinus tract.His missing nostril was in his mouth above what should have been his gum line.Again we consulted James and the difficult decision to euthanase was made.

Kai

In the 8 years that Jamie has worked with seals Casper and Kai were only the 3rd and 4Th seals he had to euthanase.It is never an easy decision to make but you have to put the pups welfare first both physically and mentally.

Pup up-date 20th of october

MOSS
Moss is the first grey seal of the season. He was found lying on a patch of moss high up on a rocky shoreline. He was monitored for 4 days before he was brought into the nursery as he was in good body condition and we had to make sure his mother had abandoned him.
Moss is a lovely pup, initially nervous but is settling into the nursery well. As you can see from his photo he is moulting. When he was admitted he was sporting a pair of large fluffy eyebrows these have disappeared now as his moulting progresses.
On assessment Moss had various abrasions and eye infection and an old scar on his shoulder, he is being treated for these minor injuries with some antibiotics. He is a big boy weighting in at 22.7kg so he being fed on fish and is feeding very well, he ate 2 fish in the water while enjoying his first swim to-day.

ARNIE
From the beginning Arnie was the star of the nursery, progressing through the system very easily. He is a very calm amiable pup who fed for himself at a very early stage. Arnie has leap frogged the others in the nursery and is now the heaviest common.

KESSOCK
Kessock or Kess as she is affectionately known is feeding for herself in the water and gaining weight well. Initially she dropped weight while learning to eat fish in the water. Kess has earned herself the nickname of the phantom flatulator, as she waits for you to clean the pen then creeps up beside you then lets rip noisily.


BELLA
Bella is in the large end pen with Kess and is eating fish for herself. She is still a quiet gentle girl with a stubborn streak, and has taken a while to learn to eat for herself. Being in a pen with Kess Bella realised you have to be quick or Kess will eat all the fish.

PICKLE

Arnie and Pickle
Pickle is a small pup with a huge personality. He has been the difficult pup of the season. Feeding is problematic, he won’t eat for himself yet and is back to being hand fed. Fortunately his blood tests have come back ok. So it’s just a matter of feeding him up gradually getting the weight back on him and fingers crossed he’ll come good with time.


This season of common seals has been unusual pups have been born later than expected and there are fewer born this year. There are many different theories as to why this but no hard evidence yet.

Hospital has lots of visitors in september/october

STACEY AND ANGIE

Stacey and Angie are both medics from the Buchan area who came up for a week. Angie has helped out on many occasions before and this was Stacey’s first visit to the hospital. They were a great help and will always be welcome at the hospital. Thank you both very much for all your help it was much appreciated. A special thank you from the pups to Auntie Angie cheers for the care package the toys were cool.


ANDY AND ALISON

Andy co-ordinator for Buchan area and his girlfriend Alison a vet student and medic also popped up for a few days. Andy has been involved in the hospital from the beginning so it’s always great to them both.

JENNY AND PAUL LAIRD

Jenny and Paul are old friends of the nursery; they have helped us out lots both personally and professionally. Thankfully the weather was very kind to us and we did have some nice days. Paul is our I.T. wiz and managed to repair our ailing computer. He also donated a laptop to the nursery, which is extremely welcome and most generous. Jenny has been working on adoption scheme with myself and has proven invaluable as she is capable of wearing many different hats at once (editor, proof reader, comic, the list is endless). The week flew by and we were all sad to see them make the long journey home, we can only hope some one invents a teleporting machine soon!


ELIZABETH THACKER

Elizabeth is an artist who asked to come up and draw the seals. She has very generously agreed to donate a piece of her work from her sessions in the nursery to help raise funds.
Elizabeth’s work is fantastic and even from her sketching you could clearly identify each pup’s individual characteristics. We hope to see more of her at the nursery and as soon as her web site is operational we will add a link to the blog. So thank you very much Elizabeth it was a great insight to see an artist at work.