Infection from wounds

[pawnee]

I was wondering, how often to wolves die or get infections from fight/hunting wounds?

For example, human beings have to go to extreme pre cautions to avoid infections from cuts, bites, ect. But some animals like sharks and crocoiles never seem to fall ill due to an injury being infected. Consdering how risky a wild wolf's life is, was such an event ever recorded? I can't seem to find information on this...

[bonsaipotato]

im reading Barrys lopez book of wolves and men, but i cant seem to find anything on that. but i would like to know the answer 2

[pawnee]

same. I don't have any books with enough information.

[OceanWolf]

I couldn't find anything, although I don't do much digging, but from what I did find, I could only find wolf diseases. I would think that a wolf could get infected from a wound, considering that dogs and such can get them.

[Songdog]

I can't give you any exact sources because it was from books I had read years ago, but from my understanding and what I had read was:

Wolves are fairly susceptible to infection, although they do a decent job at cleaning their wounds. If they had mangled apart of their body (mainly paws) that cold easily become infected and could cost them their life because they'd loose the limb. Because wolves don't have access to medical care like our pets do, they don't fight infection as well, but probably have a better immune system.

Infections of the mouth or jaw could be fatal because the wolf can't clean it as well, and if they loose their jaws, they simply won't eat or drink. Eye infections also are fairly fatal, either from blindness or because it is so close the brain.

However if some one has evidence to dispute this, then that's no biggie. As I said, it as from what I remember from old books I'd read from research projects.

[pawnee]

Intresting Songdog. It make sense, although I think a blind wolf would survive in the wild with the aid of its pack memembers...

I was watching a tv show and a keeper was disciplined by the dominant animal with a bite on the lip. It looked bad, but the keeper explained that wolves are tougher and can survive such incidents, where as a person would need stitches.

so it got me wondering if wolves are more or less suscitiaple to infections. I guess its like what you stated, though; that it depends where the cut is on the body. an infection in the stomach or intesntine would probably kill a wolf...

[Songdog]

When you loose an eye, you loose depth perception. It would not bode very well for the wolf if it could not coordinate itself, especially during a hunt with all of the rushing and kicking hooves.

Intestinal infections from puncture wounds would probably be bad, although I don't have any statistics on how often wolves die from infection. It's lumped in with 'natural causes' which also includes old age, starvation, accidents on hunts, etc.

[pawnee]

sorry for the off topicness, but consdering that wolves have better a smell sense than sight, I think the wolf could survive, so long as pack members brought back food..but as you stated, hunting would be vertually impossible for a totally blind individual.

[Songdog]

Their sense of smell is far superior to their site, but they still can't smell the exact placement of every tree, every hole in the ground, every rock and so forth.

I don't know if wolves would really bring back food, at least for a long period of time. I would think that the member who couldn't contribute would not receive a constant share of the food. And if they were entirely blind, they would loose some of their communication skills, since wolves do communicate through their body signs. I don't know if the other wolves could reason "Oh that wolf can't see that is why they're not showing respect by rolling over."

[CrystaClem]

Wolves... ...do a decent job at cleaning their wounds. ...Because wolves don't have access to medical care like our pets do, they don't fight infection as well, but probably have a better immune system.

If any of you watch Shaun Ellis's show on Animal Planet, then you probably know that a wolf's saliva has healing properties in it. When they lick their wounds, it disinfects and speeds up the healing process of the skin. The wolf's incredible nose is also able to detect when something is clean enough to heal. So all of these things added together makes a wolf pretty well protected against any threat of infection.

[Songdog]

Yes but wolves aren't magical healers. Their saliva contains sodium which can help speed the healing rate and to some extent prevent infection, but it is not a cure all. If they get an internal infection, they won't be able to do anything. Wounds can still become infected even with proper cleaning. In the human world, with modern medicine and antibiotics, wounds still become infected, and people still die of infection.

As I said, there really isn't any statistic on this, because it is lumped in with "natural causes".

[CrystaClem]

Right. I didn't say "they're immune from every disease" though. That thing about the sodium is what I meant.

[Songdog]

wolf pretty well protected against any threat of infection.

Not from every disease. But from your statement, you implied they were near-immune from every infection.

[CrystaClem]

Right. I meant they have good ways to prevent germs from entering their wounds. (for a wild animal anyways)

I should probably just have worded my original post better

[pawnee]

still...Keeping a wound free of debri would help but canines also lick unmentionable things ( dead stuff, each other,...I`m sure you can imagine). Diseases like rabies would also spread through salvia, mucus contact.