There is a lot of information out there on the internet on care for exotic pets. I don’t know how many times clients have come in to see me and they are so frustrated with the information they have found to be inaccurate. This is one of the reasons I created my website in the first place. I wanted to have a place where all this information on different species comes together for people to find.
This website is for everyone. It is for the exotic pet owner who has had pets for many years. It is for the newbie, just starting to think about owning an exotic pet. I also hope that this website will serve as a resource for the entire exotic pet community including veterinarians, technicians and nurses.
Over the coming months, I will be continuing to add new content relating to birds, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish.
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There are certain trends that we see in medicine, meaning there are common conditions that different species are prone to. Something that we see a lot of in exotic pet medicine is that failure to provide adequate housing, enrichment, diet, and climate for certain species. This puts them at risk of developing illness.
Here are some examples of poor husbandry and diet contributing to illness in exotic pets:
- Rabbits and small herbivores:
- Rely on a constant supply of fiber (grass hay) for their digestion and tooth wear.
- Therefore, if feed diet of mostly pellets or grain, they can develop serious dental and gastrointestinal problems.
- Parrots:
- Fed an all-seed diet (which is high in fat and low in vitamins and minerals) can become calcium and vitamin A deficient.
- Additionally they can be prone to obesity, heart disease and reproductive diseases.
- Instead we recommend a balanced diet for parrots with pellets, vegetables, fruits, healthy table foods and small amounts of seeds.
- Reptiles:
- Are the most specific with their requirements in captivity.
- Keeping them within the preferred range for temperature, humidity, UVB/UVA light supplementation, and providing a proper diet for their species is important.
- If this is not done, then they can be prone to secondary nutritional hyperparathyroidism also known as metabolic bone disease. This can have quite a profound affect on the animals overall health.
With all this information in mind, I would like to direct you to the Pet Care area of my website. Here I want you to explore all the different species we see and how to take care of them. Do you know someone with an exotic pet you can share this information with?
