A very tiny Meerkat pup came to WildSide at approximately eight weeks old. The unscrupulous breeder had removed the youngster from her mother way before either would have been ready. They live in strongly bonded families so this would have been traumatic for both. The Meerkat was then sold as a solo animal (they are group animals) to a person who had one dog, two young children and not a clue. The person didn’t even have a cage. For the breeder the Meerkat was a monetary transaction forgotten as soon as the cash hit their bank and they are probably still doing this. The buyer took this pup, common name for a baby Meerkat, home in a cardboard box and just let it loose in the house. I am very surprised it survived.
It was the Meerkat’s constant screams that drove the household to get rid of her after only one week. The Meerkat arrived here visibly shaking. The Meerkat was also dehydrated. I placed an adhesive warm pad on my body, wrapped the pup in a small warm cloth and placed it firmly against my chest in a small pouch, the size of an iPhone. This was designed to create a sense of safety, a small warm space.
Once secured the Meerkat visibly calmed. I mixed a small animal electrolyte powder in warm water and with a 1 ml syringe slowly got drops into the Meerkat. The next step was food. This wasn’t a slow process! The youngster ate everything presented and I had to stop offering food before it wanted, to avoid digestive issues. Over the next three nights the Meerkat stayed on me day and night.
Now ready for the next step. We selected the youngest adult castrated male Meerkat on site and placed him in an enclosure beside the enclosure where we planned to put the pup. As this enclosure was large, we put a crate in it so that the pup did not have such a large space to manage. I wish I had filmed it. As soon as we put the pup into the crate, she went directly up to the companion meerkat next door excited and totally focused on her new mate. She didn’t take her eyes of him. He showed interest and no aggression. After a few hours we exchanged some bedding and a few objects between the enclosures to get the smell of each one on the other and in the other enclosure. The next day and under observation we lifted the hatch between the enclosures. Instant success – this is not always the case. At last, after days of total trauma this little pup’s hell was over.
