MADISON, Wis. — Tai, the 14-year-old red panda at the Henry Vilas Zoo, has cancer, the zoo announced Tuesday.
In a Facebook post, zoo staff said Tai began to show signs of decreased mobility and uncharacteristically had less interest in her food. A CT scan found her bones have signs of multiple myeloma.
“There isn’t a lot of information about how this cancer could progress in a red panda, but there is literature that indicates that dogs and cats can respond well to chemotherapy and steroids,” the post read. “Tai had a couple more tests done last week to determine the appropriate type of chemotherapy to administer and we were able to give her some special medication to strengthen her weakened bones.”
Tai will get treatment at the zoo’s Animal Health Center.
Tuesday’s announcement comes a month and a half after the zoo welcomed another red panda — two-year-old Bandit — to its Children’s Zoo area.
RELATED: Bandit, Henry Vilas Zoo’s new red panda, makes public debut
Another red panda at the zoo, Tarrei, died in December at age 19.
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