Hediye's Puppies Get Their First Vaccination

On Monday of this week, Hediye’s six puppies, born 15 August, received their first vaccination. This first “puppy vaccine” is against distemper, Parvo, hepatitis, and Parainfluenza. The puppies were given the vaccines while receiving their morning feeding, so they didn’t even notice; they were so interested in the food!

I am giving the vaccines, and Paige Seitz, animal husbandry volunteer, took all the photos.

Thanks,

Gaby

Cubs with a Cold

A quick update on the OK cubs (stands for Okakarara, the region from which they came) recently received a wellness checkup from the vet (me!). Two of them were sneezing, had watery nasal discharge, and sounded a bit congested.

I did physical exams on all four of them, including listening to their lungs, taking their temperatures, and checking their hydration and mucous membranes. Good news, it’s just a minor cat cold, no one has a fever, all are still eating well, and nobody is lethargic or feeling badly. It will likely run its course in a few days and all will be fine. I'm on the photo (left) with Suzie Kenney, a one-year intern from England who is primarily responsible for the care and training of the OK cubs.

Sneezes and purrs to all!
Gaby

CCF's Cheetah Ambassdors in Training- Update

As the 'OK Cubs' get bigger and bigger they are also being exercised every other day. With their new found love of the "runway course" we have been able to track their speeds using GPS dog collars that transmit every 5 seconds. This does two great things for the staff at CCF.

1. We can keep track of their speeds and the distances they run.
2. It ensures that we can find them if they get scared and run away.

This is a win-win situation for everyone. With the tracking collars we have found that on 13 August, Senay (photo) reached speeds of 44 km/hr running 1.1 km total! So far she has become an excellent runner and we will continue to build up her strength. This is a great way for exercise and to enrich the lives of these four very unique cheetahs

Casey Lay

Update on goats and dogs

Last week we had two of our Boer goats give birth to triplets, which is highly unusual. Goats normally will give birth to twins. Unfortunately with triplets, there is always one that is weakest/smallest, and we lost one triplet from each set within two days of being born. However, the remaining two sets of (now) twins are doing great, and getting stronger every day.

On the dog front, Hediye’s puppies have all opened their eyes and are now running around causing mischief. They received their first de-worming treatment today. All six are healthy and happy.

Regards to all!

Gabriella Flacke, DVM, MVSc

One-year old cheetah cub arrives at CCF.

Last Saturday CCF staff collected a cheetah cub that had been caught by a farmer in the west of the country. The year-old cub had been caught in an area where the farmer had been losing sheep, so he set a capture cage. There were other tracks around the cage, so the mother and other cubs were in the area; however, after a day, the other cheetahs had left the area. The CCF team, headed by Kat Forsthye and Gail Potgieter, brought the cub to CCF where it underwent a health check. After anesthesia, the cub was weighed (28 kg), measured, blood collected, and minor capture cage wounds treated (photo below). The cub was in very good condition and was put into one of CCF’s quarantine pens, where it will be monitored for a few days after which it will be placed with other orphan cubs that are near its age.

We also had a film crew here on Sunday filming a story about the cheetahs and eye damage from bush encroachment. As you know, thorns on the bushes can seriously injure the cheetahs, sometimes causing eye damage and blindness.We look forward to receiving information of when and where the documentary will be aired.

Finally, as the Chewbaaka Memorial Challenge came to an end yesterday, our staff is busy tallying the donations to find out how we did. However, we want to thank everyone who made a donation to honour Mr. C.

Laurie