Mr SS

Episode 1

I could smell him before I could see him.  I’d gone out to turn off the generator, and got an unmistakable whiff of putrefying meat from the direction of the best patch of grass in the vicinity.  In the after-generator silence he immediately sensed me in the area and hit the toe in the direction of the bush.  It was two nights before I saw him again, only briefly, but in the scant moonlight he did not look all that flash.  It took a couple more nights of weetbix baits amidst the grass before he decided to add them to his menu, then when he did I managed a good look at him in the spotlight.  He was one of the scabbiest, smelliest, sorriest looking mangy wombats I’ve ever seen, but alert and lively enough for me to not consult Mr Winchester about his future. 
The Matron and I thought perhaps there was some hope, so we continued with the weetbix until he had happily re-located to a convenient tea-chest home closer to this new food source.  Once he was fairly comfortable with humans and his new environment we laced his weetbix with a good dose of Ivomec, which seemed to be quite acceptable.  As Matron gained his confidence, she was able to get to the touching stage and take the next step.
 Septicide would have been the treatment of choice because of its insecticidal properties, but the extent of his scabby wounds would have meant a couple of tubes at least just for the first treatment.  The option was Deri-sal, an udder cream with zinc oxide and boric acid as the active ingredients.  The advantages of this are that it comes in a 2 kg bucket and is considerably cheaper.  It took a few days for the scabs to soften and fall off, but fairly healthy looking flesh is now showing, though flies are still a bit of a problem.  We had in mind to tackle them with Extinosad, which is an aerosol specially made to keep flies from open wounds, however the hiss of the spray is outside his present range of tolerance.  Until he is happy to be spray painted, daily smearing of Deri-sal will have to do.
He is now due for his third dose of Ivomec, and despite his shabby looks we hold out some hope that he might recover, though it is obviously going to be a long and slow process.  Stay tuned for the next –well, perhaps not too exciting- episode

Episode 2

‘Twas dusk on the evening of his third dose of Nasty Medicine that we saw him again in natural light.   His offensive B.O. had disappeared, and his natural body fragrance (?) had re-asserted itself.  Better still, under the ointment smears, it was apparent that his wounds were healing nicely and the percentage of raw flesh had diminished considerably since we first saw him.  Very encouraging.

Next morning, he was gone.  A bit unusual that, since he was usually a late riser, preferring to bask in a bit of morning sun on the porch of his Eastward-facing tea-chest medical ward before doddling off on his daily business.  A check of his under-the-house tea chest confirmed that today he had important things to do, and early.   It was four or five days before we saw him again, making it obvious that he thought he had enough treatment and had discharged himself from care.   This opinion was not shared by his medical staff however, who were of the collective opinion that more ointment and one more dose of Nasty Medicine were in order.

He was not too independent however to continue with the Weetbix treatment, so had yet another Ivomec Mickey Finn, his last of four. It is becoming increasingly hard to be-smear him with Deri-sal, though it appears he is needing it less often.  Possibly he is smarter than we humans, and has better knowledge of what is really good for him than we, who are mostly guessing.   Time will tell, and there will be further revelations in the next gripping episode.  Stay tuned.

As a sidelight, I’ve always thought it remarkable how little medication or attention it takes to make a quick and dramatic improvement in sick or injured animals.  Perhaps it is because they are not so often exposed to medication as we humans.  Must be a question for Dr Anne, that one.

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