Memphis Zoo
Medical Records Excerpts
Ty
FEET
Jan. 2, 1996: One of the toenails on the left rear foot has started to separate from the nailbed. There is a softened area in the middle of the nail which may be due to trauma and infection under the nail. Plan on trimming out tomorrow and cleaning to see if any of the nail can be saved.
Jan. 3, 1996: “. . . Nail appears ‘dead’.”
SKIN/BODY ABSCESS/GROWTHS
Sept. 25, 1995: Problem: dermatitis. Skin started “cracking” on back a few days ago – some bleeding. . . .10 year history of dry skin on this animal’s dorsum, when left outside seemed to improve during rainy spring- nodules are smaller on back.
Feb. 21, 1996: Skin over back appears much, much better than last year. May be due to better efforts to keep it moist and getting the animal outside earlier in the year where it spends a lot of time in the water.
April 6, 1999: Small abscess found on ventrum of trunk – opened and flushed.
July 5, 2000: Small area of dermatitis just behind left ear. Due to animal’s latent wish to turn this member of the vet staff into an inkspot, unable to get close look at the area.
May 17, 2004: Small growth on rostral side of right ear. Keepers report observing lesion intermittently over last few years. . . . Lesion scraped with scalpel. Small tissue sample submitted for biopsy.
June 21, 2005: Keepers report ear mass still intermittently bleeding, still appears to be active inflammatory process.
August 17, 2005: No improvement in lesion in last month or two. Later note indicates that this lesion has been present for two years.
August 29, 2005: Biopsy showed mass to probably be a hemagioma this time. Will plan to surgically remove when weather cools off a little.
DIGESTIVE/NUTRITIONAL
Oct. 19, 1997: Suspect Colic. Looking much better.
Oct. 20, 1997: Still off a little. Poor appetite. Passing feces about 50 percent of normal output.
Oct. 22, 1997: Passed about 20 pounds of stones/gravel last night. Seen pacing around the yard and having difficulty defecating yesterday afternoon. . .
August 28, 1998: Vitamin E deficiency confirmed. Levels well below normal.
Sept. 23, 2005: Large amount of gravel in stool today. Keepers are also reporting some weight loss in both elephants. Keepers also think Ty is on the slow side today.
Sept. 24, 2005: Keepers report substantial weight loss (about 700 pounds) since beginning of September. Animal is not eating hay well this week (other animal is also not eating well), but otherwise no clinical signs of disease are present. Addendum: Elephant gained about 50 pounds today.
Sept. 25, 2005: Elephant gained about 300 lbs today.
TUSK
Jan. 12, 1998: Broke off left tusk while worrying about new elephant.
Jan. 15, 1998: Longitudinal fracture in left tusk through middle of tusk. Fracture extends back past gumline. Good possibility of involving the pulp cavity. . . . Dispense bute for pain.
Jan. 24. 1998: Examined tusk – no discharge. May be some slight swelling to the left side of the face near the root of the tusk. Phenylbutazone dose changed to tablets since out of paste – same dosage. Animal still refuses to go outside.
March 29, 1998: Examined skin at base of tusk. Skin is raw and ulcerated from sharp edge of broken tusk rubbing against it along with moist conditions. (tusk subsequently trimmed and bone wax applied to rough edges.)
ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION
August 28, 1999: Worked with animal in the squeeze chute today. Able to palpate in and around rectum easily. Put hand about 6 inches into rectum to simulate ultrasound when we reach that point – no problem at all with her.
Feb. 20, 2002: First semi-annual elephant safety meeting was held today. Discussions also held regarding going back to chaining animals in order to do AI procedure as well as safety.
MISC.
August 15, 1998: Animal walking around stiffly this morning when it came in to the barn. History of being left outside last four months or so. Outside lot torn up with tire on top of hotwire as if animals were quite active last night. . . . Start on phenylbutazone and CTM.
Sept. 29, 1999: Vesicles on top of mouth.
Nov. 1999: Rectal polyps found and biopsied.
Asali
SKIN/BODY ABSCESSES
March 3, 1998: ulcer/abscess on right hip region. “Sores around one leg from shipment abrasions.”
April 20, 1998: ulcer/abscess on right hip region persists. “Unable to do trunk flushes on this elephant at this point – was essentially a wild elephant until it started undergoing training here a few months ago.
July 20, 1998: Old pressure sore/ulceration has healed nicely. Barely noticeable now.
Jan. 29, 1999: 3 cm x 3 cm SQ abscess in area of left lateral “elbow.” She will not allow it to be touched currently and it is not worth squeezing her. [putting her in the elephant restraint device]
March 28, 2000: Numerous tail cracks in skin. Possibly from rubbing on padlocks in chain.
Sept. 4, 2000: 2x2 cm excoriation on right side of the face of this animal. . . Temporal gland is just above and works rather well.
Sept. 20, 2000: Examined lesion again. An area of dead tissue has been trimmed away. Keepers are able to flush syringe into a dead space beneath the dying skin. Continue to treat with flushing. Keepers asked to trim a little more tissue away.
April 7, 2001: Lesion on the right ear. Area is about 3 cm x 6 cm in size.
April 8, 2001: Cleaned and debrided area on right ear. . . There is that is roughly 8 x 12 cm in size just caudal to the open wound. It appears that this tissue was damaged by the probable return blood flow with the toxin/venom in it. It may become non-viable with time as well.
March 16, 2002: Small area of old apparent frostbite on the left ear at margin. Smaller area in towards the rear center on the right ear.
March 20, 2002: Frost bitten areas are healing slowly.
FEET
Dec. 28, 2003: Keepers report digging out some fowl smelling material from under nail of middle toe of right front foot, with small distal portion of nail coming off. Exam reveals some separation of nail proximal to removed portion, but no additional debris.
INJURY
March 30, 1999: Not acting like herself today. . . . Several scars found on her side due to the larger elephant the last few days – likely the reason she is a little off today.
April 13, 1999: Got caught in her tire chain last night – wrapped around her ear and neck. No damage other than small skin surface wound on right ear ventrally.
October 22, 2002: Animal was apparently caught in wire last week which wrapped around its ear. Old wound noted underneath left ear this morning by keeper.
July 8, 2004: New scale installed in squeeze chute yesterday. Animal fell this AM and slid across floor. Cut on right leg at knee joint. Does not appear to be significant at this point.
TUSK
May 7, 1999: Large amount of pus flushed out of tusk root site on the right side (tusk was broken off when the animal was younger and has not grown back.)
ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION
August 28, 1999: Worked her in the chute today. She is very active in the squeeze and reluctant to allow anyone to touch her. It is going to take some serious training to get her to stand still for ultrasound/artificial insemination, et al.
Oct. 19, 2000: Reproductive ultrasound done today by Dr. Dennis Schmidt. No abnormalities were found and reproductive tract including ovaries appeared healthy.
Feb. 20, 2002: First semi-annual elephant safety meeting was held today. Discussions also held regarding going back to chaining animals in order to do AI procedure as well as safety.
Oct. 19, 2002: Started working with animal to allow vestibular/vaginal speculum to be passed. Two inch PVC appears too wide to allow easy passage. . .
Oct. 26, 2002: Able to pass a 1.5 inch PVC pipe up the vestibule of the animal today. (2 inch didn’t fit.)
Dec. 7, 2002: Attempted to pass PVC tube into the vestibule of the animal. Size wise it will work, but between cool day (50 F) and the newness of the tube, it was not appreciated. Animal will not stand still with tube in her at the moment.
Dec. 17, 2002: Warmed the KY jelly before lubricating PVC pipe to pass into vestibule. Animal did not stand very well for insertion again. Unable to pass it fully due to rear limb dance. AI postponed . . .until at least March due to semen complications in Florida.
Jan. 20, 2003: Warm weather today. Able to pass one inch, warmed lubricated PVC pipe fully into vestibule. Able to palpate the pipe about 10 inches below rectum against the skin. Left it there 2 or 3 minutes. Once pipe is past the “catchpoint” sliding it in is relatively easy and the animal tolerates it well. . . . Lead keeper considering tying rear limbs to bars to allow easier access to vestibule.
July 5, 2003: AI procedure started about 7 p.m. Area below rectum scrubbed. Tube passed up vaginal opening to just below rectum. Surgical incision made over tube about 8-10 cm length into vaginal vault. Vaginal speculum inserted and insemination pipette threaded into area. Took several attempts and probably one hour before the correct opening was found. Inseminated with two different samples of semen. Considerable amount of contamination in the process. Incision closed with two sutures of 2 Vetafil. Another attempt will be made tomorrow although she will be at the end of her cycle. Main problems were too much back and forth motion in the chute and the way she stood in the chute with her butt at an angle in the corner. Both of these made passage of the insemination pipette difficult.
July 6, 2003: Second AI procedure late this afternoon. Incision reopened by removing sutures. Same process, but after one hour or so, Dr. Schmitt decided that he would not be able to the pipette due to the movement of the animal and her position. Semen just deposited into vaginal area with a 60 ml. syringe. Wound closed with 2 Vetafil again. Abrasions on both hips due to rubbing on sides of chute. Will need to watch these along with AI incision.
July 7, 2003: Seems to be doing ok. Surgical incision will be cleaned with Nolvasan. Scrub daily. Mastitis ointment will be applied also per recommendations of Dr. Schmitt. After a few days, Preparation H ointment will be applied to decrease amount of itching and tail rubbing.
July 16, 2003: Examined in chute today. Pus coming from incision site. Does not appear to be any healing of incision at this point. Instructed keepers to flush with dilute Nolvasan daily if possible using a 12 oz dose syringe. Rinse gently with a hose at first. Attitude seems to be getting better in general, and she may tolerate the treatment.
July 28, 2003: Purulent discharge still evident; swelling much improved.
August 25, 2003: Appears to be completely healed.
Jan 24, 2004: AI performed by Dr. Schmitt with semen from two bulls. . . AI procedure essentially the same as last time. Minimal problems with restraint once positioned in the chute. Incision site not sutured when finished this time. Left open for second AI attempt tomorrow. Everything appeared to go fairly smoothly including threading AI pipette.
Jan. 25, 2004: Put into chute around 1:30 p.m. Keepers unable to position chest strap to keep her restrained. After about 2 hours or so of trying, given 30 mg butorphanol IM. Continued to try chest strap after 15 minutes with no success. Given another 20 mg of butorphanol after about 45 minutes. Still unable to get strap on for another hour or so. After finally getting her positioned, Dr. Schmitt was unable to pass speculum. Tried for about 40 minutes and finally gave up. Sutured with 2 Vetafil.
Struggled very hard in chute during this time, but seemed OK when let out of chute. No external abrasions this time.
Jan. 31, 2004: Copious amount of purulent drainage from surgical AI site today, and is looking much better now. Keepers have been able to flush side with dilute Nolvasan, and administer cephapirin and hemorrhoid cream topically. Keepers also report seeing purulent material in urine at least twice. Plan to pull weekly CBC’s to monitor extent of infection.
Feb. 21, 2004: Remaining two stitches removed. Surgical site is closing up, and minimal amount of purulent material present. Keepers will continue to flush.
Sept. 18, 2005: Animal placed in restraint chute about 2 p.m. Non surgical approach used for AI. Modified endotracheal tube placed in vaginal canal and endoscope used to try to visualize hymen. Endoscope tended to double back on itself and hymen never visualized. Tube removed and endoscope advanced as far as possible into vaginal canal. Semen deposited as far forward as possible into vaginal canal. Appeared that maybe 80% remained in vaginal canal with minimal drainage. Total time for procedure 1 hour.
Animal very calm for procedure and minimal stress involved this time.
September 19, 2005: No semen available for AI today. . . . Around 2 PM placed in chute and modified endotracheal tube placed in vaginal canal without any problems. Longer tube may help with endoscope placement tomorrow.
Sept. 20, 2005: Placed in restraint chute around 2 p.m. Longer tube placed into vaginal canal. Endoscope still doubling back on itself. Tube removed and endoscope advanced as far as possible into vagina. Semen deposited Appeared that majority of semen did leak out quickly. Maybe only 20 percent retained for any period of time.
MISC.
August 10, 1999: Keepers reported repeated instances of whitish bumps at the junction of the palate and upper right lip in the oral cavity. . . . These have occurred off and on for the past few months in this animal. They have also been found at times in the other African cow. Suspect papilloma virus but may try to test fluid from one of the vesicles to be sure.