L
ondon Zoo’s Sumatran tiger cub is going to have an emergency MRI and additional blood tests on Tuesday after mystery seizures.
The young tiger cub Loki has been in and out of London Zoo’s veterinary hospital since he had first first seizure on Friday which was followed by two more on Sunday.
Loki has been resting in the company of his mum Gaysha in the warm surroundings of their indoor dens at London Zoo.
Now London Zoo’s vets plan to team up with the veterinary neurologists at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) to examine the wild cub on Tuesday.
The young tiger cub Loki has been in and out of London Zoo’s veterinary hospital
/ London Zoo
READ MORE
With the specialist equipment and advanced testing facilities on site at the RVC, the experts hope to get a better understanding of Loki’s seizures.
ZSL’s Chief Curator Malcolm Fitzpatrick said: “We don’t know what will happen next or what the outcome will be. But we are doing everything we can to work out what’s wrong with Loki and determine what, if anything, we can do to help him.
“The most important thing for everyone at ZSL is Loki’s welfare. Despite his two recent seizures, the vets in charge of his care are confident that he is not suffering, and as long as this is the case, we will continue to do everything within our power to treat him.”
Dedicated zookeepers have placed the cub under 24/7 monitoring since Friday and they have been continuing to keep watch via remote CCTV overnight.
Results from previous blood tests and X-rays have come back inconclusive.
Initially Loki appeared to perk up – licking his paws and fidgeting while vets carried up their check up – after being administered specialist medicine on Saturday.
“We all breathed a sigh of relief,” ZSL’s Chief Curator added.
However, sadly, the cub had two more seizures on Sunday evening after what zookeepers described as a “peaceful day”.
More tests will try to determine what has been causing the seizures.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-zoo-loki-sumatran-tiger-cub-mystery-seizures-b983775.html?itm_source=Internal&itm_channel=section_banner&itm_campaign=breaking-news-ticker&itm_content=1
