HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY 2010
Posted: Mon May 31, 2010 5:39 amHope Improves
May 30, 2010 – 8:36 PM CDT
What a wonderful resource Lily’s fans are! Again, you all pulled together and came up with good help. Many people came up with great suggestions and your outpouring of concern and offers of help have been heartwarming.
Among the suggestions was a formula that simulates high-fat bear milk. Nearly all the ingredients were available in this small town. We were at the store this morning when it opened to buy canned goat’s milk (and we may be able to get fresh goat’s milk eventually) plus heavy cream, egg yolks, plain yogurt, fish oil, calcium carbonate, Vitamin B complex, and Vitamin C.
We were all worried that Hope was too weak to follow Lily after what we saw yesterday. When we saw on the computer this morning that Lily had moved nearly four tenths of a mile, we wondered if Hope was with her. You can imagine our relief when a perkier Hope bounced into view behind her. Could the cup and a half of sweetened condensed milk last evening have made such a difference?
Lily came over, with shy Hope came cautiously behind. She saw the same container she drank from last night and timidly came up beside Lily to check it out. She loved the new formula!
We were immensely relieved to see the difference in Hope’s zip today. Last evening, she could barely support her weight climbing a short way up a tree. Today, a sound startled Hope and Lily and they both shot up a tree about 15 feet.
Hope was more improved on our second visit this afternoon. After drinking as much formula as she wanted, Hope followed Lily 30 feet away where Lily sat down in the nursing position and Hope nursed. She couldn’t have gotten much milk. Lily’s breasts are now smaller and mostly empty except for the hard lumps inside, but the fact they were trying and the fact a small amount of milk was visible, makes us hopeful Lily will increase lactation. We are hoping the lumps in her breasts don’t turn into mastitis. A helpful lactation specialist today figured the lumps were the result of plugged milk ducts, and this can sometimes turn into mastitis.
We are so much more optimistic. Yesterday Hope was lethargic—lying around moaning and whining. Today she was playful—interested in objects to manipulate and initiating play with Lily once again. She has life in her eyes and seems almost her old self, although emaciated.
We will continue to bring Hope formula a couple times a day to the extent possible as long as she needs it. Hope has a strong appetite. She has teeth and is beginning to eat solid wild foods, which is normal for her age. This cub is going to make it.
Thank you for your good support. The anonymous donor has agreed to match 2 to 1 all your contributions from the time we announced it last night through the end of June, up to $100,000. So we’re off and running!
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center
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The above is he latest update by Sue Mansfield on the NABC website-----it made me be able to sleep way better last night! Poor little Hope has not been able to get enough of her mom's milk from Lily's caked breasts, and it has been many days of her wandering and stressing alone that has caused her to become so emaciated and weak. Yesterday, with supplements of a bear milk formula, she made leaps and bounds, literally and figuratively, and it made my heart leap and bound to read this!
GOOD MONDAY MORNING TO US ALL!
I need to secure stuff in here, pack up, hitch up, and be out of here by about 11:00 am this morning. I have had a super wonderful weekend, ending with a bunch of friends stopping by last night to wrap the whole thing up around a beautiful campfire. I'll be back in touch this evening, when I once again get reset and rehooked in my own nice little campground in my yard! I have some pictures to organize and post later today, also. In the meantime, stop by, have some coffee and tell us about your day!
Happy Memorial Day to us all. I will put flowers on both my father's grave and my father-in-law's grave in my own little family graveyard shared by our beloved animals when I get home today.
May 30, 2010 – 8:36 PM CDT
What a wonderful resource Lily’s fans are! Again, you all pulled together and came up with good help. Many people came up with great suggestions and your outpouring of concern and offers of help have been heartwarming.
Among the suggestions was a formula that simulates high-fat bear milk. Nearly all the ingredients were available in this small town. We were at the store this morning when it opened to buy canned goat’s milk (and we may be able to get fresh goat’s milk eventually) plus heavy cream, egg yolks, plain yogurt, fish oil, calcium carbonate, Vitamin B complex, and Vitamin C.
We were all worried that Hope was too weak to follow Lily after what we saw yesterday. When we saw on the computer this morning that Lily had moved nearly four tenths of a mile, we wondered if Hope was with her. You can imagine our relief when a perkier Hope bounced into view behind her. Could the cup and a half of sweetened condensed milk last evening have made such a difference?
Lily came over, with shy Hope came cautiously behind. She saw the same container she drank from last night and timidly came up beside Lily to check it out. She loved the new formula!
We were immensely relieved to see the difference in Hope’s zip today. Last evening, she could barely support her weight climbing a short way up a tree. Today, a sound startled Hope and Lily and they both shot up a tree about 15 feet.
Hope was more improved on our second visit this afternoon. After drinking as much formula as she wanted, Hope followed Lily 30 feet away where Lily sat down in the nursing position and Hope nursed. She couldn’t have gotten much milk. Lily’s breasts are now smaller and mostly empty except for the hard lumps inside, but the fact they were trying and the fact a small amount of milk was visible, makes us hopeful Lily will increase lactation. We are hoping the lumps in her breasts don’t turn into mastitis. A helpful lactation specialist today figured the lumps were the result of plugged milk ducts, and this can sometimes turn into mastitis.
We are so much more optimistic. Yesterday Hope was lethargic—lying around moaning and whining. Today she was playful—interested in objects to manipulate and initiating play with Lily once again. She has life in her eyes and seems almost her old self, although emaciated.
We will continue to bring Hope formula a couple times a day to the extent possible as long as she needs it. Hope has a strong appetite. She has teeth and is beginning to eat solid wild foods, which is normal for her age. This cub is going to make it.
Thank you for your good support. The anonymous donor has agreed to match 2 to 1 all your contributions from the time we announced it last night through the end of June, up to $100,000. So we’re off and running!
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center
__________________________________________________________________________________________
The above is he latest update by Sue Mansfield on the NABC website-----it made me be able to sleep way better last night! Poor little Hope has not been able to get enough of her mom's milk from Lily's caked breasts, and it has been many days of her wandering and stressing alone that has caused her to become so emaciated and weak. Yesterday, with supplements of a bear milk formula, she made leaps and bounds, literally and figuratively, and it made my heart leap and bound to read this!
GOOD MONDAY MORNING TO US ALL!
I need to secure stuff in here, pack up, hitch up, and be out of here by about 11:00 am this morning. I have had a super wonderful weekend, ending with a bunch of friends stopping by last night to wrap the whole thing up around a beautiful campfire. I'll be back in touch this evening, when I once again get reset and rehooked in my own nice little campground in my yard! I have some pictures to organize and post later today, also. In the meantime, stop by, have some coffee and tell us about your day!
Happy Memorial Day to us all. I will put flowers on both my father's grave and my father-in-law's grave in my own little family graveyard shared by our beloved animals when I get home today.
Now I will hope that it doesn't go flat again!