VMD 512: Zoo/Wild Animal Breeding, Management, Nutrition and Health Care (1+1)

Preventive Medicine pertaining to the umbilical infections

PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

• Apply suitable antiseptic solution like povidone iodine solution to the severed spot of umbilical cord by careful methods. This helps to avoid the development of umbilical infections especially in case of new born elephants.
• The new born elephant has an open umbilical sheath that can be mistaken for an umbilical cord, often.
• The cord (umbilical artery and veins) actually gets retracted inside the sheath into the abdomen.
• When disinfecting the umbilical sheath, use a syringe to deliver disinfectant into the open umbilical sheath and just dipping the umbilical structure as done by many persons will not be adequate as a preventive step to minimize the occurrence of umbilical infections in wild animal species like elephants.