This is the email I resceived back from the vet at the sanctuary Health centre.


Hi Sue,

I had a chance to do the roo necropsy this morning and I found that it had a colonic intussusception. What this means is that the large intestine has telescoped inside of itself causing a section of it to die. Almost the entire LI was affected and this was the cause of the bloody diarrhoea. This can be a primary issue where the intussusception may occur spontaneously or may be secondary to another disease process such as diarrhoea. I think that it is unlikely to be an infectious process that resulted in this condition but have sent tissue to the lab just in case.

Cheers,

Franciscus.

I feel better that it wasn't something that I had cause but then feel guilty that I let her live that extra couple of days and die in pain like she did. She had one runny poo one feed them the next ones were soild so this was very unexspected. All joeys seem to waver between runny to solid poo. I think being that the milk substitutes we use never really mimic their mother milk exactly.

Now not only did Jack have the runs but Annie also has today. Last feed I just gave them Lactade and have given them some Nilsta as I suspect maybe some thrush from the stress of the last couple of days.
Although the shelter i work through also has two pinkies with the same symptons so I am not sure what is going on. The last feed they both did seem better and there pouches weren't soiled. This si teh reason the necropsy of Maddison was so important and the follow up tests too. I do feel that this is just an adjustment to the milk. Not over feeding and trying to restore some gut fauna is very important.

Now I picked up a very small Wallaby today that fits into the palm of my hand. I have named him Rocky because he seems to be a fighter. He has survived the first 24 hours but bruising has started to come out on one of his hindlegs this will be the result from the injuries his mother would have also resceived from being hit by a car. Will be praying that he still survives. He is feeding really well but it is hard to keep ones like this at a constant warm temperature. They have no weight to keep them in contact with the heat source. I am checking on him every 15 minutes to keep him warm and not over heat him, getting this right is most important at this stage.

More to follow.....

Well as many of you know i spent two weeks at some of the Bushfire areas doing rescuing. It was an emotional time with very few animals surviving the fires. Many areas we went into you could smell death in the air of wrotting animals and perhaps even people. many raod we went donw no one survivd along the street and the yellow ribbons tied to the properties contested to this.

I returned home a couple of times and found it quite hard to cope with normal life however the last time I came home I brought with me three furless eastern Grey Kangaroos all of which we had to shoot there mothers due to how badly burned they were. I have learned to cope with just a couple of hours sleep a night but have loved waching these little ones grow. However on Tuesday night at midnight when I went to feed the eldest joey Maddison I found her heamorrhaging from her cloaca bright red blood. I rushed her to the emergency vet and got there around 2am. Not that there was much they could do but they said her colour was ok and the bleeding had eased a bit. I took her home and then after I had fed the joeys again in the morning I took her too the Healseville sanctuary health centre that specilaizes in Australian Native animals.

They thought it might be Coccidiosis, however I think she had a burst bowl or tawn intestine. They gave me antibiotics and pain meds that i have had to inject just under the skin. Her blleding eased over the next two days and she was bright and feeding well. Then at 4am this morning her breathing was laboured and i could tell things had changed. This morning ealry I fed the other two roos and she was panting which ment she was dieing. I rushed to the vet at the sanctuary but she died just as I arrived. I have been very emotinal about loosing her as you all know we get so attached to aniamls and even though she was only in my care about 9 weeks she had really become a part of my life. To watch them bag her for a neropsy was a hard thing to watch although they were very reverant with her body. I am hopeing to hear about the results by Monday although they only had one vet on today so they wer no sure when they could get it done. The beauty of being wild life carer is that we don't have to pay for thisbut then it isnt a priority for them either. I told them how important it is for me to know if this was contagious as I still have two joeys in care. They did not touch each other but they were housed close to each other. I am proberly parenoid now but Jack the little boy has the runs so I am treating him with some yoghurt in his milk as this can help restore their gut fauna if used for a limited time.I do have antibiotics to give to him but thsi can alo give them teh runs so I will monitor him throughout the night for any change.

So today has been a very emotinla day and I keep bursting into tears. However it has made me more determined to do the right things and raise these joeys the best I can. Then tonight the shelter I work with rang me to say a 130gram pinkie wallaby has come in do I want to take it on. It makes me know she has confidence in me so if it survives the night I will pick it up in the morning. When you are doing rehabilaltion you need to keep moving forward as there will always be those we loose but then another one alwasy seem to come in that needs us just as much. For some reason we are coming into a busy time of year. Summer saw us with heat stressed animals with soaring temps into the 100 degrees and then the bushfires. Then now we are getting many roos and wallabys hit by cars so joeys are coming in a coule each day. Luckliy we have many shelters out this way with great experience with furless joeys from Wombats, wallabys to roos and even small gliders of all kinds.

will give you an update soon......The wallaby also died this morning, bruising continued to come out on his leg so he must have also sustained injuires we didn't realize. I also found out that he had been left in his mothers pouch till he had gotten wuite cold so he really didn't have much hope.

I have been doing rescuing different wildlife for quite a few months now with some days up to three or four animal in a day. Sadly most have to be euthanized due to the nature of there injuries. I see many road traumas and many cat attacks, it's sad to think that we bring these injuries onto these animals. Finally i have become registered as a foaster carer and at the moement I have two joey Brushtail possums. Alvin came in as a pinkie and eyes closed after her mother was killed by a car. Mishka also a joey but fully furred came in also after her mother died from a road trauma. Thankfully the public are seeing the dead mothers and checking them to find the joeys in the pouches of their dead mothers. Thus has started my hands on training. A local shelter has taken me on and the training programs available are fantastic. In Victoria we have a great network of help for all shelters and foster carers so all information gets passed around on what works and doesnt work. I will probably end up with assorted birds and wombats and roos to name just a few of the animals that ome into care round here. I picked up a Kookaburra a bird commonly found around here but it wouldn't eat. I was told they can starve them selves for a few days. After five days I took it to the Sanctuary (Native animal zoo and wildlife hospital) and they exrayed it only to find it had broken ribs that the local vet failed to pick up. Just shows you that these animals need exspert care and many local vets don't have the knowledge or don't want to spend the time diagnosing an unpaid client. It's very tiring getting up every four hours in the night for the round the clock feeding of the possums but also very rewarding, having wildlife in care means that you an never wonder too far from home as the next feed is only hours away or you need to think ahead. Possums you can easily take with you but other animals like wallabies and rros ge stressed so its not advised lugging them around. Wild Sugar Gliders also often come into care and I'm hoping to be able to use my knowledge to hand raise some when I come across them. They do much better in pairs so it makes it hard not to pass them onto a shelter who is already houseing another glider. They also need to be released in pairs so getting a couple in at once is much better which hardly ever happens. Anyway will update you on other animals that come in.

What a year.
We are only into March and my year has been so busy. The end of January we shifted house to a fantastic property more in the bush. The wildlife is wonderful aspecially the parrots and birds that feed on our balcony, I'm sure there are wild gliders in the neighbourhood but also know there are Powerful Owls and they feed on Gliders. There are not as many possums as our last house and the owls might be the reason for that.

I have started to take my Dad for his chemo treatment every second week and I'm actually looking forward to spending more time with him on my own. My husband and I visit my parents almost everyday since his diagnosis last November. We were planing perhaps to take an overseas job but for now will stay close to home to support the family.

Then a couple of weeks ago my daughter who got married last october anounced to us we will be Grandparents in October. We couldnt be more thrilled and are already spoiling it with toys and cloths and its not even born yet. Life is so easy when you are happy with the partners your children have chosen.

My other daughter gets married in about 9 weeks so wedding plans are keeping me busy. We are also planing a trip to the U.S. for the 4th of july celebrations with some of my family that live in the Boston and Rhode Island area.

I also aquired another glider the week after our move. She is settling in but I'm having a few hiccups with the introductions. I'm sure it will all be solved before winter comes which is all I want.

Have lots more to report but will update again soon.

Ko and I had the fortune to go up into the high country for a weekend away with The Marsupial Society of Victoria of which we are both Members. We stayed at The Latrobe Uni Lodge just the other side of the town ship of Tolmie. The fires ravaged through this area in January this year destroying homes througout the area and also killing thousands of animals. To see the area only 10 months later with the regeneration of growth was just amazing. I can remember seeing the devistation that the fires caused on the news and particulary the rescued animals held up at a rescue facility in a tin shed. We were fortunate enough to visit this rehab facility and see some of these roos being cared for. The government does not fund these people and it costs them thousands of dollars a year to feed and care for these sick and injured wildlife. Gabby had many roos that she releases off her property but can have them for up to a couple of years. She also had a pair of Wedgetail Eagles in a very primitive enclosure, a Koala that Ko was thrilled to see and several other aniamsl. We spent some time holding and playing with several of her juvenile Wombats with one small female crawling onto my lap and falling asleep.

We were really keen to see her Squirel Gliders and Sugar Gliders but she wasn't sure where they were as they are free to roam the house and would be in a cupboard somewhere. The Sugar Gliders were found scared from the fires and had knotted themselves together with there tails. They were found like that and even though the carers unknotted them only one tail could be saved because of this they will not have the ballance they need to be released into the wild so will have to remain in care, although a free range life doesn't sound so bad.

Spending the weekend with a diverse range of views was really stimulating and much was discussed and ideas exchanged. We had a professor form Melbourne University with his son and a his friend. One guy who had many pet Wallabies and Betongs, a women who works for a company that does flora and fauna surveys. A couple who have developed there backyard in suburbia to hold wallabies, ringtail possums and several species of gliders of which we will visit early next year. Then Ko and myself.

Diets were exchanged although all seemed very similar with the gliders. Even though our opnions on care and keeping did vary slightly the discussions were never heated and all opinions were accepted into the conversations and interesting. We acually thought of you guys and thought how great it would be to share in such a weekend as this talking face to face and experiencing some amazing sights.

I have to say that the weekend may have changed my life as I am now thinking of getting a Redneck Wallaby to add to my clan. I thought you needed a large property but our new home on 2/3 of an acre apparantly will be planty big enough. They are great animals to keep and have a simple pellet diet with few medical needs. So some deep thought will go into this before embarking on such a life changing decision but the seed has been planted. Looks like the womabt run might end up the sleeping quarters for the wallaby.

The highlight of the weekend has to be the spotlighting we did on the Friday and Saturday nights. We first just headed up into the backyard of the property and a Sugar Glider was spotted in the sillouette. Ko could make it out but unfortunatly my sight could not see it but was still exciting to think we were in Glider territory

We then headed out in a couple of four wheel drives just up into parts of the bush that hadn't been touched by the bush fires. We slowly made our way along the back blocks of Tolmie with the spotlights out the carwindows looking for eyeshine. I bought a great torch from a local hardwahare store back home and it was fantastic in picking up the yellowy green eyeshine that Greater Gliders give out. Within a very short amount of time we got to see our first of what ended up being 8 Greater Gliders over the weekend. These are quite large gliders probably the size of the Amercian opossum in size with the longest fluffiest tails being longer than the body of the animals.

I tell you i could have died and done to heaven happy with seeing my first wildgliders. people think they are seen all the time but out of the 9 of us away that weekend only one had seen any wild gliders before. We were all excited to spot so many over the weekend from juvenile Greater Gliders to adults. The gliders were about 25 o 30 feet up the trees nd not many close to the road. On the Saturday night the 6 we saw were all seen in very quick succession in a small area. It showed that this species that lives off purely eating leaves mainly from certain gums, was able to escape the grips of the bush fires. The Greater Glider is vunerable due to clearing of forest areas for developemnet and could easily become threatened as a species.

Ko and I were fascinated in the regeneration of the trees througout the area.I thnk the others thought we were nuts. In fact half my photos were of trees, trunks and sap markings made by what we think would be gliders. We even spotted scratchings and markings that were probably made by gliders climbing the trees.There were Gums and eucalypts sprout all up the trunk of the tree so for us two legged creatures we could explore the lower follage and pick and smell the peppermint gum that is favoured by the Greater Glider. the Australian bush actually needs bush fires for many seeds to grow so it is natures way of matianing the bush. I remeber the wildlife carers being snowed under with rescues yet saying that really not many animals were actually found alive because the fires devistated so many heactares of land. Its so scarey to think that again this summer they say will proabably be the worsts bushfires season in history because of the 11 years of drought leading up to it.

Ko and I are already planning our next spotlight weekend, you can never get to much of it. The only thing is I need to exercise my neck muscles so that it doesn't get so soar.

Jett
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