October is wolf physical month. This is the one time of year we get our hands on the wolves and check them out. We were particularly looking forward to getting the male, 1414, on the table. He is huge (almost 80 pounds) and he came to us with a growth on the side of his body that we wanted to look at and remove. 
Since 1414 arrived in November 2012, this was our first experience with him for a physical. We learned he is a great patient once he gets on the table. However, he did not “go to sleep” on the same timeline that other wolves have when given their pre-sedation medicine. Typically, while in the crate, we inject some medicine to make the wolves go to sleep. 10-20 minutes later, we can safely muzzle them and move them to the treatment table and do all we need to do.
1414 took over 70 minutes to get somewhat sleepy. Long story short, we finally got him to the table. He is so big he basically filled up the table.
Basically, he was in great shape except for the growth on the side of his body. Dr. Vanderford was able to remove it, although it took awhile. The wolf will spend a few days in a holding cage to limit his movement, but all seems to be okay.
We’ll catch the female up another day and do her physical so we should have more photos to show you soon.
Thank you for the behind the scenes look at how veterinary care for these guys is done. Great work!
Thank you so much for sharing your blog with us! Even as a technician student, I know the job market for a CVT wanting to do something like this is very competitive! It’s at least nice to see how it’s done even if the chance I’d get to work with them myself is slim to none:)