Tiger cub Cahya takes a trip to the dentist!

Our carnivore keepers noticed that seven-month-old Cahya had broken one of her upper canines – which likely happened through natural play and investigation. Cahya is very comfortable with our keepers, and they were able to take a photograph of the tooth to show our veterinary team.

Cahya still has her baby teeth as tigers’ adult teeth grow in at around 12 months of age. When teeth fracture, the dental pulp inside becomes exposed and this will, especially with baby teeth,  act as a gateway for infections which can cause damage to the permanent teeth underneath and can even spread to the body.

Our vet team contacted the dental specialist at Kohimarama Veterinary Clinic, who we have worked with on specialist procedures for many years, to help us with giving Cahya the appropriate treatment.

Ahead of the planned procedure, our carnivore keepers engaged Cahya in hand injection training. This aim of his training was to condition her to being touched with a syringe, progressing on to a blunt needle, and with the final stage being able to inject her in her hindleg muscles. This training took place over a short time frame, but thanks to our team and their relationship with Cahya, it was a success.

This training made it possible to hand-inject her with anaesthetic drugs on the day of the procedure, which meant receiving her anaesthesia was as stress-free as possible. 

In the morning of 1st August Cahya was anesthetised and brought to the Zoo’s vet hospital   where radiographs were taken to assess the tooth. We had hoped that the tooth pulp would be viable enough for the dental specialist to perform pulp treatment, but it had already necrotised (the tooth pulp cells were not viable anymore) and so the baby tooth was removed to ensure no damage would be caused to the permanent tooth.

Tigers’ canine teeth have long deep roots, and once the tooth was extracted the ‘hole’ was sutured closed to help with healing and to ensure no food would enter in.

The entire procedure took about two and a half hours and as soon as Cahya was awake she was reunited with her mum Zayana - and in no time was playfully pouncing on her in greeting!

To give the gums time to heal, Cahya was given soft food for a week as well as antibiotics and pain relief. It’s now been two weeks and our keepers report she is active, lively and chewing on bones again!