Houston's top doctors step in to save city's famed orangutan

Houston oldest Orangutan, Cheyenne, undergoing investigative surgery after developing a mystery illness. She was eventually treated for an infection and kidney failure by a critical care specialist from Ben Taub hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. less Houston oldest Orangutan, Cheyenne, undergoing investigative surgery after developing a mystery illness. She was eventually treated for an infection and kidney failure by a critical care specialist from Ben ... more Photo: Houston Zoo Photo: Houston Zoo Image 1 of / 39 Caption Close Houston's top doctors step in to save city's famed orangutan 1 / 39 Back to Gallery

People travel from all over the world to get treatment at Houston's Medical Center, the doctors there are renowned as some of the best in the world.

This past summer those doctors had a unique and special patient who didn't have to travel far at all. World class specialists from Texas Children's Hospital and Ben Taub Intensive Care Unit were called in to save the life of Houston Zoo's most famous orangutan, 42-year-old Cheyenne.

The female orangutan, the oldest at the zoo and adoptive mother to many orphaned infant orangutans was seriously ill and no one knew what was wrong with her.

"There was evidence of infection, possible muscle disease, evidence of urinary tract infection, she had multiple things going on that resulted in her being super sick," said zoo veterinary doctor, Lauren Howard, who oversaw her care.

After several days of not eating and not moving, Cheyenne's vets sought help from their neighbors who over look them every day from the high rise towers of the Medical Center.

What followed was primate care so unique it has only been done a handful of times in the U.S. and never before in Houston.

Ben Taub Critical Care Specialist Dr. Venkata Bandi and OBGYN Dr. Laurie Swaim, donated their services for free and joined a team of dozens of doctors, vets and zoo keepers who kept Cheyenne alive.

Swaim, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine who treats patients Texas Children's Hospital Pavillion for Women, said there was no question she would assist.

"Animals give us so much without even realizing what they do," said Dr. Swaim, "If there is a new drug, it's experimented on animals, so if there's some little modicum of something I can do to help them (I want to help)." she said.

A surgical exploration of Cheyenne's abdomen was first, after finding everything perfect, including the longest intestine's she had ever seen – "considerably longer than any human" – Dr. Swaim found no clues.

As the infection worsened and kidney failure set in, the team called in Dr. Venkata Bandi, also a professor at Baylor. Bandi had never worked on animals before.

"To be frank, I was worried, this was a first," said Bandi, "You have the physician mentality, am I going to help her or hurt her? If you can't help that's ok, but you don't want to end up hurting her."

Kidney dialysis was out of the question, the neck catheter which it would have required was just too risky, according to the doctor. Even in humans there are rare cases where the patient pulls out the tube and bleeds to death. Trying to stop an orangutan from touching a wound was judged nearly impossible, even if they had a primate-sized medical cone around her neck.

The team worked around the clock and devised a way to keep Cheyenne lightly sedated so a smaller I/V could be kept in. A constantly monitored stream of antibiotics and fluids was administered.

"We tried to walk a tight-rope between giving too much fluids and giving enough, somewhere around day seven or eight, she start to turn around," said Dr. Bandi.

In total Cheyenne spent 11 days on the I/V and survived using all the experience of the zoo staff and human doctors combined, plus information from another zoo which had successfully treated a gorilla in a similar way.

The orangutan, a resident since 1993 and part of Houston Zoo royalty, was taken off intensive care July 6 and is now back on exhibit with her adoptive daughter, Aurora.

"She was so happy to be reunited with Aurora, everyone who saw it had tears in their eyes. It was almost like once she got that infant back she was ready to go," said Dr. Howard at the zoo.

Cheyenne's care was not the first time that doctors from the Medical Center have made the trip across the street to help their animal neighbors.

Fifteen-year-old tiger, Pandu, has received stem cell therapy for orthopedic issues in his elbow, according to the zoo. Earlier this year, the Komodo dragon named Smaug, developed a limp and needed specialist chiropractic care.

The team of four vets at the zoo are the "ultimate generalists," Howard said, adding that sometimes specialists in the form of external vet specialists or human specialists are needed.

"When (the animals) need more, they need intensive human care," Howard said, "We just don't have that expertise. In human medicine there are specialists – like with the kidney – all they do is work on that one thing."

For the doctors, the unique experience of caring for Cheyenne left them reflecting on the level of care that is available in America to all walks of life, it seems. Many of the techniques used on the orangutan were the same as those used on people in countries where dialysis equipment is not available.

"I think it makes us humble and gives us appreciation of a lot of things we take for granted in our Intensive Care Units here," said Dr. Bandi noting the dedication of the zoo staff who sat with Cheyenne day and night while she was sedated.

"I see the zoo and smell the zoo everyday," said Dr. Bandi, "I hear monkeys and peacocks when I'm drivng in, but I never realized how much effort goes into the care of these wonderful animals."