Small Mammals/Exotics

Bird Population Sees Staggering Decline
A study that looked at declining bird populations found 2.9 billion breeding adult birds have been lost since 1970, including birds in every ecosystem. The losses include iconic songsters such as the sweet-singing white-throated sparrows (down by 93 million).

Zoo’s Red Panda Cub Recovering After Leg Amputation
Veterinarians says that Oklahoma City Zoo’s 4-month-old female red panda cub Khyana is recovering after she underwent surgery to amputate her left hind leg.

Lewis the Llama Undergoes Successful Dental Surgery at CSU
After being found abandoned in Yellowstone National Park, Lewis the Llama was captured and taken to Colorado State University’s veterinary teaching hospital. There they found Lewis had periodontal disease in teeth on both sides of his jaw and decided to remove the affected teeth in surgery.

How Honey Bees Are Changing Veterinary Medicine (and Why Pollinators Matter)
Veterinary Feed Directives were created by the FDA in an attempt to have veterinarians oversee antibiotics given to animals in feed as part of the FDA’s overall drive to combat antibiotic resistance.

National Aquarium Animal Rescue Releases Harp Seal
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 Veterinarians Treating Two Harp Seals
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 OSU Perform Surgery on a Rare White Bengal Tiger
Veterinarians at Oregon State University performed surgery — an ovariohysterectomy, removing all of the reproductive organs — on a rare white Bengal tiger named Nora.

Hypervitaminosis A in Reptiles
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.

Ferret Distemper: What You Need to Know
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 …