Dolphin & Whale Hospital
Mote Marine Laboratory

Information regarding the first six months of rehabilitation

and the second six months of rehabilitation

1/21 Today marks one full year that Ami has been at the Dolphin and Whale Hospital. During that time, she has gained about 260 pounds of weight and about 2.5 feet in length. 1/24 Ami's white count is back to normal and she will likely be taken off antibiotics tomorrow. She is now receiving a combination of squid and formula. 1/28 Ami's behavior seem to be back to normal for her. Decreasing formula and increasing squid. She has lost a little weight (160.5 kg) but is growing in length 217 cm (7'2").

Ami breaches for renowned whale sculptor Randy Puckett

1/30 Ami continues to have minor gastrointestinal problems. Planning to do gastroscopy on Friday to determine cause. 2/1 Gastroscopy this morning indicated small erosions and several raised areas in the first stomach. The raised areas are possibly parasite granulomas. Have started her on carafate and will use an anthelmintic for any parasites. Otherwise, she is still playful. 2/4 Ami has been showing some vomiting from the antibiotic and her appetite is down a little. Today's weight was 165 kg (363 lbs). 2/6 Appetite is better today and she has not vomited in 48 hrs. 2/8 Slowly improving every day. 2/13 Ami is doing much better. She is off antibiotics, at least temporarily, and her appetite seems to be back to normal. 2/15 Ami is the most playful she has been in the last few months. This usually indicates that she is feeling very well. 2/18 Ami's weight today was 163.5 kg (359.7 lb) and she appears to be gaining weight again. Appetite is very good. 2/20 Yesterday, Ami began to rub on the bottom of the tank and was abrading her abdomen but dexamethasone seems to have alleviated the problem. Appetite continues to be good. 2/22 Ami is becoming constipated again. She will be given a treatment for it in the morning. It seems to be from the squid so we may have to reduce even further the amount of squid she gets and at the same time increase the formula. 2/25 Doing well today. Weight is 165.5 kg (364.5 lb) and length is 221 cm (7'3"). 2/27 Ami is active and appetite is good today. 3/1 Switched antibiotics yesterday and blood values have improved today. Doing well otherwise. 3/4 Continuing to do well. 3/6 More of the same. 3/8 Some vomiting and inappetance today, probably due to the antibiotic. Changed antibiotics again. 3/9 Ami seems much better today. 3/11 Today's weight was 167 kg (367.4 lb) and length was still 221 cm. 3/13 Ami continues to improve. No more vomiting or rubbing her abdomen. Since she is still not able to digest squid well, we will be trying to feed her some herring tomorrow to see how that works for her. 3/16 Ami is taking the herring very well and doing well on it, so far. 3/19 Ami generally doing fairly well. Yesterday's weight was 168 kg (369.6 lb). 3/20 Ami appears to be more interactive today. New enzymes may be helping with digestion. 3/23 Doing well, although she may be becoming slightly constipated again. 3/25 Today's weight was 169 kg (371.8 lb) and length was 223.5 cm (7'4"). 3/28 Continuing to do well. Rubbing on the tank some, however. 4/1 Less rubbing and appetite good. Today's weight 173 kg (380.6 lb). 4/4 Appetite very good. Have started adding shark fillets to her diet, which she accepts well. Continuing on herring, as well. 4/11 Ami did not do well on the shark fillets. Over the weekend she developed vomiting and diarrhea and a stomach infection. Have put her back on antibiotics and antifungals and she is doing much better. 4/12 Ami continues to improve daily. 4/17 Ami's appetite is excellent and she is very playful. 4/21 Ami's weight is now 177.5 kg (390.5 lb) and her length is 227.5 cm (7'6"). She is now off antibiotics and antifungals. 4/24 Ami continuing to do well. She is digesting herring fillets well and will soon be taken off the formula. 4/26 No change, doing well. 4/29 Ami continues to do well. Today's weight was 182.5 kg (401.5 lb), obviously doing well on the herring fillets. 5/3 Ami again appears to have an ulcer causing occasional vomiting and decreased appetite. We have begun treating her and have put her back on a liquid diet temporarily. 5/6 Ami is feeling better and again is eating well, but she has lost a little weight this week- her weight is 181.5 kg (399 lbs) today. Ami's length is now 229 cm (7.5 ft). She is responding to ulcer treatment, and we are beginning to reintroduce solid food (herring fillets) into her diet. 5/8 Ami is doing well today. Yesterday she had GI problems again, perhaps aggravated by the solid food (herring). We will keep her on a liquid diet today and then slowly add squid back into her diet. What to feed Ami has been a real challenge because so little is known about the nutritional requirements of pygmy sperm whales. We know that they eat squid, but the deep water species that they catch may be quite different nutritionally from the commercially available "restaurant" variety we can offer. What we need are samples of the species of squid these whales normally catch to have analyzed, but these squid are difficult to acquire. 5/10 The not-so-little whale calf is doing well. Ami has been very playful and interactive. Meanwhile, we are gradually increasing the squid in her diet (2.5 lbs today). 5/13 Ami is again gaining weight; she gained 1 kg (2.2 lbs) this week. She is active and eating well. Her weekly exam shows that she is fairly stable and her ulcer is improving. We will continue to gradually increase the amount of solid food in her diet (now at 4 lbs of squid per day). 5/15 No change in the past two days- still doing well. 5/18 Ami continues to improve. She is now on a combination of squid and herring fillets. 5/20 Ami is doing well and gaining weight. She is almost back entirely on solid food. 5/24 Still doing well. She has now passed 16 months in captivity. 5/28 In general, Ami is doing quite well. She continues to grow and has been taken off all formula. Still some problem with a gastric ulcer, but no constipation. 5/31 Continuing to do well. 6/3 Ami is off all antibiotics again, is gaining weight, and doing well otherwise. 6/6 Still doing very well. 6/10 Weight and length continue to increase. Gastroscopy revealed that the ulcer is almost completely healed. 6/12 No change. 6/16 Appetite excellent, very playful. No constipation. 6/20 Still gaining weight and doing well. 6/24 Ami is now over 200 kg (440 lb) and over 236 cm (>7'9") in length. She is now off ulcer medication. It has now been over 18 months since Ami arrived at the DWH. 6/26 Still doing very well. 7/4 Ami appears to be the most stable that she has been since starting on solid food. Gaining weight well. 7/11 Ami continues to do well. 7/16 More of the same! 7/19 Ami is getting less attention with the arrival of the new calf, Simone, but continues to do very well. 7/23 Ami is still gaining weight, so much that we are reducing her calories. 7/27 Ami continues doing very well. 7/29 Ami seems to be developing an infection on her side. Started her on medication today for it. Still doing well otherwise. 7/31 Ami's bloodwork looks good today and infection seems to be improving. 8/2 Infection is much improved. 8/5 Ami had some vomiting over the week-end ("sour stomach"), but is back to normal today. 8/7 Ami still has occasional vomiting but blood and behavior appear normal. 8/9 No vomiting in last two days. 8/12 Seems to be back to normal. 8/16 Staff have recovered fungal elements from Ami's blowhole, indicating a fungal infection. Has been started on medication for that. Appetite continues to be good. 8/19 Ami had one vomiting episode over the weekend, but is better today. 8/21 Much better for the last two days. Medication seems to be working. 8/22 Today, Ami has been at DWH for 19 months and she is still going strong. 8/26 Ami is doing better each day and fungal infection is almost gone. She is now almost 500 lbs and over 8 feet long. 9/6 Ami is continuing to do well. She is active and playful. 9/10 Ami continues to do well. No changes. 9/17 More of the same. 9/23 Ami is still gaining weight and doing very well. 9/27 Ami is having an off-day today. Seems to be having gastric upset. 9/30 Ami's appetite is off and she has diarrhea. Performed exam this morning and collected samples for a diagnosis. 10/1 Ami is much better today, appetite is returning. 10/4 Whale was severely off again for two days, but appetite is better today. Appears to be another drug reaction. This species is so delicate that we have experienced severe side effects from about one-third of all drugs she has received. The confusing part is that she was not on any drug that she had not be on several times before! 10/8 Ami is still up and down but is somewhat better today. 10/10 Much better today. She was off all solid food for 3 days, but is back on squid today and appetite is good. 10/11 Ami is again vomiting all solid food, so she is back on liquids only again. Probably another gastric ulcer. 10/12 Ami has been going downhill very rapidly over the last 24 hrs. There is evidence of intestinal blockage. Outlook is not good at this point. We have started her on some medication to try to relieve any blockage. 10/12 pm. Throughout today Ami has been continually getting worse. At about 1930 hrs this evening, Ami died very quietly. A necropsy will be performed tomorrow to determine the cause of death. 10/13 A necropsy today revealed what is best described as an intestinal torsion. The mesentery and intestine had essentially "tied a knot in itself", thus shutting off the blood supply to the intestine. This caused the intestine to become necrotic, rupture, and cause the death of the whale. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done to treat it once it had occurred. We want to express our thanks to the many volunteers, interns, and staff of the DWH who donated so many hours over the last 21 months to keep Ami alive and enriched during her stay with us.

Ami's Second Six Months

Other Ami sites

About Mia, Ami's Mom