News, Summer 2007, page 1

As you see these symbols ( Œ ) in the update, realize they represent the number of animals we were asked to rescue since the last number was reported. These numbers only include situations where the requesters have initiated their search with Wolf and provided us with enough information to send out an alert. These are the only requests we can track realistically. Requests from other organizations or where individuals do not follow through in providing data would probably multiply this number by 4 or 5.
Spring quickly turned to Summer in July, with hot dry days. We found ourselves wondering where all the moisture we received during winter, had gone. Although a few welcomed storms came through during August, it was not enough to keep the pond full. As we write this newsletter, the hummingbirds have left, the nights are getting much cooler and the wolves are enjoying the change. When it is hot, we really only see the wolves at dawn and dusk. The rest of the time they are lounging somewhere cool. There is a saying in Colorado, that if you don’t like the weather, just wait a couple of hours. This seems to be holding true as the weather reports were just given, and they are predicting snow. Oh boy!

The HUGE challenge for the last several months and into the foreseeable future is the fundraising and building of the six, ½-acre habitats we need to get constructed, as soon as possible. As covered in our Spring Newsletter, these habitats will allow us to move all of the WideAwake Wolves to the Sanctuary. Obviously, we first need to get through all of our county hoops before we can move the animals, but the challenge of getting that many enclosures built in a very short time frame is radically affecting our financial and labor resources (see Massive Challenges). We have sent out a number of grant requests, but are not very confident they will be fruitful. Unfortunately, the animal welfare foundation community sends the vast majority of their funding to conventional shelters and animal control facilities. Any ideas that you might have on how we can accomplish this goal are most welcomed.

Isabeau, featured in our Spring Newsletter, continues to require a significant amount of time and repairs to anything with which she comes in contact. In fact, so much of what we will be covering in the Sanctuary Update is related to Isabeau that we have thought of changing the name of the article to “The Adventures of Isabeau”.

02 July – Isabeau Teasing the Old Ladies/ • WideAwake Heart Guard Administration

Over the past several months the three older females in the house pack (Lakotah Sioux, Rami and Chocolate) were getting tormented more and more by Isabeau. She thought they were great toys and would sneak up behind them and grab their tails or pull their legs out from under them. When Isabeau was smaller and younger, the three matriarchs could put her in her place without any problems. Now Isabeau was getting bolder and much bigger. Finally, the decision was made to rectify the problem, when Isabeau pulled on Chocolate’s leg as she was struggling, with her arthritis, to get up the stairs from the driveway on to the deck. We had been planning on building a ramp for the older ladies anyway, as they were having more trouble getting their back-ends to cooperate. We had wanted to wait as long as possible however, in order to allow them as much time as reasonable doing it the way they were used to. The time was now and we planned the construction. Monthly administration of Heart Guard at WideAwake had become an adventure – “what treat would work this time?” Most of the animals were pretty good about taking their medication for heart worm treatment, but Lance usually required great creativity and Bootsy would just be plain stubborn. Volunteers at WideAwake had tried everything from liver, ground beef with fish oil, cheese, bacon, hard-boiled eggs, liverwurst, cream cheese, hot dogs and even their own lunches. This time around, Bootsy took his without any problems and Lance became the problem child. Let the fun begin.


05 July – Building the Ramp The new ramp would allow the older females to access the geriatric enclosure directly in front of the house, without having to navigate any stairs or having to confront Isabeau. The deck on the front of the house had been set up so that there would now be three separate access gates. To the southeast Tunyan and Kasha could have access to the deck and the house while the other two gates, to the northeast and the northwest, were shut. Likewise, Shaman and Isabeau could access the deck while the other two gates were shut. This plan seemed to cover all the bases. The building began in earnest and took three days to complete. Now, would they use it? The old adage about teaching old dogs new tricks seemed to be playing itself out on our ramp. “What the heck is this thing and why do you want me to get on it?” seemed to be what all three of them were saying to us. The humans trying to get them to understand were providing great comic relief -- crawling around on the deck and ramp, hitting their heads on the underside of the deck and generally being goofs. Finally, the ‘Old Ladies’ caught on or became bored with our sideshow and seemed to realize that this was wonderful – they did not have to encounter Isabeau and no longer had to struggle up stairs. All three of them now use it like they had never known anything else. Who said old dogs can't learn new tricks.


06 July – Chocolate Experiences Difficulties
During the building of the ramp, it did become apparent that Chocolate (short for Chocolate Face), was having some health issues. Her water consumption was way up and she was having trouble holding her bladder overnight. We performed a quick urine dip strip test, which indicated the potential for a urinary tract infection. We immediately started her on an antibiotic. 09 July – Lance Finally Takes His Heart Guard After a number of attempts and failures to get Lance to take his heart guard, Lance and Luna’s enclosure was not given their normal ration of meat and kibble for several days. That did the trick, as he suddenly decided that liverwurst was the best thing ever.

10 July – Chocolate’s Condition Worsens The antibiotic was not working on her issues. She was now almost totally unable to get herself up from a laying position and needed help staying upright. This was more severe than we had anticipated and another call was made to our vet. The type of antibiotic was switched and a visit was scheduled for a more thorough exam and tests.

12 July – Dr. Sunken To the Sanctuary
Chocolate was already responding to the new antibiotic and we could tell she was feeling much better. However, as the morning medications were being distributed, it was very clear that there was something wrong with Arkte. Usually she races down the mountain, very excited to get her morning treats. Today she did not come down at all. Kiley ventured up the mountain to see what was going on. Arkte was very lethargic, vomiting and obviously not feeling well. This was reported to the founders and preparations were made for the vet to look at Arkte first. The vet arrived and we proceeded to dart Arkte for the exam. She was now at the bottom of the enclosure and drinking profusely. The news was very concerning as she seemed to be in severe distress. She was exhibiting poorly oxygenated blood, dehydration, vomiting, and recent bloody diarrhea. She was loaded up and rushed to the CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital. She was promptly put on IV fluids and preliminary tests run as they worked to stabilize her. The exhaustive tests would begin the next day. Everything needed to be eliminated, from the very elementary to the severe.

13 July – Arkte Testing At CSU/Dr. Sunken Back To the Sanctuary
They began the testing with the most likely possibility and then moving on to the next most likely. Each test was coming back negative. They ran through 14 different possibilities and ran as many tests, trying to determine what was happening. This continued throughout the day with blood tests, cultures, fecal exams, x-rays, an ultrasound, an endoscope and finally exploratory surgery. The surgery discovered numerous ulcers in the stomach and reaching into the rest of the digestive tract. Her intestines were not functioning and her stomach had been full of water. Biopsies were taken for pathology and medications were prescribed to help her digestive system recover from whatever was going on. We would have to wait for the pathology reports to give us a better idea of the cause. She would again spend the night at CSU to recover from the surgery. Meanwhile, Dr. Sunken returned to the Sanctuary to perform the procedures necessary to test Chocolate and what might be going on with her. While she was at it, we had her take samples from Lakotah Sioux as well, who was also having some incontenance issues.

14 July – Arkte Returns To the Sanctuary
Arkte was showing signs of improvement and the folks at the hospital were looking for us to take her back to the Sanctuary. It seems that they were all afraid of our little girl and did not feel comfortable keeping her another day. As she began feeling better, she was letting everyone know she was in charge and even with a muzzle on, was snapping at those who pushed her boundaries. We, likewise, felt that she would be better off at the Sanctuary, where she would be with her companion, Rachane, and in an area with which she was comfortable. She was returned to her enclosure, to the delight of Rachane, and slowly and carefully made her way up to her favorite spot at the top. Although obviously very sore, she seemed very relaxed and happy to be home. 15 July – Chocolate’s Remarkable Recovery Although we still did not have a confirmed diagnosis, Chocolate was doing so well, that she began getting up and walking again on her own. Whatever the malady was had amazingly subsided. After almost a week of aiding her movements, all of the humans were relieved both emotionally and physically. Constantly squatting down to help her was taking its toll. She even did a little bit of the ‘happy dance’ for us, just to add some icing to the cake. Trying to get Arkte to take her medications was a completely different story. Again, our creative culinary skills were tested. Trying to figure out what she wanted on any given day, that would be easy to digest, was an exercise in persistence and mountain climbing. Rachane on the other hand was having a great time. Any particular treat that we would try on Arkte, he would get a bit of as well. And if she did not want her’s, Rachane would gladly accept all of it.