Prevalence of dental diseases in small neotropical felids kept under human care

Abstract

The oral cavities of 50 specimens of small adult Neotropical felids were evaluated, from four species: ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), southern tiger cat (Leopardus tigrinus), margay cat (Leopardus wiedii) and jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi) kept in captivity in four zoological collections of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The objective was to identify macroscopic dental changes, divided in four groups: 1. variations, anomalies and missing teeth; 2. periodontal disease; 3. trauma; 4. Resorptive dental lesions. Among the changes, periodontal disease (88.0%) was the most prevalent, with dental calculus and gingivitis as major clinical findings, affecting mainly the vestibular surface of the maxillary teeth. The second group of higher prevalence dental findings was trauma (66.0%), mainly observed in L. pardalis and P. yagouaroundi – mostly dental abrasion, with prevalence of canine teeth. Dental absence was the most prevalent finding in the group of variations, anomalies and missing teeth (54.0%), predominating absence of incisors teeth, with major frequency in P. yagouaroundi. Resorptive dental lesions were less prevalent (10.0%), being mainly observed in premolars and mandibular molars. According to the results obtained in the present study, it can be concluded that there is a high prevalence of diseases in animals