lion_cub.JPG

An Oregon Zoo photograph took this picture of one of the healthy cubs Wednesday.

(MICHAEL DURHAM/Oregon Zoo)

The tiniest lion at the

is hospitalized, getting antibiotic injections every eight hours and nursing on formula designed for puppies.

The female cub,

, had backed off on nursing from her mother, Neka, late last week. Her lethargy persisted, she kept losing weight and her glucose and body temperature remained low, so on Sunday caretakers moved her to the zoo's

, where the team could provide intensive care.

They placed the unnamed cub in a heated cage equipped with a forced-air warming device called a

, originally crafted to keep human patients warm during surgery.

They took X-rays and blood, hoping to find the source of what they believe is an infection causing her elevated white blood-cell count, said veterinarian Tim Storms. He suspects septicemia or a bloodborne infection that can overwhelm a newborn, so is treating the cub with a broad-spectrum antibiotic.

The little one was given intravenous fluids and the veterinary crew started feeding her watered-down formula through a bottle. Lion nutrition requirements, Storms said, are closer to that of dogs than cats, so the meat-based puppy formula was the way to go. Slowly, they've increased the formula to full strength and the cub readily accepts it, he said.

She also gets supplemental taurine, an essential amino acid added to most domestic cat food; lions typically get taurine from eating raw meat or in the case of cubs, through their mother's milk.

Late last week, the cub weighed 1.12 kilograms or about 2 pounds, 7 ounces. She'd dropped below that by Sunday, but by Wednesday had re-gained about 25 percent of her body weight, said Jennifer Davis, the zoo's curator for Africa and primates.

"It's our goal," Davis said, "to get the cub healthy and to get her back in with her family if we can get her over these medical issues." Neither Davis nor Storms would speculate on how soon that might be.

The cub's siblings, also female, grow more active by the day. Both are gaining weight and they've started playing with each other and with their mother, wrestling and swatting with their paws.

Starting Monday, Neka, the mother began taking breaks from her offspring and spending a bit of time with Kya, the other adult female, and Zawadi Mungu, the cubs' father.

Kya seems curious about the cubs, watching them through the fence that separates their enclosure from the larger exhibit. If Zawadi Mungu gives a hoot -- or a roar -- about the cubs, Davis says, he doesn't show it.

– Katy Muldoon