{"id":233754,"date":"2025-10-30T09:45:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T09:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/233754\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T09:45:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T09:45:12","slug":"here-for-a-cat-scan-four-year-old-tiger-luca-joins-other-big-felines-from-kent-for-special-check-on-their-medical-mysteries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/233754\/","title":{"rendered":"Here for a CAT scan? Four-year-old tiger Luca joins other big felines from Kent for special check on their &#8216;medical mysteries&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By GEMMA PARRY <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  21:11 EDT, 28 October 2025   |  Updated:  12:14 EDT, 29 October 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">A tiger, a cheetah and a clouded leopard have all undergone the ultimate cat scan, with high-tech tests to uncover their mystery medical issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Four-year-old Luca, an Amur Tiger; Django, a ten-year-old mainland clouded leopard; and Mo, a four-year-old Southern African cheetah, were examined using specialist CT scans in a mobile unit following unexplained and persistent &#8216;mobility issues.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The residents of the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent were sedated in their enclosure by a vet from the International Zoo Veterinary Group, before being moved to the mobile centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Incredible images show Luca looking very relaxed with his paws resting in front of him and his eyes closed as he was prepared for the high-resolution scans.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Following the scans, the three big cats were transported back to their enclosures while sedated.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Once safely back in their habitats, the anaesthetic was reversed and they were monitored as they woke up.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The scans will now be analysed by specialist veterinary radiographers, who will report their findings in around two weeks time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-626dfe752a895f89\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/103396289-15236733-image-a-38_1761698578157.jpg\" height=\"415\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Incredible images show Luca looking very relaxed with his paws resting in front of him and his eyes closed as he was prepared for the high-resolution scans\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Incredible images show Luca looking very relaxed with his paws resting in front of him and his eyes closed as he was prepared for the high-resolution scans<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-39a212bb5a8cf208\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/103396309-15236733-image-a-39_1761698591937.jpg\" height=\"422\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Luca was pictured being prepared for the scans looking very relaxed\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Luca was pictured being prepared for the scans looking very relaxed\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-f2cad2b83eca3ee7\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/103396421-15236733-image-a-43_1761698966870.jpg\" height=\"390\" width=\"634\" alt=\"\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>  <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Luca was one of three big cats being scanned at the sanctuary with a mobile unit\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-bf5fd365d2fd4b19\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/103396307-15236733-image-a-41_1761698613829.jpg\" height=\"826\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Staff were put in place to get Luca comfortable ahead of the CT scan at the mobile unit\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Staff were put in place to get Luca comfortable ahead of the CT scan at the mobile unit\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-c2eed10849be22d3\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/103396301-15236733-image-a-42_1761698623105.jpg\" height=\"409\" width=\"634\" alt=\"The results of the scans are expected to be returned to the sanctuary in two weeks\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">The results of the scans are expected to be returned to the sanctuary in two weeks\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Briony Smith, curator at The Big Cat Sanctuary, said: &#8216;The entire day was a brilliant demonstration of collaborative animal welfare.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;Ensuring the comfort and safety of our cats is always our top priority, and bringing the mobile CT unit here allowed us to achieve that goal smoothly and efficiently.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;The crucial partnership between The Big Cat Sanctuary, our specialist vets Elliot Simpson-Brown and Valerie Freeman, and Burgess Diagnostics has been vital in taking this significant next step towards understanding and resolving the mobility issues for Luca, Django and Mo.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Here for a CAT scan? Four-year-old tiger Luca joins other big felines from Kent for special check on their &#8216;medical mysteries&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By GEMMA PARRY Published: 21:11 EDT, 28 October 2025 | Updated: 12:14 EDT, 29 October 2025 A tiger,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[97,50,90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-233754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-dailymail","tag-news","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}