Post-op care and follow up for tooth root abscesses
- Repeat poloxamer gel 1 week
- Repeat intraoral exam
○ Conscious at 2 weeks
○ Sedated at 4 weeks
○ Determines treatment interval
○ Helps confirm prognosis - Long term palliation
○ Burring 4-12 weeks
○ Antibiotics as needed
○ Pulse therapy
○ Pain relief as needed
○ Teach owners to palpate and monitor - Repeat imaging
What are the 8 steps to go through when get given a orphaned marsupial
1) provide temporary pouch - place against your body - secure and warm
2) get history
3) determine species - marsupials (only 1 opening) and mammals
4) determine the age
5) determine the sex
6) clinical examination
7) assess prognosis
8) place with joey raiser
what is important history to get when given an orphaned marsupial
Geographic origin - want to re-release
○ Orphaning event
§ Injuries from a fall, beside the road - injuries from that
§ Brought in from the cat - microtrauma from the cat
○ Details of care given to date
How to tell ringtail possum, brush-tail, eastern grey kangaroo, red kangaroo and swab wallabies
Ringtail - always have white tip on tail and bear looking face
Brush-tail - black coloured tail and dog looking face
Eastern grey - always grey
Red - males red and females grey but always have white marking on face to distinguish from easter
swap - black points on face and ears
How and why to determine age of orphaned marsupial with ringtail as example
○ Different stages of development the mothers provide different care so need to provide that
§ Also need different nutrition at the age
○ To determine age need to do certain measurements to find the age factor
Ringtail
Age factor 1 -> when would leave the pouch
- Equivalent to in humans - BIRTH
- So If below this like taking care of a premature baby - DEGREE OF FRAGILITY
How to determine the sex of a marsupial
○ Examine the ventral abdomen cranial to cloaca
§ Males have scrotum while females have shallow pouch
§ Also male marsupials do not have nipples
Clinical examination of orphaned marsupial what need to assess for and common injuries
○ Assess general condition, hydration status, body temperature, attitude
§ NORMALLY -> should want to get away from you back into pouch -> if not depression and lethargy
§ Always assume dehydrated, hypothermic
○ Examine for problems related to the orphaning event
§ Trauma -> fractures common
□ Tibia in kangaroo joeys -> due to position in the pouch common to have triade fractures - fracture in both limbs and tail
Assessing prognosis of orphaned marsupial joey how to determine and when should only be raised if
○ Does the joey have a good chance of survival
§ Consider age factor
□ any joey age fracture less than 0.4 has poor chance of survival, constantly on teat, dependent on mother for warmth
§ Consider circumstance prior to arrival
§ Consider injuries
○ A joey should only be raised if it is:
§ A suitable candidate for future release OR
§ Assured of a place in a captive population - RARE - only used if endangered species
Placing a orphaned marsupial with a raiser who can you contact/give to
○ Anyone working in vet clinic CAN do this but highly specialised job
○ Australian wildlife hospital, Healesville sanctuary
○ Wildlife victoria
○ Wildlife recuse and information network
Artifical rearing of an orphaned marsupial what is important
- Stimulate as closely as possible the animals natural development to optimise chance of normal health, growth, social assimilation
- THEREFORE need to understand the environment, diet and social contact of the animal in the natural situation
Physical development what are the 5 main stages wtihin neonate marsupials
- When born, born in tiny embryonic stage (weigh 0.1-1g) from very short gestation (from 12-46 days)
○ At this stage -> crawled from cloaca in fur, into pouch and onto teat
§ Hairless, Well-developed forelimbs to climb, completely ectothermic, eyelids fused, lips fused expect for part that is attached to teat, low haemoglobin adapted to low O2 environment - As grow -> ears start to increase, start to get whiskers,
- Pigmentation, beginning of fur growth, mouth will fully open
- Full covering of fur - CAN NOW LEAVE THE POUCH
- Thicker fur -> endothermic can maintain own body temperature
in terms of artificially rearing orphaned marsupial what is involved in providing a good pouch environment
- Temperature very similar to that of the mother
○ 35-37 degrees - slower metabolic rate and lower temperature than mammals - Moist within and variable number of teats - teats grow as the animal does
○ Kangaroo have 4 teats -> Almost never see twinning in kangaroo - DO NOT LET KANGAROO SHARE POUCH
○ Bandicoots - generally 2-3 per pouch -> important to know so can share pouches
when marsupials leave the pouch what do possums and wombats do (important so know when artificially rear)
- Possums
○ When leave the pouch start to ride on back at night-time
§ Generally always give birth to 3 and only raise 2 (one drops off cannot fit on back)
○ Still milk dependent during the day while in pouch BUT at night finding out what to eat - Wombats
○ All milk until leaves burrow where follow adults outside burrow
○ Common issue -> allowing wombats to run around house before would leave burrow -> hypoglycaemia
when marsupials leave the pouch what do kangaroos and koalas do (important so know when artificially rear)
- Kangaroos
○ Age factor 0.7 will leave the pouch
§ Will be in and out of pouch -> learning what to eat -> sticking head out to eat grass
○ Will just stick head into the pouch at the end, then start grazing besides mum - Koalas
○ Baby koala leaves at age factor 0.6 and will ride on the belly
§ Before leave for the first time -> eat pap (special liquid faeces) -> to fornicate the gut
○ As get older transition onto the back
Marsupial milk composition why change, what phases and what occurs with protein, fat and carbohydrate and how important when artificially rearing
○ Changes quick dramatically
§ Ectothermic phase -> decrease requirement for energy
§ Endothermic phase -> increase requirement for energy
○ Protein -> Starts at 3% goes up to 7-10%
○ Fats -> increases also, increase density than cow milk -> 1.5-10%
§ Net effect -> HUGE INCREASE OF ENERGY
□ From 2000kJ/L -> 4500kJ/L
○ Carbohydrates -> major sugar is galactose, also have lactose but low concentration and doesn’t vary much
§ Gradually increases until age factor 0.6 -> at this point get gut ready to fermenate grass
□ Loss galactose digesting bacteria from gut
□ THEREFORE if we were to continue giving high sugar to kangaroos at this point will be undigested, remain in stomach - as osmotically resulting in diarrhoea
Passive and active immunity in marsupials how occurs, when disappear and what is important for artificially rearing these
- Maternal antibodies absorbed until first pouch exit
- Half-life of 8-9 days
- Disappear from blood 4-6 weeks after suckling ceases
- Development of active immunity commences at 8 days old but very slow - not fully actively immune until completely weaned
- THEREFORE if age factor below 1 then antibodies deficient -> lasts 8-9 days before immunodeficiency
What to provide for hairless orphaned marsupials and lighter haired
§ ectothermic -> temperature has to be exact, achieved with a humidicrib
□ Ensure thermometer within so monitor temperature and remove as little as possible
□ May need to ensure the skin is soft and smooth with creams
§ Pouch
□ Woolen lined by linen (so can change linen when dirty)
□ Need exact temperature set up
□ Moist within pouch -> so need to place paw paw
○ Lighter haired joeys prior to pouch emergence -> better prognosis but still ectothermic so same as above
What to provide a orphaned marsupial at stage of first pouch emergence and then pouch emergence to weaning
○ At stage of first pouch emergence
§ Endothermic at this point
§ Set up where can leave the pouch when they wish - give access to grazing
○ Pouch emergence to weaning -> encourage joey to leave pouch
§ Need to give outdoor supplementation - grass, hay and other foods
§ Encourage the joey to leave pouch at night, once doing this independently then slowly wean off the pouch by removing it for longer periods of time
Milk formulae for unweaned marsupial orphans what 3 brands and what do they provide
1) Wombaroo - species specific
Also have colostral replacer -> add to any joey feeding
- Based on age facture so reflects change that would naturally occur with mothers milk
2) BIOLAC - furless macropods and possums, transition milk and producing solid faecal pellets
3) *DI-VETELACT®
○ low lactose
○ Has insufficient energy/protein for AF >0.6 when used alone (2800kJ/L) - DON’T USE
Milk delivery how many times per day, equipment and how perform
- How many times a day feeding for joey - depends on age facture
- If adding water boil for 10min then cool, after defrosted discard after 24 hours, warm to 30 degrees before feeding
- Equipment
○ Need proper teat size
§ Made for different species
○ May need to use cannula or syringe
○ Once older teach to lap from a dish - bandicoots - Some joeys may refuse to suckle when first come in so introduce between cheek teeth and incisors and drip milk until start taking it normally, if don’t take enough may need to give subcutaneous fluids to ensure they don’t become dehydrated
What hygiene is important for marsupials artificial rearing
- Milk preparation and storage
- Clean and disinfect feeding equipment
- Clean face after each feed
- Stimulate to defaecate/urinate
○ Urinate at each bottle feed and defecate every second feed generally - Shampoo/blow dry joey if soiled
- Changes pouches at least once daily -> wash with anti-bacterial nappy wash like napisan
What are 2 important things need to do when artifically rearing a marsupial
1) Weighing
- Monitoring growth - ensure meeting targets
Weight and measure (head, tail and foot length every 2-4 weeks)
2) Minimise human contact and phycological stress
- Ideal if in wildlife shelter -> NOT EXPOSED TO LARGE NUMBER OF HUMANS
- Keep to a minimum especially after the weaning phase
Weaning a orphan marsupial how occur naturally and therefore what need to provide
- Generally results from a gradual increase in lack of co-ordination by the mother when the young attempts to suckle
○ Therefore as feed solid food reduce amount and frequency of milk - Provide feed to what would normally eat
What do wombats and kangaroos need for weaning
- Wombats -> primarily grazes on native grasses and roots -> need access to soil as well, and some Lucerne and grass hay
- Kangaroos -> Grass, hay and grass -> hard vegetable (good to provide medication wtihin)
○ If expose to faeces as well then good for their gut
○ Also need source of Vitamin E - natural (crushed grains) or synthetic
○ Prophylaxis against coccidiosis, tetanus and E.coli should be considered at this stage
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