Yesterday was a long day for one young cheetah here at CCF. Through a series of events, he arrived a month ago underweight, in ill health, and with a bad fracture of the distal femur, just above the knee. Since he was about15 months old, this meant his growth plate was primarily affected, but happily the stifle (knee) joint itself was unaffected. Mother nature, being the ultimate healer, formed a lot of scar tissue and bone callous around the fracture in an attempt to stabilize it even though it was not in the correct anatomic alignment, while staff at CCF worked to get the cheetah strong enough health wise to withstand a surgery to repair the leg.

The day finally arrived when the cheetah was declared fit for surgery, and the local veterinarian was ready after ordering special plates and instruments to repair it. Everything went like clockwork from getting the cheetah “Axel” into his transport cage to anesthetizing him at the vet. All the vital statistics were very stabile during the 6 hour long procedure, and he had IV fluids and medications for infection and pain/inflammation control post-op.

The surgery itself was difficult due to the amount of scar tissue and bone callous formation around the old fracture, Mother Nature had worked overtime! Muscles had contracted to counteract for the change in bone positioning after the initial injury, and all required gentle retraction and stretching in order to replace the femur into a proper anatomic alignment. After several hours this goal occurred with a resounding “sthwopp” sound. After that, life was relatively easy aligning the plate on the lateral side of the fracture, placing the screws and then after flushing the area with sterile saline closing the muscle and other tissues in such a way as to support the joint and prevent the incision from opening. Since a cheetah is unlikely to stand quietly and allow suture removal without anaesthesia, sutures need to be placed under the skin and the top covered with insect preventative. Radiographs showed a superb alignment of the fracture and his recovery went very smoothly. After returning to CCF, he stayed in a quiet capture crate overnight at our clinic here.

Great cheers were had all ’round when he took and ate a small meat chunk with his medication the next day, and then upon release to a small enclosure where he will continue to recover with medication for the next 10 days. Further updates will occur as he continues to recover over time. As to his long term outlook he will become one of the permanent residents since he cannot return to the wild with this injury. However, he should have good life quality in running about here and playing with his sister.

The team performing surgery on Axel.

Written by our visiting vet Kris Kingery.

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In August, an orphan of two months was rescued by a farm worker after his dog treed him. littleC, now walking in Chewbaaka’s paw prints, is becoming an amazing ambassador. He has grown considerably and is now living with two-year-old orphan, Kanini. He has been meeting school groups, farmers and visitors regularly and has the crowd listening to our message for the survival of his kind.

Technorati : cheetah

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Leia, one of our non-releasable cheetahs, had a problem with her salivary gland recently. This is something that has occured at least twice before since I’ve been here (2 and a half years), and this time I think it’s resolved for good. I noticed that when she hissed, the left side of her tongue looked bubbly; that was the same as before. we had a vet come out and anesthesize her. It turns out there was a miniscule hole in the gland and a piece of foreign debris got in and infected it. Our vet, Dr. Axel Hartmann from Otjiwarongo, took the infected gland out so that she won’t be having anymore problems. She was on antibiotics for a few days and then returned back to her big pen. She’s doing fine. Actually, we introduced another cat into that area, Shadow. Shadow is 9 years old and was at Bellebeno –CCF’s 64-ha pen, but she was getting beat up too often so we decided to move her closer. That was actually the same reason why Leia is also in this pen with Blondi, Sandi, and Dusty. So Leia and Shadow are in the big pen now, and they seem to be ignoring each other for the most part.

We are currently caring for 45 cheetahs that cannot be released back into the wild. CCF cares for these orphaned, old or injured cheetahs that cannot be released back into the wild as they do not have the skills or physical capability to survive. Although CCF is not a welfare centre, it does accommodate these non-releasable cheetahs. If another approved home becomes available, CCF relocates these cheetahs to an alternate captive facility. However, many of these cheetahs are permanent residents of CCF, and fortunately we have many donors who help us fund their food and veterinary care through our Cheetah Sponsorship program. We can’t thank them enough for their help!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Phil - Research Assistant and Cheetah Keeper

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On Friday 16 November, one of CCF’s most important resident cheetahs, Chewbaaka, had a special house call by Otjiwarongo veterinarian for an infected eye. For the last couple of weeks, the famous ambassador cheetah was observed to have a sensitive and weepy eye. The eye became worse, showing signs of broken vessels in the retina and haziness. The local veterinarian, Dr. Axel Hartman, from the Otjiwarongo Veterinary Clinic was contacted and arrangements set to more closely observe the cause of the problem. Chewbaaka, CCF’s 12 year old ambassador cheetah, was orphaned when he was 3 weeks old and has been at CCF ever since. As the star of many TV documentaries, he was anesthetised and treated in the CCF clinic where samples were taken for further analysis.

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