Small Mammals/Exotics

After spending more than two months at the National Aquarium’s Animal Care and Rescue Center in Baltimore, a young female harp seal named Marie Tharp was finally healthy enough to be released back into the ocean.

National Aquarium’s Animal Care and Rescue Center veterinary staff is caring for two impossibly adorable female harp seals named for two famous scientists, Marie Tharp and Sally Ride.

Veterinarians at Oregon State University performed surgery — an ovariohysterectomy, removing all of the reproductive organs — on a rare white Bengal tiger named Nora.

In reptiles, the clinical signs of hypervitaminosis A are typically manifested in the skin. Reptiles with chronic hypervitaminosis A require long-term support and wound management as well as routine check-ups.

Leonie Kondert, DVM Joerg Mayer, DVM, MS, DABVP, DACZM University of Georgia Distemper is an acute viral infectious disease with reported mortality rates in ferrets of 100%.1–5 Prevalence depends on the area, recent outbreaks have been documented in multiple countries.1,4 Since the invention of a vaccine against canine distemper virus (CDV) in the 1960s, the …

Leonie Kondert, DVM Joerg Mayer, DVM, MS, DABVP, DACZM University of Georgia Because of their friendly and playful character, ferrets are commonly kept as pets in the United States. Ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) belong to the family Mustelidae. The genus Mustela includes weasels, the European mink, the American mink, ferrets, and South American weasels. Ferrets …

This article discusses the day-to-day logistics of operating an exotic pet practice. The quality of exotic pet medicine has increased dramatically…

The quality of exotic pet medicine has increased dramatically over the last decade, which is illustrated by the appearance of board-certified specialists for exotic animals and increasing numbers of high quality articles in the peer-reviewed veterinary literature. However, the decision whether to incorporate exotic pets into a practice should be made carefully.

Bianca Zaffarano, DVM Iowa State University The Heartworm Hotline column is presented in partnership between Today’s Veterinary Practice and the American Heartworm Society (heartwormsociety.org). The goal of the column is to communicate practical and timely information on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heartworm disease, as well as highlight current topics related to heartworm research and …