Christmas pups

Christmas Card Competition Winner

We finally have a winner of our Christmas Card Competition! After recieving lots of wonderful entries we have picked the best. This has been an extremely hard decision but without further ado, the winner is.......(drum roll).................... Katie Mackay, 8years, from Miller academy Thurso, P4/5.
Katie will be out the Hospital soon to see the seals and maybe help us feed them.


here is Katies winning card






Thanks to all the children for the wonderful entries from all at the Highland Seal Hospital.



Jamie + Heather

Roxy update -

Hi all

Just thought I would update everyone on Roxys progress.

Roxy has spent the last week on medication for infections, inflamation and pain. She had also been non responsive for any feeling in her rear flippers which as detailed below we are still hoping is a trapped nerve due to other functions that are normal. The feeling has not returned, with no gain on the left side with a minimal improvement on the right. The swelling in her back had subsided enough mid week that we could xray her and be confident we would get a better idea of what was going on. Roxy was sedated so we could get a clear look from several angles without stressing either her or the vet.

The prognosis is still not good but visually we can now see what is causing some of the swelling etc. Though unsure if this is the root cause of the nerve damage. The xrays showed she had 2 breaks in her right flipper, while both are in line they are bad breaks. one is on a digit and the other further up towards the body. The larger looks as though it is already starting to heal though is hard to pick up clearly. It may be that she has a bone infection either in the upper limb or running into the lower spine, thus causing the nerve damage. Her treatment will target this bone infection as without the use of her rear flippers the outcome is not good. Her recovery will be fairly long term and for quite a few weeks she will be in a pen swimming and kept quiet. Her feed will be monitored closely as usually we have a schedule that allows for the pups to be built up quickly, but for Roxy this will be continually adjusted to allow for her intentionally restrained excersise.

There are a couple of pics of the X Rays with the breaks circled.

Thanks again to both our consultant vet James Barnett and Bridgette from Thurso Vets for all the help over the last week or so with Roxys continually changing condition.

Jamie

Miller Academy Talk 8th of December

We have organised a Christmas card competition with a local primary school and i went out to meet the pupils of P4 and P5 and give a talk to explain what we do at the hospital and tell them all about seals. I had a great time and the pupils asked lots of very interesting questions.Some of the pupils gave me their entries to the competition and more will follow next week.I have to say it will be a very difficult job to pick a winner as they are all very good.So watch this space as we will scan the winner and display it on our blog as well as the BDMLR website.
Thankyou to all the pupils and teachers of P4 and P5 for a great day.

Heather

Latest Arrival 8th of december

Medics Karen and Karina responded to a call regarding a pup on Dunnet beach.He was whisked into the hospital as it was very clear this pup needed our help.

He was 19.5kg but had lost a lot of weight he should have been nearer 30kg as you can see from his photo he is extremely wrinkly with a large muzzle and flippers.He has an infection in his umbilicus,and an eye infection both are being treated with antibiotics.It was decided that he would be called Abe after the character Abe (Grandpa) in the Simpsons as he was so wrinkly.Abe is a weaned pup with tiny patches of white coat on his flippers.Abe has a calm demeanor and is so easy to treat ,he has recieved fluid therapy and will be fed fish soon.

New arrival on 28th November

NEW ARRIVAL - ROXY

Local medics Tracey and Richard responded to a call,and our latest grey seal arrived at the hospital.She was a weaned female pup weighing in at 20kg, approx 3 weeks old she had several infected puncture wounds covering her body.Her front left flipper was badly bitten, but what concerned us more was the lack of movement in both her rear flippers.She had sustained a blow to the spine as there is lots of tissue/muscle swelling on her left side of the lower spine.She has movement in her tail and bladder and bowel function are intact so we are hopeful that if the swelling in the effected tissue/muscle is controlled she should regain the movement of her rear flippers. She has been called Roxy and is the most aggressive seal we have encountered in years.She is receiving treatment by injection in the evening and her flippers checked daily for improvement.She is in a flooded pen during the day as she can eat for herself very well.As discussed with James Barnett and our local vets Roxy will receive treatment for 7-10 days then she will be reassessed,further treatment will be based on response to her current treatment plan.Roxy may be grumpy but she is incredibly beautiful as you can see from the photos.

Heather