Cincinnati's premie hippo gets help from human hospital

CINCINNATI — A baby hippo born six weeks early needed some extra help, so the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden called in some outside experts who know how to deal with premature babies — staff from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Baby Fiona was dehydrated and needed to get life-saving fluids via intravenous therapy. But that's a difficult task when such small veins are involved.

“Preemies have very tiny and unstable veins, and even though our vet team was able to get multiple IVs placed, the veins could not sustain the IV and would blow,” zoo curator of mammals Christina Gorsuch said in a news release. “Lucky for us, we’re right next door to a world-class facility with a whole department dedicated to working with difficult veins.”

She's referring to the Cincinnati Children’s Vascular Access Team. Two of its members brought sensitive ultrasound equipment to the zoo and placed an IV catheter in Fiona. It lasted about 30 minutes before the vein blew.

But the second time was a charm. That IV catheter, placed in one of her deep leg veins, has been in place since Friday afternoon.

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Zoo vet staffers have been with Fiona around the clock to monitor it.

“Five bags of fluid later, Fiona is showing signs of recovery,” Gorsuch said. “She is still sleeping a lot but has started to take bottles again and has periods of carefully supervised activity.”

Cincinnati Children's Hospital has helped the zoo out in the past: Giving CT and MRI scans to Ali the aardvark, consulting on baby gorillas and weighing in on polar bear pregnancy tests.

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Previously, Fiona was lethargic and not showing much interest in her bottle, a setback since her birth Jan. 24 when she weighed in at 29 pounds. Newborn hippos previously have weighed 55 to 120 pounds.

She has been unable to nurse from her mother, BiBi the Nile hippopotamus, though BiBi has been allowing zoo staff to milk her. And her new teeth are giving her pains, too, that zoo veterinarians are working to relieve.

"Everyone at the Zoo is thankful for the love and support our community has shown us for the past three weeks," zoo officials said. "Please keep the prayers and positive energy flowing. #TeamFiona."

Follow Shauna Steigerwald on Twitter: @shaunaincincy