Veterinary Clinics of North America. Exotic Animal Practice

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

While practicing exotic animal medicine as an ambulatory practitioner, veterinarians need to be prepared for the inevitable emergency call. Emergencies in exotic animal medicine come in all shapes and sizes and the veterinarian must be prepared for a variety of situations. With the proper training, equipment, and managing client expectations, an ambulatory exotics animal practitioner can successfully address emergencies. This article provides a brief overview in managing emergency cases in an ambulatory exotics animal practice...

Due to myriad species and their variety of needs, ambulatory zoologic practice can carry many challenges. The practitioner must be appropriately prepared, with the necessary equipment, medications, and supplies, which should either accompany the veterinarian or be available at the site where the work is performed. It is imperative that the veterinarian has proper knowledge of the care and feeding of these animals and knows and understands the legalities of owning and working with them. The ambulatory zoo veterinarian must be able to address the medical and surgical needs of these animals in a field or other nonconventional setting...

This article reviews the necessary process an exotic veterinarian needs to understand when considering being an attending veterinarian for a United States Department of Agriculture regulated facility.

An exotic companion animal ambulatory practice has unique challenges, advantages, and disadvantages. Not all veterinarians are suited to this type of practice, but it can be exceptionally rewarding. It can also be exceptionally frustrating. Ambulatory practice offers veterinary services to those clients who for a variety of reasons do not or cannot take their exotic companion animal, potbellied pig, or llama to a veterinary practice. Being able to observe husbandry and feeding practices and an animal's environment, the mobile veterinarian gets a more well-rounded picture of the patient...

An avian ambulatory practice is a veterinary practice that can be started with a small investment and has low overhead and operating expenses. It is an opportunity for veterinarians who want to open their own practice. This type of practice has advantages and disadvantages. Practitioners can set their own hours and be their own boss. They are better able accommodate clients by making it more convenient for them to schedule appointments. Practitioners can take advantage of home visits to correct environmental issues...

Herpetology specialists may find a rewarding model in production medicine, where patients are evaluated on a population basis in an ambulatory setting. Ambulatory medicine combines clinical advantages, such as being able to evaluate patients and their living conditions in situ, with the benefits of building close client relationships and tethering the growth of the business with that of an increasingly popular niche industry. Ambulatory medicine does present some logistical challenges when working with reptiles and amphibians, but they represent surmountable growing pains for the veterinarian committed to growing alongside the ever-evolving practice of reptile and amphibian medicine and surgery...

Ambulatory aquatic veterinary medicine allows examination of a patient's environment and identification of potentially sick animals. Common clients to use ambulatory service are owners of large koi and aquaculture facilities, but any aquatic animal owner could benefit from on-site services. This practice limits stress from handling and transporting large or critically sick or injured aquatic animals. Additional skills must be practiced to attain proficiency in capturing potential patients. Most diagnostics are available to practitioners in an ambulatory setting and follow-up care must be thoroughly discussed with clients...

With the growing popularity in the ownership of nontraditional species, there is a growing need for veterinarians to be able to provide out-of-clinic health assessments on privately owned exotic species. Ambulatory anesthesia is often required for diagnostic and surgical procedures in remote or nonhospital settings. Anesthesia for diagnostic procedures is commonly used to ensure the safety of personnel and exotic veterinary patients, particularly when there is an inability to transport the animal to the clinic...

Results may be changed with suboptimal sample collection and transport, which then result in incorrect diagnoses. Quality management of samples must start in the patient, extend through sampling itself, include appropriate short transport, and then be correctly accessioned at the referral laboratory or in-house station to ensure accurate diagnosis of disease. A quality assurance plan at the laboratory chosen is mandatory under American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology guidelines.

Veterinary technicians are continuously evolving with changes in veterinary medicine specialties. Traditionally, ambulatory medicine has focused on large farm animal medicine. In today's world, technicians are finding themselves on house calls and in ambulatory practices that focus on exotic and zoologic species. In ambulatory medicine, technicians assist during field surgery work, onsite diagnostics, and in other various roles. The conditions often are not ideal and require attention to detail to avoid mistakes in record keeping, inventory, and unnecessary risk...

The ambulatory exotic animal practice provides a unique paradigm within veterinary medicine, one with new challenges and great rewards and benefits. In today's world, however, every practitioner needs to be cognizant of the legal issues and liabilities that may befall them and plan accordingly. Ambulatory nontraditional species practice has additional legal risks and concerns. This article provides information so that the veterinarian can make educated decisions while reducing their liability.

The diversity of species and habitats encountered in nontraditional veterinary practice lends itself to a passionate veterinarian with a wide-ranging set of surgical, medical, and husbandry skills. At every appointment, exotic animal veterinarians perform 2 examinations (patient and environment). The animal and environmental examinations often identify relationships that lend themselves to appropriate medical care and therapies. This article gives practical knowledge and experience to the veterinary professional for the purpose of building an ambulatory service to enhance the success of or to create a stationary practice...

Ambulatory veterinary practice is anything but a new concept; although it was not a significant portion of companion animal medicine for the last 5 decades, it has been and continues to be the mainstay of large animal practice. As exotic animal medicine has been one of the fastest growing segments of veterinary medicine, mobile and on-site care for these nontraditional species (both pets and collection based) is a rapidly growing segment of on-demand veterinary care. With good planning, organization, and equipment, ambulatory medical services can provide as good of care as what can be practiced in any stationary practice...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

The nontraditional therapies of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine and chiropractic care are adjunct treatments that can be used in conjunction with more conventional therapies to treat a variety of medical conditions. Nontraditional therapies do not need to be alternatives to Western medicine but, instead, can be used simultaneously. Exotic animal practitioners should have a basic understanding of nontraditional therapies for both client education and patient referral because they can enhance the quality of life, longevity, and positive outcomes for various cases across multiple taxa...

Treatment options for animals with cancer are rapidly expanding, including in exotic animal medicine. Limited information is available about treatment effects in exotic pet species beyond individual case reports. Most cancer treatment protocols in exotic animals are extrapolated from those described in humans, dogs, and cats. This review provides an update on cancer treatment in exotic animal species. The Exotic Species Cancer Research Alliance accumulates clinical cases in a central location with standardized clinical information, with resources to help clinicians find and enter their cases for the collective good of exotic clinicians and their patients...

The use of a gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonist slow-release implant (GnRH A-SRI) has become increasingly popular as an alternative for surgical contraception in many species. Although these implants have proven to be very effective in some species (eg, ferrets, rats, chicken, psittacines, and iguanas), they have been found less effective in other species (eg, male guinea pigs and rabbits, veiled chameleons, slider turtles, and leopard geckos). This review provides an overview of the available literature on the effects of GnRH A-SRIs in companion exotic animals...

Cardiovascular disease, including congestive heart failure, pericardial disease, and atherosclerosis, is becoming increasingly better recognized in companion birds, small mammals, and reptiles. A wide range of medications is available to treat these conditions, including diuretics, vasodilators, positive and negative inotropes, antiarrhythmic agents, and pentoxifylline. This review systematically discusses each of these drug classes and their potential applications in exotic species. Although treatment approaches remain largely empirical and extrapolated from small animal and human medicine, the management strategies presented here have the potential to both maintain quality of life and extend survival time for the exotic cardiac patient...

Researchers have generated an array of potential avian antiviral vaccines. However, vaccine and viral complexity, small profit margins, the cost of development and manufacturing, and the small population at risk relegate most avian vaccine use to commercial species. Some vaccines designed for use in nonavian species are used to prevent or ameliorate disease in exotic and companion birds. This article highlights newly developed vaccines that may be used in exotic and pet birds. Information pertinent to vaccine choice and strategy is provided, including disease lethality, species affected, and previous knowledge regarding vaccine safety and efficacy...