Dr. Lamar Hunter has just joined the Carolina Tiger Rescue team as a wildlife veterinarian. After he graduated from NC State’s vet school, Dr. Hunter studied under Dr. Angela Lassiter at Carolina Tiger Rescue. He helps with physicals, medical procedures, and loves seeing the animals improve under the care of the awesome vets at the rescue. Dr. Hunter enjoys working with all the animals at Carolina Tiger Rescue, but his favorite is the lions.
Dr. Hunter’s Blog 1/24/19
Sometimes, my job is a hard one and, as much as I love it, some days are harder than others. Today is one of those days. We have been keeping a close eye on Max Tiger for a while now. Over the last couple months, he showed signs of getting older and slowing down and, considering he was 19, that was not a surprise. Over the last couple months, he also developed ringworm, which was a sign to us that his immune system was not as healthy as it once was. Our cats come into contact with ringworm all the time, but when they have great immune systems, they are able to protect themselves from getting it. Because Max was showing up with it, it told us that his immune system was struggling.
We decided to keep a close eye on him and up his medication to help make him as comfortable as possible and ensure that he was not in any pain.
Yesterday, however, Max was not interested in eating any food. He had been off and on with wanting to eat food for a couple days, but yesterday he wasn’t interested at all. He also spent most of his day in his denbox and did not look like he felt well. We talked with Dr. Lassiter and decided we would see how he was doing today before we made any decisions.
Today, after talking with Dr. Lassiter, we decided there was nothing else we could do for Max. We had given him all the medications we could to make him comfortable, but he was showing signs of his body shutting down, so we decided it was time to help him pass on. Having an animal pass away is always difficult and something we all take very hard. Max had been a Rescue favorite. His grumpy attitude won the hearts of everyone who met him. He loved giving chuffles to his favorite people and he would also growl at those he didn’t particularly like. Max lived at Carolina Tiger Rescue for the last 8 years and we were able to provide him with a stress-free home as he grew older. We will miss him dearly but are so glad we knew him and were able to care for him over the last 8 years.