More than Just Mouldy Peanuts
Jill was having problems with joeys succumbing to seizures to the point where the affected animals were needing to be sedated and put on IV fluids for approximately 2 to 3 days. The animal would recover only to relapse a week or so later. She exhausted all avenues including the local vet and a phone call to Australia Zoo with no real success.
During a conversation with Jill she mentioned that birds were eating the neighbours peanut crop and dropping the peanuts into her pens on the flight over. This was making a mess and the joeys were eating any she missed in her clean up of water troughs and through the grass. So on to the internet, searching for seizures in relation to ingestion of peanuts. This resulted in finding a paper “Tremorgenic Mycotoxin Intoxication” written by Mary M Schell, DVM from the Animal Poison Centre in the US.
Tremorgenic Mycotoxins are neurotoxins that produce varying degrees of muscle tremors and seiures that can last for hours or days. At least 20 mycotoxins have been identified as tremorgens (capable of inducing serious muscle tremors). Mouldy peanuts are a known source of this group of fungi. Treament suggested was sedation to control the tremors or seizures, decontamination of the gastrointestinal tract and stabilising the animal, fortunately this was the routine adopted by Jill to pull these joeys through. To her credit, she didn't lose one although it came close for a few.
Once all the peanuts were removed and the crop was harvested, the incidents of seizures halted. Though we will never really know for sure, as testing the animals was beyond our financial means, it seems highly likely for these joeys at least, that tremorgenic mycotoxins were the cause
Carmon Martin
During a conversation with Jill she mentioned that birds were eating the neighbours peanut crop and dropping the peanuts into her pens on the flight over. This was making a mess and the joeys were eating any she missed in her clean up of water troughs and through the grass. So on to the internet, searching for seizures in relation to ingestion of peanuts. This resulted in finding a paper “Tremorgenic Mycotoxin Intoxication” written by Mary M Schell, DVM from the Animal Poison Centre in the US.
Tremorgenic Mycotoxins are neurotoxins that produce varying degrees of muscle tremors and seiures that can last for hours or days. At least 20 mycotoxins have been identified as tremorgens (capable of inducing serious muscle tremors). Mouldy peanuts are a known source of this group of fungi. Treament suggested was sedation to control the tremors or seizures, decontamination of the gastrointestinal tract and stabilising the animal, fortunately this was the routine adopted by Jill to pull these joeys through. To her credit, she didn't lose one although it came close for a few.
Once all the peanuts were removed and the crop was harvested, the incidents of seizures halted. Though we will never really know for sure, as testing the animals was beyond our financial means, it seems highly likely for these joeys at least, that tremorgenic mycotoxins were the cause
Carmon Martin
Feeding Your Baby
‘Hand-rearing orphaned macropods should be done with the unique physiology of macropod lactation in mind to ensure success…’ ‘Macropod Nutrition’,
This article is not included in your organization's subscription. However, you may be able to access this article under your organization's agreement with Elsevier.
Joseph A. Smith DVM, Fort Wayne Children's Zoo, USA. Cited from: Veterinary Clinics of North America: Exotic Animal Practice, Nutrition and Behavior of Uncommon Species, 2009.
The composition of marsupial milk changes both in quantity and quality during the growth of the pouch young.
Carbohydrates and protein concentration slowly increase – up to 13% before first pouch emergence then rapidly decrease to approximately 1 %. Protein then slightly decreases after joeys first pouch emergence. There is also a gradual increase in the energy content of the milk throughout and variations in mineral content.
The problem with universal artificial formula is such a large volume needs to be fed to give the animal its caloric requirements. Because the process marsupials use to digest milk is slow, the high volume feeding necessary may result in diarrhoea. The formula also lacks in the levels of protein and fat.
So how do we feed marsupials to ensure they get the high energy requirements and other changes in milk composition during lactation? Wombaroo has been developed to reflect these changes through the growth stages as closely as possible.
The following table highlights just how different the two formulae are.
Source: ‘Medicine of Australian Mammals’ edited by Larry Vogelnest & Rupert Wood, CSIRO publishing, 2008.
Joeys may survive on other formula but rarely thrive. Feeding a universal supplement may also lead to malnourishment and all the problems associated with such. When the larger volumes of universal formula needed are taken into consideration the difference of cost is minimal, especially the long term costs – both to the joey and the carer - that may be incurred in treating nutritional deficiencies such as cataracts and fur loss.
Carmon Martin
Apprentice Carer! - 5 years
This article is not included in your organization's subscription. However, you may be able to access this article under your organization's agreement with Elsevier.
Joseph A. Smith DVM, Fort Wayne Children's Zoo, USA. Cited from: Veterinary Clinics of North America: Exotic Animal Practice, Nutrition and Behavior of Uncommon Species, 2009.
The composition of marsupial milk changes both in quantity and quality during the growth of the pouch young.
Carbohydrates and protein concentration slowly increase – up to 13% before first pouch emergence then rapidly decrease to approximately 1 %. Protein then slightly decreases after joeys first pouch emergence. There is also a gradual increase in the energy content of the milk throughout and variations in mineral content.
The problem with universal artificial formula is such a large volume needs to be fed to give the animal its caloric requirements. Because the process marsupials use to digest milk is slow, the high volume feeding necessary may result in diarrhoea. The formula also lacks in the levels of protein and fat.
So how do we feed marsupials to ensure they get the high energy requirements and other changes in milk composition during lactation? Wombaroo has been developed to reflect these changes through the growth stages as closely as possible.
The following table highlights just how different the two formulae are.
Source: ‘Medicine of Australian Mammals’ edited by Larry Vogelnest & Rupert Wood, CSIRO publishing, 2008.
Joeys may survive on other formula but rarely thrive. Feeding a universal supplement may also lead to malnourishment and all the problems associated with such. When the larger volumes of universal formula needed are taken into consideration the difference of cost is minimal, especially the long term costs – both to the joey and the carer - that may be incurred in treating nutritional deficiencies such as cataracts and fur loss.
Carmon Martin
Apprentice Carer! - 5 years
What To Do When You Find An Injured Animal
First off it is illegal to keep wildlife, so it must be handed over to a vet or registered carer. The main thing you can do to help is. Check any animals on the road to see if they are still alive or have joey's in their pouch's.. If the mother is dead and they do have a joey try to keep them as calm as possible they will be terrified of you, put the joey in a warm jumper or bag (soft) till you can get help. If the joey is only a pinky unfurred and eyes shut they can still be attached to the mothers teat, you must be very careful getting them out you cut the teat as close to the mother as possible it will dry up and the joey will let it go after a while, they, at that age can not regulate their own heat so they must be kept warm till you get help. The main thing is to get them into care as soon as possible. Do be very careful on the road we don't want you run over to.
Our wildlife are very specialised and need constant care and feeding every 3 hours, seven days a week, to survive and live a healthy life they must have the correct formula to drink, they can also get what is called, capture myopothy which, if not treated, very quickly kills them. That is caused by the stress of what has happened to them. Some very well meaning people think they are doing the right thing by trying to raise them but do not see the after effects of what happens to them when they are no longer in a position to raise them. It is a long term commitment up to 2 years with a eastern grey joey it can be very expensive and heartbreaking.
So, please I can not stress enough how important it is to get help for the joey's and if you really want to help our wildlife tell one of the carers they will be able to help you with what you need to do to get a permit. Our precious wildlife need as many good carers as we can get, so, if you think you would like to be a carer contact any of us in this web site and we will be happy to help you
Jill
Our wildlife are very specialised and need constant care and feeding every 3 hours, seven days a week, to survive and live a healthy life they must have the correct formula to drink, they can also get what is called, capture myopothy which, if not treated, very quickly kills them. That is caused by the stress of what has happened to them. Some very well meaning people think they are doing the right thing by trying to raise them but do not see the after effects of what happens to them when they are no longer in a position to raise them. It is a long term commitment up to 2 years with a eastern grey joey it can be very expensive and heartbreaking.
So, please I can not stress enough how important it is to get help for the joey's and if you really want to help our wildlife tell one of the carers they will be able to help you with what you need to do to get a permit. Our precious wildlife need as many good carers as we can get, so, if you think you would like to be a carer contact any of us in this web site and we will be happy to help you
Jill
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