Last week the Indochinese tiger cubs had their first physical exam up at the San Diego Zoo’s hospital. They were both anesthetized so that the vets could give them microchips for identification, vaccinations, and tattoos for institutional identification. They also went through a deworming procedure and had several X-rays taken.

The vets were especially interested in the X-rays of the cubs’ teeth. The cubs’ dad, Awang Relak, came to the San Diego Zoo with a very serious dental problem which took many surgeries to correct. We were all concerned that his offspring might inherit this problem, so I started checking the cubs’ mouths for tooth eruption beginning at four days old. When their baby teeth started coming in, I was able to measure and record the growth of their canines and any new dental eruptions on a daily basis. I continued to do this until just under three months of age, which is when they started getting a little bit too feisty. With that information, and now the current dental X-rays, we are feeling pretty confident that Mata and Rimba don’t have their dad’s dental problem.

Bridget Mulholland is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo’s Tiger River exhibit.

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