Aiko, Kiki and Aisha - October Update

Well Aiko has been taking all the attention of the three cheetahs recently, but sadly not for the right reasons. One day Johannes noticed that Aiko's paw had a piece of loose skin underneath which was bleeding, so we brought him into our veterinary clinic for examination. 

A few days earlier he'd been out for a walk and whilst in his transit cage, Johannes spotted him pawing at the metal bars and so we suspect he cut himself then. At the clinic Rudie anaesthetised Aiko and once we had a closer look, we were able to see that it was in fact a deep cut on his toe pad. Rudie disinfected the wound and applied some stitches to close up the flap of loose skin.

We hoped that Aiko would make a full recovery after that, however a few days later he was still limping and bleeding again - the stitching had come undone. At this stage we decided to build a temporary enclosure within his camp with Aisha and Kiki where he could receive “cage rest” with no thorns, bushes or uneven ground to cause further damage to the foot.

However, Kiki and Aisha missed their companion so much they would run inside the enclosure any time the door was opened! In the end we would leave the 3 sitting together content in each other's company, it was very endearing to see their close relationship and care for each other. 

After a few week's rest, we brought Aiko in again for another check up. We were lucky to be joined by two professional vets - Dr Ulf from Windhoek and Dr Wolf from Germany, who sedated Aiko and carried out the examination.

They discovered the the skin had regrown far too thickly which would cause Aiko pain to put weight on. They decided to cut away the surplus skin and stitch the pad together again. Aiko's foot was then bandaged up and he was moved back into his small enclosure.

That was a few weeks ago and now Aiko's foot is healing very well - we have removed the bandage and he is putting weight on it, which is a great sign that he's on the road to recovery.

Kiki demonstrated her natural instincts whilst out on a walk with Wildlife Handler Johannes and some guests last week. The group were enjoying a relaxing stroll through the beautiful African veldt and stopped to take some photos of gorgeous Kiki, when the cheetah suddenly spotted a group of wild horses in the distance. This certainly caught her attention and she bolted off chasing the horses!

Unable to keep up with a running cheetah, the group ran back to their car and drove after her. Luckily they were able to find her without any problems and positioned the car in between Kiki and the group of horses, acting as a barrier. This seemed to work as the horses ran off leaving Kiki perplexed, but at least the horses were safe.

Using some chicken, Johannes was able to lure Kiki back into her transit cage - after all the adventures of the day, it was time to go home!

Back in their camp, the 3 cheetahs still enjoy the cuddles and attention they receive from volunteers and guest. Beautiful Aisha laps it up, purring contently whenever she's stroked.