
Wow, look at them, so big and grown up.
Afternoon Bev
I hope this email finds you well. My apologies for getting this to you so late in the month, as always, things are quite busy this side. George and Yame have been with us for a year now, and are doing so well. As I'm sure you can understand there is not too much new and exciting in their lives these days as they have settled into their new homes and routines with us. On this note, I've chatted to Kevin who agrees that we can cut back to a quarterly update from now on (unless anything major or exciting happens, in which case I will send through an update). I hope you understand.
George spent a few days at a specialist vet where they took x-rays of his entire body, as well as multiple blood samples. All of George’s blood tests came back with almost perfect levels meaning that his current diet and supplement regime is working very well. We have been given additional supplements to give him, and he seems to be taking it all in his stride.
His x-rays have showed further complications from his poor diet as a cub. There are signs of bone thickening on the skull and vertebral column which can be rectified with elevated levels of Vitamin A which will aid bone re-absorption. The bones in his legs are angulated which basically means that they are growing skew, making him slightly bow-legged. His calcaneouses (heel bones) were fractured at some point and have healed incorrectly due to him putting stress on them when he walks. They did pain-threshold tests to determine if George was in any pain from his complications, and have found (thankfully) that he isn’t experiencing anything more than a slight discomfort.
His x-rays were looked over by an orthopedic surgeon who has advised us that George’s bones are still too soft for any surgical procedures to be done at this stage, and his growth plates are still open. He has recommended that we reassess in 6 months after giving the bones a chance to harden and reform using a Vitamin A supplement. On the positive side, the vet believes that the effects of the nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism (Metabolic Bone Disease) can be reversed to a large degree, and that George will live out a relatively normal life.
Yame is doing very well as always, and the two of them are happy. They still go on their walks frequently and Im sure you can tell by the photos that they really love being out. The pictures this month are courtesy of Sophie Vickers, who has spent the last 4 weeks volunteering with us.