Smidge was rescued last summer and on arrival in the nursery, it was clear that he had been born prematurely, and this is possibly why he had been abandoned.
He was a super pup throughout his rehabilitation in the nursery and he gained weight steadily and was then moved to the outdoor pools where he was to complete his rehab.
However, on the 21st of December 2005, he was seen vomiting in the pool and immediately we drained the water and was transferred in to the hospital. He was checked over and blood and faeces samples were taken to be checked for infection and parasites. He had dreadful diarrhoea and this caused us to suspect coccidiosis, a parasitic gut infection. He was given medication to ease his symptoms but unfortunately he died 36 hours later.
The post mortem and histology results came back revealing there were no parasites and in fact, it was a simple infection of the gut that had caused Smidge´s death. Normally seals can shrug off stomach upsets, but due to Smidge never having received the first essential colostrums feeds from his mother meant that his body wasn´t as resistant as a pup that had the mother´s milk from birth.
Smidge was such a tiny pup from the day he arrived and it is particularly upsetting to lose him when he had become apparently strong and we had assumed he would release after Christmas.
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