Sea otter with asthma learns how to use an inhaler

It's pretty impressive for a 1-year-old to know how to use an inhaler — and even more extraordinary when that 1-year-old is a sea otter.

Mishka's trainer, Sara Perry, used food to teach the otter to push her nose on the inhaler and take a deep breath. The Seattle Aquarium says that Mishka started having difficulty breathing when smoke from wildfires blanketed Seattle, and she's believed to be the first sea otter diagnosed with asthma. Dr. Lesanna Lahner told King 5 that scans of Mishka's lungs show they have "more white in them. In a normal radiograph of a sea otter, you wouldn't be able to see those things."

When it came time for Mishka to learn how to use her inhaler, Lahner said it was important to make the process "as fun as possible. Any kind of medical behavior you're training, you want to make sure it's nice and positive." It's likely Mishka will have to use the inhaler for the rest of her life.

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