When was the last time you saw a dentist? Well, for Southwest Wildlife’s timber wolf, Karma, it was just Tuesday when his caretakers noticed him drooling excessively. Now imagine what it takes to get an 85-pound, eleven year old wolf to say “ahhhhh”.
First, Karma had to be darted with an anesthetic to be brought into the SWCC clinic. The oral exam found the cause of his drooling was from a few bad incisors as well as build-up on his teeth. After SWCC’s veterinarian technician cleaned and polished all of his 42 teeth (humans have 32), Dr Egar, a volunteer vet, followed up by extracting 5 incisors. While Karma was sedated, he had blood drawn to send to the lab and several x-rays taken.
Karma is recovering from his oral surgery and is enjoying his special diet of soft and ground-up meat. If only his mate, Koda, would have known her sad day of separation and anxiety would result in her getting a strict, meat-only diet also while Karma's mouth heals.
Karma is a permanent resident at Southwest Wildlife because a poacher took him out of the wild when he was just a few months old and kept him illegally as a pet. Luckily, Karma found Southwest Wildlife where he will live a happy, and hopefully cavity-free life.
Timber wolves, also called gray wolves, range in color from grizzled gray or black to all white. Once common throughout all of North America, today their range has been reduced to Canada and a small portion of the United States. Timber wolves usually live, travel and hunt in packs of around four to seven animals. Packs include the mother and father wolves, called the alphas, their pups, and several other young wolves. |
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