Pre-Vet club at LSU was a proud sponsor of this beautiful tiger named Aria.
She was raised by humans and then lived at the North Carolina Tiger Rescue. She was malnourished due to a digestive problem with her pancreas. Then lived on a special diet that consisted of cow pancreas to give her enough nutrients. Unfortunately, she passed away November 16th, 2016.
Aria’s story: Aria the Tiger began showing signs of having something going wrong neurologically. One of the first symptoms seen was Aria star-gazing. Star-gazing can happen for multiple reasons, including high blood pressure and seizures. She immediately started on anti-seizure medication. Shortly thereafter, she was anesthetized, got blood work, and was checked for blood pressure. Her blood work came back looking pretty decent but her blood pressure was running high. She was then started on a medication to treat her hypertension and was weaned off of her anti-seizure medication. Unfortunately, that did not resolve the issues. She started her anti-seizure medication again and it was feared that she would begin to have additional seizures that would occur more often. One morning, those fears were realized. On rounds, Senior Keeper, Lauren, was unable to get a reaction from Aria, who was in her den box. After trying for some time, she made her way out of her den box. Moments later, she had multiple seizures. It was a hard decision, but under the guidance of Dr. Lassiter, the animal care staff made the decision to euthanize. On necropsy, an abnormal lymphoid was found that will be sent off. Nothing else remarkable was found, but it wasn't expected to. It was fairly certain that she might have had something in her brain causing the seizure activity and that it wouldn’t be able to be found on necropsy. Aria was near death when she was rescued by Carolina Tiger in 2013 and when she rebounded with her fighting spirit, she quickly won the hearts of many staff and volunteers. She was a tour group favorite due to her social nature and often came up and “chuffled” at visitors. Aria was known to be a bit of a princess and required some patience when it came to feeding time. Aria’s remarkable story was told over and over as an example of why people should not have wild cats as pets. Her kind, friendly spirit and diva personality will be remembered by all.