U.S. aquarium trains otter to use inhaler after smoke from Seattle wildfires

On the Seattle Sea Aquarium’s blog, they state that they cannot positively pinpoint why Mishka has asthma.

It’s not exactly clear why Mishka is suffering from asthma, but the Aquarium says there’s a multitude of reasons why she has it.

The solution to this problem?

In the video, the wheezy otter is seen using an asthma spacer to inhale the drug which will help her breathe easier.

A veterinarian on staff found that Mishka was experiencing difficulty breathing and after a running a couple tests chose the creature required her particular inhaler.

Dr Lesanna Lahner, who first diagnosed Mishka at Seattle Aquarium, told local TV station King-5 that the otter’s training with the inhaler had been a success. Mishka now comes up to the inhaler and takes a deep breath, and then is rewarded with a small treat. Any sort of medical conduct you’re coaching, you need to make it possible for it’s good and constructive. “It could also be related to reduced genetic diversity in sea otters, which has the potential to impact their immune systems and make it harder to fight off disease”.

Asthma is rare in animals, though there have been cases where dogs, cats, and horses develop the condition.

Mishka is responding well to the inhaler, and her breathing is showing improvements. Dr. Lahner believes Mishka was susceptible to the disease due to low genetic diversity after sea otters went extinct in their native Pacific Northwest and were replaced by Alaskan sea otters in the late 1960s.