Bears burned in California wildfires go holistic for pain

Veterinarians successfully used alternative medical treatments such as acupuncture on three wild animals burned in the Southern California wildfires.

Rescuers brought two adult bears, one of them pregnant, and the young mountain lion to veterinarians with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the university after the animals were hurt in the largest wildfire in state history. 

They were found in the Los Padres National Forest, whose mountains stretch through badly burned areas of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

The bears had suffered third-degree burns on all their paws, said Jamie Peyton, chief of the Integrative Medicine Service at the university’s vet school. The cub also burned all four paws.

This January 2018 photo provided by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife shows a bear, injured in a wildfire, resting with its badly burned paws wrapped in fish skin – tilapia – and covered in corn husks during treatment at the University of California, Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in Davis, Calif. Veterinarians successfully used alternative medical treatments such as acupuncture and wrapping wounds in fish skin on two bears and a mountain lion burned in the Southern California wildfires, vets at UC Davis said Wednesday, Jan. 24. (California Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP)

In this January 2018 photo provided by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, veterinarian Dr. Laura Peyton, chief of integrated medicine at the University of California, Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, works on the badly burned paw of a bear, injured in a wildfires, in Davis, Calif. Veterinarians successfully used alternative medical treatments such as acupuncture and wrapping wounds in fish skin on two bears and a mountain lion burned in the Southern California wildfires, vets at UC Davis said Wednesday, Jan. 24. (California Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP)

In this January 2018 photo provided by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, veterinarian Dr. Laura Peyton, chief of integrated medicine at the University of California, Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, works on the badly burned paw of a bear, injured in a wildfires, in Davis, Calif. Veterinarians successfully used alternative medical treatments such as acupuncture and wrapping wounds in fish skin on two bears and a mountain lion burned in the Southern California wildfires, vets at UC Davis said Wednesday, Jan. 24. (California Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP)

Standard pain treatment is a problem for both the animals and their caregivers when it comes to wildlife with sharp teeth and claws, Peyton said. 

For safety, vets have to heavily sedate the animals every time they change their bandages or otherwise care for them.

‘You can only anesthetize them so many times,’ Peyton said. ‘It’s hard on them. We can’t do that to them every day.’

Putting pain pills in food also is problematic, because there’s no guarantee the animals will eat them, Peyton said.

Instead, Peyton and her colleagues used some of the alternative methods she already employs with other animals, including acupuncture, chiropractic treatment, and cold-laser therapy. 

This January 2018 photo provided by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife shows the badly burned paw of a bear, injured in a wildfire, wrapped in fish skin - tilapia - during treatment at the University of California, Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in Davis, Calif. Veterinarians successfully used alternative medical treatments such as acupuncture and wrapping wounds in fish skin on two bears and a mountain lion burned in the Southern California wildfires, vets at UC Davis said Wednesday, Jan. 24. (California Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP)

This January 2018 photo provided by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife shows the badly burned paw of a bear, injured in a wildfire, wrapped in fish skin – tilapia – during treatment at the University of California, Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in Davis, Calif. Veterinarians successfully used alternative medical treatments such as acupuncture and wrapping wounds in fish skin on two bears and a mountain lion burned in the Southern California wildfires, vets at UC Davis said Wednesday, Jan. 24. (California Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP)

Many health-insurance companies consider some of the treatments experimental or unproven, and do not always cover their costs in human patients.

Vets carried out the alternative treatments only on days when the bears and mountain lion were already anesthetized for bandage changes or other standard care.

‘I adore them, but they’re wild,’ Peyton explained.

Another form of treatment seemed most helpful of all for the bears, vets said.

The California vets stitched the fish skins to the animals’ burned paws, then wrapped the treated feet with bandages of rice paper and corn husks, after reading about trials on human burn victims in Brazil that placed treated skins from tilapia, a ubiquitous species of fish, on burn victims to soothe pain and promote healing.

This Jan. 8, 2018, photo shows the badly burned paws of one of two bears being treated by Dr. Laura Peyton, Chief of Integrated medicine at the University of California, Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in Davis, Calif. Veterinarians successfully used alternative medical treatments such as acupuncture and wrapping wounds in fish skin on two bears and a mountain lion burned in the Southern California wildfires, vets at UC Davis said Wednesday, Jan. 24. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis via AP)

This Jan. 8, 2018, photo shows the badly burned paws of one of two bears being treated by Dr. Laura Peyton, Chief of Integrated medicine at the University of California, Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in Davis, Calif. Veterinarians successfully used alternative medical treatments such as acupuncture and wrapping wounds in fish skin on two bears and a mountain lion burned in the Southern California wildfires, vets at UC Davis said Wednesday, Jan. 24. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis via AP)

Doctors routinely graft skin from humans and pigs to burns, but fish skins have the advantage of being more readily available.

‘We made little spring rolls with their feet,’ Peyton said.

Ordinary cloth bandages can block animals’ intestines if the animals eat them, which they often do.

One patient – a 5-month-old mountain lion -kept eating his fish-skin and corn-husk bandages, vets said.

One of the bears initially laid down continuously to spare her burned paws, not wanting to stand or walk at all, Peyton said.

‘After the first time we put the bandages on, she woke up, she stood up,’ and showed interest in her surroundings, she said. Both bears were soon walking.

The results argue for more trials of the fish skins for burns, the vets said.

After weeks of treatment, wildlife officials released the bears back into the burned Los Padres National Forest last week. They plan to release the cub this week.

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