Dolphin & Whale Hospital
Mote Marine Laboratory

Information regarding the first six months of rehabilitation

Ami free swimming.

7/24 Ami is doing well but Nemo has been moved back into the other med tank until he is doing better. 7/26 No change with Nemo being removed from her tank. Doing well. 7/29 Continuing to do very well. 8/1 Ami continues to do well. Ami's length this week was 190.5 cm (6'3") and weight was 117.0 kg (257.4 lb). 8/3 Ami's appetite was off a little yesterday, possibly due to weather associated with Tropical Storm Barry, but is better today. 8/7 Ami is doing well. 8/9 Ami's appetite has been off a little for the last two days. Sed rate is high so we will begin antibiotics. 8/11 Ami's appetite is off a little, probably due to the antibiotics. Otherwise, doing well. 8/14 Ami is now refusing food completely and is vomiting frequently. Gastroscopy this morning revealed nothing abnormal in the esophagus or first two stomachs. Beginning a new medication to stop vomiting. 8/15 Ami is much better this morning than yesterday morning. She had to be taken off all medication and she is now eating and not vomiting. 8/16 Somewhat better but still somewhat lethargic. 8/18 Ami is more active and appetite is improving. She has been slowly becoming increasingly anemic (non-regenerative) and was given erythropoietin this morning to stimulate RBC production. 8/20 Ami is already showing a response to the erythropoietin but unfortunately her white count is going up as well. She was started on antibiotics this afternoon. 8/22 Ami's appetite is down and she has been vomiting. She is also less active so we are monitoring her more closely. 8/24 Downward trend continues- After results from gastric cytology and blood tests, Ami is now being treated for a presumed gastric ulcer/GI infection and a possible respiratory infection. Yesterday we also gave her a second dose of erythropoietin (EPO) with the hope that it will "jumpstart" her body's production of new red blood cells. 8/27 Ami has been vomiting occasionally and her appetite is up and down. Generally she appears better today. Another dose of EPO was given today and a new antibiotic has been started. 8/29 Ami is vomiting less and is hungrier than she has been for the last week. 8/30 Ami seems to be doing much better today. She has taken every feed that she has been offered and is starting to eat squid again. White count is back to normal. 9/1 A gastroscopy was performed yesterday and healing lesions were found in Ami's throat and upper esophagus. We have never seen this type of lesion before but assume it is either bacterial or viral. Cultures were taken and we should know more in a few days. In the meantime, treatment has been modified accordingly. 9/5 Ami is doing somewhat better. No vomiting for several days. 9/7 Ami's appetite is continuing to improve. 9/9 Ami continues to improve each day. 9/11 Ami is finally taking all of her meals again and has started gaining back some of the 5 kg weight that she had lost over the last month. Blood work continues to improve. 9/16 Tropical Storm Gabrielle had our electricity out for two days but we are back on line again. Ami came through the storm without any problems, except that after the storm was over she started vomiting again. Medication seems to have it under control again. She is again gaining weight. 9/18 No change. 9/20 Ami is improving and is back to behaving as she was a month ago. A problem with constipation seems to be resolving and appetite is very good. 9/23 Ami is back to her ravenous appetite and has been put back on solid food. She is eating it well and is keeping it down so far. She is also very playful again. 9/24 Ami's weight today is 114 kg (250.8 lb) and her length is 199 cm (6'6"). She is definitely back to growing again. 9/26 Ami continues to do well. She is eating more squid every day. 9/28 Ami is doing better each day. Blood values have improved, as well. Photo below is a recent photo of Ami.

9/30 Still improving daily. 10/2 Continues to eat more solid food every day and is still gaining weight. 10/5 Very active and playful. Seems to be back to her normal behavior. 10/7 Doing very well. At this point, over 50% of Ami's calories are from solid food (shrimp and squid). She is well on the way to being weaned from the formula. 10/9 Ami's weight today was 120.5 kg (265.1 lb) and she is definitely becoming girthier. Appetite is excellent. 10/11 Stool softener is working amazing well at keeping Ami "regular" and keeping her appetite up. Getting very close to having her weaned, probably by next week. 10/13 Over 2/3 of Ami's calories are now from solid food. Looks like weaning by middle of next week. Weight this morning was 124 kg (272.8 lb). 10/16 Ami is now off of her formula (weaned as of 10am today). She is receiving about 14 lb of squid and 3.5 lb of shrimp daily. We weighed her again yesterday and she had gained another 2 kg (4.4 lb) in only two days. She is catching up quickly with the weight she lost last month. 10/19 Ami has been doing well except that she vomited a little last night and again this morning. Hopefully, just a little upset stomach. 10/22 Ami's vomiting has stopped but we are concerned that she may be constipated and that she may still have erosions in her esophagus (throat) that cause her to refuse solid food. We have seen improvement in the past two days on medications for both conditions (reglan, stool softener, mineral oil, pain and ulcer medications). 10/25 Ami had a couple more episodes of vomiting yesterday but none since. She seems to be slowly improving and has had some large "inkings" (defecations) that indicates that her GI tract is functioning better. She no longer seems to have a sore throat. Having had to put Ami back on a liquid diet, we are again gradually returning to an all-solid diet of squid and have discontinued the minerl oil. Meanwhile we are also pleased that Ami has learned to voluntarily swim into a stretcher which permits us to weigh her weekly without having to catch her. Frequent weight data is critical in monitoring the growth and health of young orphan calves. 10/27 Ami continues to slowly but steadily improve in appetite. In general she is playful and interactive, as a young animal should be. It has now been nine months since Ami stranded with her mom, and we would like to acknowledge the hundreds of volunteers whose heroic efforts, day and night, through heat and cold, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week have been so critical in bringing us to this day! 10/30 Ami has seemed just a little "off" in the past week despite the fact that she is eating well. Therefore, when we examined Ami yesterday and found that she had a possible bacterial infection (indicated in part by a rise in her WBC), we have begun treating her with an antibiotic. Meanwhile, we continue to increase the solid-food portion of her diet and will start to take her off some of the recent medications for her GI problems. 11/1 Ami continues to improve. She is now off all formula and is eating about 18 lb of squid per day. 11/3 Now eating about 20 lb of squid per day. 11/8 Appetite has been up and down over the last week, but has been impoving over the last two days. 11/11 Appetite continues to be variable, but generally good. 11/15 Ami continues to do fairly well. She now receives a little formula each day, primarily for the fluids to aid digestion. 11/18 Ami's appetite is back again and she is eager to eat anything that is offered to her. 11/19 Ami's weight is now 132.5 kg (291.5 lb) and her length is 208 cm (6'10"). 11/21 Ami continues to have a voracious appetite, eating everything offered and begging for more. 11/23 Continues to do very well. Today's weight was 136.5 kg (300.2 lb). 11/26 Continuing to eat well, todays weight was 138 kg (303.6 lb). 11/29 Ami has not missed a single squid for almost 3 weeks. She continues to be interactive. 12/3 All bloodwork today was either the same or improved. Today's weight was 141.5 kg (311 lb) and length was 211 cm (6'11"). 12/5 Still doing very well. No change. 12/8 Ami continues to be very active and eat well. 12/10 Today's weight was 144 kg (316.8 lb). 12/12 Ami has been taken off all antifungal medication and we plan to have her off all ulcer medication by this weekend. Doing very well. 12/14 More of the same.

12/17 Today's weight was 148.5 kg (326.7 lb) and her length was the same as last time. 12/19 Ami continues to do very well. We are currently trying to treat what appears to be a mild sinusitis via antibiotic nebulization. 12/21 Continuing to eat everything offered to her. 12/24 Weight today was 151.5 kg (333.3 lb). Sinusitis is improving. 12/26 Active and hungry. 12/28 Continuing to do well. 12/31 Weight is now 154.5 kg (339.9 lb) and her length is 215 cm (7'1"). Still some sinusitis but doing well otherwise. 1/2/02 Due to a rising white cell count, Ami has been put back on an antibiotic and an antifungal. Still eating well and active. 1/4 White count is going back down quickly and sinusitis seems much improved. 1/7 Ami's weight today was 158.5 kg (348.7 lb) and she continues to eat well. 1/9 Continuing to do well. 1/11 Ami has been constipated for the past week, but that situation is now resolved. 1/15 Ami's weight yesterday was 162 kg (356.4 lb) and her length was unchanged. She vomited a small amount last night and her white cell count is going up so she has been put back on antibiotics. 11/20 Ami's white count is coming back down but is still having some vomiting occasionally. Have taken her off solid food so she gets only formula for a few days. 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.

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