Saturday, July 4, 2009

Update on Misisi


Misis has been with us now for four full days. Her health is improving; the smell is confined to her mouth only and does not surround her whole body. The infection is definitely lessening in her mouth. When you look inside you see less puss and more pink gum. However, now we can see where the infection has eaten away the flesh of her tongue and gum. This should regenerate very quickly though, after the infection is cleared up.

She is eating a lot of food, but all the same type of food. Her favorites are bread, mangos, passion fruits and zinzibare (a local forest fruit). Slowly, she will start to eat other foods, but at the moment we are just happy that she is eating. She refuses milk, baby cereal and bananas which is quite strange as most new chimpanzees love these things.

Misisi still has not played, smiled or laughed. However, today we had a small break through where she chose to lay on my knee for ½ an hour. Although she has sat on my knee before, I have always initiated it. And she always gets off after 10 minutes. Today she seemed comfortable enough to approach me and have a real cuddle. It is a big thing that she is letting down the walls and beginning to trust again.
Andrea



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