Dental care for Kunekune pigs

Hello everyone! My name is Adrianna and I am a member of the team who takes care of our petting zoo friends! If any of you have been down to the Outback area recently, you may have noticed that the Kunekune pigs have not graced us with their presence. They have a pretty good excuse though! They needed to have their “wisdom” teeth removed!

The breed of pig, Kunekune, can have a genetic condition that can affect their mouths. Some Kunekune pigs can have too small a mouth for all their teeth to grow in, similar to humans and their wisdom teeth. This can cause some medical issues if not taken care of. Luckily here at Zoo Atlanta, we have an excellent care team and are able work with other facilities to take care of the animals. Earlier this year we took Arya and Stark on an adventure to get a whole CT scan to really see what their teeth and jaws looked like. As it turned out, both needed some teeth removed and Stark needed a little extra work to make sure his jaw had enough room for his teeth. That meant another fun adventure to UGA for some help from their team’s expertise! Thanks to the incredible team and the community around us, the pigs were all fixed up and ready to take on/eat the rest of the world!

However, the surgery Stark needed required a little extra recovery time, and he needed his sister as his buddy. So they have been on vacation from the petting zoo to heal and eat all the yummy recovery hay that they could. Once they get back to the swing of things and re-meet all of their animal friends (and maybe even meet new ones), they can’t wait to say hi to all of you!
Adrianna L.
Keeper I, Ambassador Animals

(photo by Adrianna L.)