Kiah
Kiah was our first permanent stay kangaroo. She was passed onto us by Bob from Wombat Rise Sanctuary, in July 2012. Kiah was 1645g when she arrived. Her mum had been hit by a car on the Sturt highway. Kiah was found in pouch by some motorists that had stopped to check the mothers pouch. Within a couple of days of coming into care Kiah developed diarrhoea, which often happens when they first come in because they are stressed, change of milk etc, so we weren't too concerned. It wasn't until after a couple weeks when it hadn't cleared up and was actually getting worse we took her to the vet to have a faecal test done to see if there was anything else going on to explain why it hadn't cleared up as yet. The test results showed that she had an E coli infection, so she was put on antibiotics to get rid of it. Her infection cleared up eventually and she seemed to be doing well, doing all the right things. A week after we got Kiah, another western grey joey came into care and was passed onto us so that he could be a friend for Kiah. About 3-4 months later she became unwell again and once again tests showed that she had another E coli infection which was also treated and cleared up with antibiotics. From here she powered on putting on weight and growing into a healthy kangaroo. A year later both Forest & Kiah fell very ill rather quickly. Forest started to haemorrhage so we rushed him to the vet, at 11pm. Luckily some friend of our who also are kangaroo carers were here so they were able to help us.
He was put on some heavy duty antibiotics and had an Iv Catheter inserted into his arm so that we could give him fluids intravenously. By the next day Kiah also fell seriously ill and was also rushed to the vets. Faecal samples had been taken from both kangaroos before they were put on antibiotics to make sure we knew exactly what was wrong and to ensure they were in the correct medications. The vet suspected coccidiosis or Camplylobacter two of the most horrible disease that affects kangaroos. Grey kangaroos seem to be especially susceptible to it. We set up a quarantine room and for the next 11 days they were both sedated for the most part, and we were giving around the clock care. We often took it in turns with one looking after them and the other would get some much needed sleep. We had to give them fluids intravenously every hour to keep up with the fluids they lost with the constant haemorrhaging & diarrhoea. They need to be turned over regularly to keep their circulation going and prevent blood pooling on one side of the body. The results of the test showed that they had Camplylobacter which in itself is often fatal in kangaroos, they also had trichamonis. Anyone that we spoke to had not ever heard of a kangaroo having trichamonis. I have only seen it in birds myself. It was a total mystery how they both contracted these diseases as there was no stagnant water laying around in their enclosure; their water bowl was cleaned at least once a day.
They both lost about a third of their body weight, they were that sick.
That year there were a number of carers whose kangaroos fell ill with campylobacter and some even lost kangaroos to it despite their best efforts.At the time our washing machine also broke down, I think we had worked it to death from the constant washing we were doing with soiled towels and blankets.It to several weeks before they were well enough to be able to go outside, slowly they gained their weight back and got stronger and stronger. Forrest has not had any health issues ever since, but Kiah started to develop a bloated tummy. She has been assessed by the vet and he seems to think it is possibly a mechanical issue from scarring of the intestines from her bouts of E coli and when they both got very sick, resulting in a slowed gut.
We have changed her diet accordingly and that has helped somewhat but it has not cured her issues completely. For now we just have to keep a close eye on her and if her tummy seems to get to bloated she is given something to help fasten/stimulate the passage of food through her intestines. If in time it gets worse and she is suffering we will need to evaluate her quality of life and take whatever steps we need to, but for now she is doing ok.Kiah has always been a bit of a mummy's girl and likes to be sooked. At 11kg she still demanded that she be pouched to have her bottles even though she was now outside full time.
She loves to come over for a bit of a cuddle and like to lick my hands. She loves playing in the water bowl in hot weather, giving us more work to do because she plays and splashes in it, we are constantly having to refill it