These Elderly Lions Really Love Each Other _ The Lion Whisperer.

Good teeth guys. Look at the love. Good morning everyone. Today we've got Dr Caldwell coming out to look at Icarus. So Icarus, firstly I noticed his claws starting to look like they're getting really close to the paw pad which is obviously going to then start growing into the paw pad if we don't clip them. That can cause all sorts of infections and obviously then it's painful to walk on. As these lines get older these kind of things do happen and we need to keep an eye out for for clipping the nails. And then the the second thing that I've asked Doc Caldwell to come out and look at Iki's hind leg. He has a big lump. Now the lump I've been monitoring it and the lump wasn't it was just a normal little lump which I thought was like a Um, kind of, uh, growth or nothing to worry about, but now all of a sudden it suddenly got big. And so that's a worry for me when something gets big quickly. Um, something to just, let's make sure, uh, Iki is getting older. Sure. He is struggling. He has been struggling a bit, um, a little bit wobbly on the feet. Um, you know, and it's always a tough. It's always a tough thing to watch these lions getting old. The sad part is if he does eventually leave us, which he will, I mean it's just a fact of life guys, poor old Meg will be left on her own again and that is for me the heartbreaking side of the story because we did so, we put so much effort into pairing them up and they've lived such a happy A few years, well, it's been more than a few years. They've really had a happy time together, which is great. So yeah, it is what it is. But yeah, I'm trying to now go and get them. It's going to be best to lock them both in the night house. And then, yeah, it makes life just a lot easier when Peter eventually gets here. Look what I got for you. Here, look here. Yes, yeah. Hello, my darling. Let's go. Come, Mickey. Yeah. Come, girlie. Yeah. It's always a tricky one when the vet comes. It's almost like they know something is up. So this is like not a normal... There we go, my girl. It's not a normal kind of occasion. So I can see with Meg immediately there's this like suspicion. Like, what's going on here? Yeah, might take a while. Bear with me. Even if I just get Icarus in, that would be First prize, yeah boy! All right guys, so plan B. I'm going to try and get the loading vehicle here. Guys, plan C. So we changed our minds with plan B. We decided that we're not going to try with the caged vehicle. What we are going to try is simulate a feeding day. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to leave because I think what's happening is she is seeing something's up. She suspects something's up. This is a bit of an unusual situation where it's Marcel and Clarence and George is not here today. He's off. So there's a little bit of an unusual aspect to the routine. And I think they are definitely suspecting. That something's awry. So we're going to try and play their game. Get the feeding vehicle down here. Pretend it's a feeding day. We locked him in the night pen. Ikki probably weighs about 180 now. He's probably about 180, I'd say. Someone asked me and I guessed it. I think about it. I mean, he's lost a lot of weight. He's old. He's 21. Almost 22. Yeah, 22. He's old like us. Just chuck under the fence. I'll tell you when. You want me to come through this side or...? No, no, through here. Well, good luck in getting through that side. Are you like... What was that creature made from stone? It was one of those childhood comic heroes. Yeah, it was that Brickman. Brickman, yeah. Yeah, he looks like he's out cold. Okay, cool. You want to go and check? You want to open that, please? Slow it down. I think this is just like osteoarthritis of the hock joint that's moved up and calcified and caused a periosteal reaction that's then subsided and now started to grow, or it could be a tumor, a bone tumor. I've never seen an osteosarcoma that would form itself, it would be a fibrosarcoma. So it's going to need x-rays. I've got a, we should have brought our, we've got a nice portable x-ray machine. We didn't realize that we'd be buying. No, I thought it was soft. I haven't been able to touch it. It's a nice photo or something. Okay, we're going to need to do res, but I can come out again and do some res. I can do it right here on the farm. Okay. It doesn't need to be ready just to come in. So let's clip and then we can do that. Can we get him in the light somehow? Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's get him in the light. Thank you. Because he's a nice big boy. Thank you. You guys are in the island. It's heavy, huh? No. We might be in the sun. It's always partly. Thank you. Temperature first as well. Yeah, that was the one. You see that? Almost there. Temperature. Dart wind. Load collection. And then I'm going to start with the ivy. Just a reason for the... My boy. Yes. There's a few. Yeah? Yeah. Feel it. Wow. Attached to the tibia. It's not involved. It doesn't give at all, eh? Did it start at the bottom there? Yeah, correct. Because it's the first one. Yeah. No, not at all. It's all bone. Bone bone. It could be hollow on the inside. It sounds a bit hollow, eh? This is a bone system. Which is not necessarily cancerous. But I have a feeling I need to do biopsies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Once I've taken an X-ray. So again? 37.7. So there is. Shame, do we not have some umbrella for Doc? Oh, it's okay. You sure? I'm sure. Thank you very much. I do have an umbrella in my car. No, no. It's fine. You want one? No. You want to feel the sun? I want to be rough. I don't mind being your umbrella girl. No, I'm good. You'll feel like a MotoGP rider. Yeah, yeah. I was just about to say. The hottest umbrella girl you're ever going to get. Yeah, you're going to need to wear a miniskirt. This is as good as it gets, Doc. Shorts. Shorts and hairy legs. So I'm feeling it. I don't even see the vein. Yeah, but... Like a professional. Yes. It's almost like you've done this for a while. Ha, ha, ha. A few years. Okay, good boy. Okay. That is good. Okay, off you go. All right. Yes sir. You're not getting any younger. Yes sir, we're not. Not yet man. I'm dying. Okay, we'll do it. On the side first. My mat. It's gonna feel much better. Perfect. Should we leave that one? This one, no? It's right there by the... No, no, it's fine. He won't outlive that. No, but I'll do this one. No, I'm joking. You think I'm being serious? I've got you here. You're going to give a full mani and pedi, dude. You're not getting away with only doing four. Yeah. I was worried about that. Don't you worry. I still got my sense of humor. Thank God. That's all I had. I'm sorry my boy. Oh my gosh guys we are cooking here. So like literally it seems to be 40, 41 degrees. And I have been driving so there has been airflow but yeah it's cooking hot. Icarus is recovering and looking good. Obviously the procedure went well, the claws are clipped, But we are going to have to sedate him again to find out what's going on with that growth, which that seems to be a bony growth on his hind leg. So we're going to arrange for next week for doc to come out with the x-ray machine and for him to take a biopsy, a bone biopsy, so that we can test that and see what we're dealing with. Good teeth. Hello big boy. Hello Right guys. I don't want to talk too much because Miss Meg tends to get irritated these days with me droning on but I did want to give you an update on how Ikki is doing and yeah he's doing well since he had his claws clipped. The weather is excruciating guys it's it's like 40 degrees on a daily basis there's no reprieve. The wind that does blow is warm. And unfortunately, there's no end in sight because we have these clear blue skies that are going to persist for the next two weeks, it appears. So that really does take it out of the cats. So he is tired and hot and bothered, but he's obviously up and about from the procedure. Just that was just the nail clippings. And, um... We're going to have to do the biopsy this week but what I did want to tell you guys is that I got the bloods back from Peter and as Peter expected or suggested I'm not sure if you can hear me. I'm not sure if you can hear me. Ikki is suffering from age-related kidney failure I'm not sure if you can hear me. so we have been treating for that for the last year and a half. He is on liver support, he's on kidney support and he's on Bone and joint health support. So he's pretty much getting everything. He's also getting vitamin E. So he's getting a lot of supplementation guys. We're doing everything we can. Peter does have one or two other things that he wants to try. Just to support even more and you can see. Oh Meggie you are so funny. Look at the love. She really does love him. The reason she does that Is because I'm talking too much and that's Meg's way of saying, Kev, stop it. So I'm not going to talk too much more on Ikki. As you can see, he is up and about and doing well considering his age and ailments. And yeah, we'll see what we can do for him. But he is an old cat. We need to accept that and I think he's done Really, really well. Thank you very much. So the sad part is for me, I was thinking about it the other day, is if we do lose Ikki in the future, then poor old Meg's going to be on her own again. Vice versa, if we lost Meg, then he'd be on his own again. So ultimately we are going to get to that point where we're going to be left with a single individual like we are with Sabindi. So it is what it is. Sorry, Meggie, I'm not going to talk anymore. And we'll catch you up when we do the procedure this week. So just wanted to give you guys that update.