Hyena's vet check-up no laughing matter

A trip to the vet is no laughing matter for 15-year-old spotted hyena Kigana.

Four Perth Zoo keepers are needed to carry the 60kg sedated carnivore, who was knocked out only moments earlier by a dart gun, to the clinic.

They have to be quick - putting such a large animal under anesthesia is potentially dangerous and there is only a 50-minute window to get everything checked.

At the start, there is a struggle to check Kigana's blood pressure in his leg to make sure that the machine reading his vitals is working properly.

"I get it on a kitten, I can't get it on a hyena," the vet says.

After a lot of poking and prodding, they finally hear the beat.

Kigana is in good health but the zoo will need to bring in a dental specialist to extract one of his teeth, a particularly complex procedure on a hyena.

Other than a plaque scraping from the vet, the keepers make sure Kigana and fellow hyena Sabi's daily diet is made up with a quarter of bone to keep their teeth clean.

Senior keeper Becky Thomasson told AAP the hyenas are trained to present their eyes, ears and mouth for inspection but some of the zoo's animals are able to have their teeth brushed.

Ms Thomasson said the Sun Bears and some of the orangutans could use a toothbrush to keep their pearly bites shining.