PUPdate: What a busy week! Firstly a big thank you to everyone who voted for us in the Today FM 1% Difference Campaign! We are in 4th place :) All entrants go up against a panel who makes the final decision - so fingers crossed!!! Last weekend with our last 4 Common seal pups being released feels like an eternity ago! We hope they are all settling well in the ocean. This week is a bit of a sad one as our first volunteer to arrive this summer, Jemma, had her last day yesterday! :( Very sad to see her returning to Australia - she was brilliant and will be sorely missed. Her departing leaves just three of us here looking after the pups - busy times ahead! (call out to any locals near Dingle who may be interested in volunteering at the sanctuary, please drop us a line!) SEALS.... *Dessy who arrived only a couple of nights ago from Clare with a nasty injury to his shoulder and very emaciated is responding well to treatment and has found his appetite and is looking much brighter. *Sue from Waterford looks like a different seal to the dull and lifeless pup that arrived just under a week ago. She is responding well to medication and is now eagerly eating around a kilo of fish each feed now! *Charlie from Mayo still has a long way to go... He is on a variety of medications for his serious respiratory infection, bone infection in his flipper and worming treatment. He has no interest in eating on his own yet which is probably a combination of him feeling rotten and the fact that he is so fat still from his mothers milk! He certainly is feisty though and has plenty of strength which is positive. *Humphrey from Kerry is doing well - the fattest of the bunch! His eye is still blood red from the trauma (likely being hit of rocks), and a large egg bump on his head is still clearly visible. He is still on steroids and today actually started showing interest in fish - possible the cutest thing weve ever seen, a 35kg pup suckling on a fish!! Fingers crossed he continues to improve. *Bear from Kerry - this little lass is amazing! From when she arrived all covered in wounds and unable to see through her glued shut eyes or breathe through her blocked up nose...she is now bright eyed and all healed up! She still has a cough which is improving by the day, and has begun to show interest in fish so hopefully shell be ready to go soon once her antibiotics have finished and her cough is all gone. Shes a funny seal who loves to play with anything in her kennel, from towels, to hoses, to fish! *Sammy from Wicklow is a little star - hes eating fish whole in his bath now and is thriving - getting fatter by the day! He is sharing a kennel with *Cranky from Mayo who is becoming huge! What an appetite! These two will be moving into the pools soon. *Anu from Kerry & *Chrissy from Wexford are also doing incredibly well - both are eating fish on their own in their bath now and are looking fab! Unfortunately Chrissy has come up in several Seal Pox on her body which are an ugly sight and highly contagious. Seal Pox is very similar to our Chicken Pox - sores appear on the body and are an inconvenience for healthy seals, but can be bad news for very sick seals so our quarantine protocols are on extreme now! There is no treatment for Seal Pox, it is a self limiting condition that clears up within a few months - but we have no doubt some of the other pups will catch it as well...spotty seal alert! *Brodie from Wexford & *Miri from Cork are both fantastic! Miri is a pro fish eater these days and can wipe out 1.5kg fish in a matter of minutes! Miri will be going into the pools shortly. Brodie is being a bit of a princess and would rather we feed her fish than her having to dive under and pick them up herself. Pure laziness. Tough love is in play with this little lady - we are trying all sorts with her from inflating fish with air so they float, to using long handled graspers to hover fish in front of her! Shes very close - a few more days and we hope shell have figured it out! *Paddy from Wexford who arrived with his white coat and a bad eye is looking scruffy now with a few tufts of his white coat remaining! He is eating fish on his own and keeping *Scotty from Kerry, company. Scotty is still on 2 antibiotics to help him heal. He had a few nasty wounds on his hind flippers which are healing, but the concern is bone infection. He is not bouncing with energy, but he has a great appetite which is positive so we just have to let the medication do its job with regular vet check ups. Hes a gentle thing and a real softie so we hope hell begin to improve soon. *Lena from Kerry who arrived in her gorgeous white coat is now fully moulted and looking gorgeous with a huge appetite! She is now eating fish and stacking on the kilos looking bright eyed and full of energy. Lenas kennel pal *Ross also from Kerry has had his ups and downs. He is mid moult now looking terribly scruffy and the poor devil has gooey eyes every morning from stray fur getting in them! He started to look a little dull a few days ago and the vets put him on medication just in case and he has since perked up and found his taste for fish now hand feeding up to a kilo at each feed which is great. Poor little mite - wonder what his coat will look like once hes moulted :) We have another pup that was rescued this evening in Wexford by Mac, she is around 4 weeks old but is tiny and has what appears to be a severely damaged eye - there are fears the eye may be gone. She was spotted on a slipway and did not move for hours... she is being cared for overnight and will come down to the sanctuary tomorrow. The other little white coat with the injured eye from Wexford *Christy, who has been spending a few days at Kildare Animal Foundation Wildlife Unit is doing very well and has begun to moult his fur too! Hes coming down to the sanctuary soon as well to have access to a bath and practice his fish eating skills with the other pups ;) All in a days work!
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 22:17:22 +0000
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