Something is wrong with Penelope.
The Tammar Wallaby spins in circles, wobbles when she walks and hops, seems to have trouble seeing and suffers panic attacks.
Blood tests and exams yielded no clues. Treatments, to date, are ineffective.
Lincoln Children’s Zoo veterinarians needed to look into her brain to see if there was a tumor, a clot or some other reason for Penelope’s neurological issues. She needed an MRI -- a magnetic resonance imaging scan.
The costly test would have eaten up a huge portion of the zoo’s veterinary budget, said executive director John Chapo.
Then Lincoln’s Advanced Medical Imaging -- the medical facility known for its radiology services for humans -- stepped up and offered Penelope a scan free of charge.
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Over the years, the medical center has scanned some odd patients -- dogs, cats, even a few pigs and cows from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln research lab.
But Penelope was the first wallaby.
On July 22, Penelope arrived with her own cadre of caregivers -- a zookeeper Sara Reagan, veterinarians Dr. Mark Falloon and Dr. Brittney Riley, vet tech Linda Bowers and Chapo.
The raccoon-sized marsupial was remarkably calm -- especially compared to the tension-filled faces of her caregivers.
MRIs require patients to lie completely still, while the giant magnet pulses and sends images to technicians in an adjacent room. The procedure takes 30 to 90 minutes.
Just try explaining that to a wallaby.
Falloon and Riley sedated the marsupial, while Reagan cradled the animal in her arms and kissed the top of her head.
Anesthesia comes with a whole other set of risks, Chapo said. Penelope’s heart rate, breathing and temperature were closely monitored throughout the process.
An IV bag pumped fluids into Penelope’s 10-pound body.
Out cold, the wallaby lay on her back on the hospital bed. Her head immobilized by a foam wedge. Her tiny paws limp in the air. Her body taped in place.
Reagan, Penelope’s lead keeper, asked to accompany the wallaby into the scanning room. Concerned about the powerful magnet in the machine, Reagan needed to remove all metal from her body -- jewelry, cellphone and even the handful of bobby pins holding her bangs in place.
Then the keeper and the wallaby were fitted with ear plugs. The machine is incredibly loud.
Standing just feet away from the giant donut-shaped machine, Reagan’s eyes never left Penelope throughout the entire test.
Later, as a contrast dye was injected into Penelope’s body, Falloon joined Reagan in the MRI room, squeezing the IV bag to ensure she received adequate fluids to flush the dye throughout her brain.
Penelope was caught in the wilds of New Zealand. She arrived at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo in the winter of 2014 as part of a Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival breeding program to diversify the Tammar Wallaby gene pool.
No one is certain of her age, Regan said. But she is at least 2 years-old -- having produced two offspring during her time here. She was officially named through a statewide naming contest, in which Gov. Pete Ricketts and his family cast the determining ballot last August.
Penelope’s neurological issues started about one year ago, after she gave birth to a healthy joey, Reagan said. Since then, zoo veterinarians have struggled to diagnose the issue.
Penelope’s issues would be deleterious in the wild, Chapo said.
“But fortunately in the zoo we are able to monitor her and hopefully find a successful course of treatment,†he said.
The MRI provided detailed views of Penelope’s brain. The contrast agent allowed technicians to study her vascular system.
They half hoped to see something to explain the wallaby’s issues -- a tumor, a blockage, a clot, an indication of trauma.
They also hoped it would show nothing amiss.
They got the latter.
With no obvious issues, a team of veterinarians and specialists are analyzing the complex MRI and comparing it with brain scans of other Tammar Wallabies, Chapo said.
Maybe they will see something that is not normal for wallabies.
And maybe not.
So they wait.
And meanwhile Penelope is back home at the zoo.
“She continues to live happily with the other wallabies and their joeys in their habitat,†Chapo said.
And she enjoys extra love and attention from Reagan.
“Since becoming ill, Penelope -- (or) ‘Penny’ as Reagan refers to her -- has become cuddly and enjoys being held,†Chapo said. “Plus she is the BFF of ‘Liv,’ the wallaby that Reagan helped to raise (in 2014) when her mom rejected her. Hence all three are kind of a little pod of friends.â€