A Day in the Life
at the AEAC
Congratulations to Dr. Samantha Swisher, who this week completed her 2 year residency at the Avian and Exotic Animal Clinic. Dr. Swisher will now remain at AEAC as an associate veterinarian, and work towards completing her Exotic Companion Medicine Board Specialty.
Dr. Swisher was surprised to see that her "graduation" included robes, presentation of a wand, and a book entitled "Magic Animal Formulary".
We are looking forward to the grand opening of our exotic animal only boarding facility this fall. Construction began in mid June, and we see more progress every day.
The demand for exotic pet boarding and baby-sitting is increasing, and many dog and cat boarding facility won't care for unusual pets. This new addition will allow plenty of room, and separate facilities for exotic mammals, birds and reptiles.
We don't have an opening date just yet, but anticipate late summer/early fall.
The Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine (JEPM) is an outstanding resource for exotic practitioners with peer reviewed case reports clinical briefs, research and more; species include birds, exotic mammals, reptiles and even fish. The next few e-messages we will summarize highlights from that issue. Sedation and Local Anesthesia as an Alternative to General Anesthesia in Three Birds
Lee A, Lennox AM.
This article featured 3 cases of the use of midazolam and butorphanol combined with lidocaine for treatment of a dermal cyst, amputation of a digit and repair of predator wounds in a conure, cockatiel and pet chicken. Sedation plus local were effective and safe. Sedation should be considered any time general anesthesia is not absolutely indicated.
Abnormal Buoyancy in a Convict Cichlid Associated with an Ovarian Carcinoma Invading the Swim Bladder.
Lewis S, Pinkerton M, Churgin S, Slaky K.
Buoyancy problems are common in fish, and there are multiple etiologies. This case report demonstrated invasion of ovarian carcinoma into the swim bladder as a cause of lateral recumbency. Diagnosis of buoyancy disorders requires a thorough approach in order to formulate a possible treatment plan.
On Wednesday, we welcomed a large group of campers from our neighborhood to come have a tour and meet some exotic pets. Eighteen kids from St. Joseph’s Institte for the Deaf, which is located right down the street from us, walked down for a visit. The children took a tour, petted a turtle and a rabbit, and met Abba and Happy the Caiques. Special thanks to EARPS for providing such a patient and quiet bunny for the children to meet!
Dr. Lennox recently returned from a visit to Poland, to teach at the VetForum conference in the city of Lodz. It's always fun to meet colleagues from around the world, and see how exotic animal medicine is different, and in many ways just the same. In Poland exotic pets are increasing in popularity, and more people are bringing them to the veterinarian for care. My host Dr. Agnieszka Drohobycka had time to show me some interesting sites in Krakow. Perhaps the most interesting was the wonderful "log cabin" she and her husband are restoring. It was great to stay with them, and walk to the local bakery for bread and the neighbor's cow for fresh milk!
Spike the betta fish developed an abnormality of his right eye. The eye could not be repaired, and so his owner elected to have us remove it. Eye problems like these are potentially painful in other species, so we assumed it would be the same for Spike.
**WARNING: Surgery Pictures Below!**
Spike came in for his post surgical recheck last week and his owner reports he is doing well. He is one lucky betta!
Did you know there is an organization dedicated just to medicine and surgery of fish? The American Association of Fish Veterinarians even holds their own annual conferences. Learn more at: http://www.fishvets.org
Oxbow Animal Health provides reasonably priced, single day exotic mammal CE several times per year all over the US. In October, an Oxbow Exotic Companion Mammal Symposium is coming to Indianapolis. The October Symposium features Dr. Angela Lennox, Dr. Micah Kohles and Dr. Vladmir Jekyl, and will cover rabbit and rodent dentistry, GI disease and more.
More details will be available soon: http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/vets/exotic_symposium
What should we calls the licensed professionals who assist the veterinarian?
"Technician" is the traditional term in the United States; however, there is a move to change that designation to "Nurse", which many believe more accurately describes the role of these well trained and compassionate professionals, and is in alignment with much of the rest of world, and with human medicine.
The North American Veterinary Technician's Association is pushing to make the change official. Some of the reasons cited are that "technician" sounds too mechanical, like a professional that works with machines or cars.
See more information on the debate here; http://www.navta.net/page/Vet_Techs_In_Action
What do you think about the name change? Do you support or oppose an official name change from Veterinary Technician to Veterinary Nurse? Let us know what you think on our Facebook!
Every spring we brace for the onslaught of injured and orphaned wildlife. The weather is warming up and we saw our first group of orphaned rabbits today so baby wildlife season is upon us!
Here's our yearly reminder on what to do if you encounter injured or orphaned wildlife. Please click the here for more information. In the majority of cases, wildlife you encounter doesn’t actually need help. When they do, we are here to help. As always, we do not charge anything for the care of wild animals, but we are always in need of donations! Here is what is needed most:
Wildlife Donation Wishlist:
As always, please call us if you have any questions! 317-879-8633
This is a picture of a very lucky little guinea pig who presented for a strange lump on his neck, just off to the side where a lymph node might be. He went to surgery to remove what was most likely an abscessed lymph node. However, there was some strange solid tissue mixed with hard tissue, and no abscess at all. The mass was sent off for analysis and it turned out to be something unusual, but not completely unheard of-thyroid cancer. The exact diagnosis is: “HYROID GLAND: PAPILLARY THYROID ADENOCARCINOMA, WITH INTERSTITIUM HETEROTOPIC BONE”
Fortunately, Myagi is doing well without the mass, but his owner is careful to watch for signs of recurrence, or problems related to changes in thyroid hormone levels. Since this is such an unusual tumor, predicting what might happen is difficult, but so far so good!
Myagi's owner found the lump while it was still small which made removing it much easier. That's why it's important to check your pets frequently for any unusual changes!
At our last staff training we welcomed Shirley the Hat Lady, who goes around to various medical facilities offering her custom made surgical bonnets. They are beautiful, well made, and best of all, reasonably priced. We were her first veterinary clinic, and she was glad to make us a batch featuring all of our favorite exotic animals. By the way, her bag also contained hats featuring comic book heroes, Disney characters, Doctor Who and much more. The staff was sorry they really are to wear in the surgery only....they look so great for everyday wear!
At our last staff training we welcomed Shirley the Hat Lady, who goes around to various medical facilities offering her custom made surgical bonnets. They are beautiful, well made, and best of all, reasonably priced. We were her first veterinary clinic, and she was glad to make us a batch featuring all of our favorite exotic animals. By the way, her bag also contained hats featuring comic book heroes, Disney characters, Doctor Who and much more. Interested in a house call from our new friend the Hat Lady? Give us a call and we will pass on her contact information. Your staff will love it!
It is with h
eavy hearts that we announce the passing of Phil, the clinic degu. Phil came to us nearly 8 years ago as an adult, though no one was quite sure of his actual age. He, unlike most of his species, couldn’t stand living with other degus and had to be kept separately from his family. He lived alone quite happily in one of our exam rooms, where many of you may have seen and interacted with him. Phil enjoyed exploring the clinic in his giant hamster ball while his cage was being cleaned, being scratched (but not picked up!) and rearranging his cage furniture. About 6 months ago, Phil started to have some health problems and it was decided that it was time for him to retire as clinic pet. He went to live with our receptionist Megan, where he enjoyed hanging out on the couch getting snuggled during movie time and sleeping against the side of the cage against his cat friend Samurai Sam. When in his ball, he particularly liked forming trains with Megan's other pets to follow her around the house! Megan spoiled him rotten until he finally passed on Saturday. All of us will miss him greatly. As a legacy to Phil, we are opening his cage up to adoptable animals from one of our local rescues. Next time you are in the clinic, be sure to visit our first adoption candidate Dora the Gerbil!
This week we say good by to veterinary visitor Maria Rosa de Jaureguizar i Tesas from Spain. She was a terrific help with all of our post surgical and hospital patients, and we enjoyed learning a bit more about Spanish culture and traditions! Thank you, Mari. Here's Mari's report-
I had the great opportunity to visit here for 2 month. I remember the day I arrived, a new graduate veterinarian in a new country on a very busy surgeries day. I remember that when I came in the hospitalization area there were a lot of rabbits waiting for a surgery. I was so amazed! I had never seen so many surgeries on exotic animals in one day before! Moreover, I've seen a lot of challenging cases, great diagnostic approach and great protocol treatment for exotic pets and wildlife. Some of the most interesting things I have seen here were an undifferenciate soft tissue sarcoma in a chinchilla which was treated with radiation therapy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in a bunny, dilated cardiomyopathy in an skunk, foreign body gastrointestinal obstruction in one arctic fox, an obstruction of the lacrimal canal in one African Grey Parrot caused by the epithelial duct hyperplasia secondary to hypovitamin A, one bearded dragon with one colonic mass, perform barium contrast in one snake. There were a lot of neurological and ophthalmologic cases too. I've seen endoscopy in a Crested Cockatoo with reproductive disease and bronchoscopy in an African Grey Parrot with bleeding coming from the larynx.
. This clinic is an excellent educational center for veterinary students, veterinary technicians and veterinarians who are interested in exotic pets. They share their knowledge and practice together every day. Every week, we participated in a journal club, where we read and discuss the new exotic animals articles published. That's a great way to keep in touch with the latest advancements. I studied, practiced and learned so much with them! Dr. Lennox and all her staff are really nice and friendly. During my stay here I could share with them a lot of American and Spanish traditions, from the Thanksgiving day to New Year grapes and the typical Spanish Paella! They became my Indy family, and from the first day until the last one I felt at home. I really want to thank you everything you gave me. I'll miss you!
-Mari
Last week we welcomed our "Bunny Whisperer" Mr. Bill Lee to help socialize and brush some of the many EARPS rescue rabbits.
Bill is a retired builder, who actually built most of our clinic additions, but is enjoying a well deserved retirement. What better way to spend that time than as a Bunny Socializer?
Bill was able to give the EARPS placement coordinators valuable information on each rabbit's personality.
EARPS has lots of volunteer opportunities; to find out more, email volunteer@earps.org
From the Oxbow website: Oxbow Vet Connect puts valuable educational resources and product information at the fingertips of busy veterinary professionals. Whether you’re in need of precise, one click dosing recommendations for our Professional Line products, informational videos and educational articles, CE credit opportunities, or easy ordering for all Oxbow products, Oxbow Vet Connect is there to help. Access these resources and more at www.OxbowVetConnect.com
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Educational Content from Industry Experts
At Oxbow, we applaud every veterinarian’s oat to the continued improvement of professional knowledge. To help you fulfill this oath, we are proud to offer our ever-growing library of educational videos and articles. Our video library features high definition content relating to procedures, diagnoses, treatment plans, and general exotics care. Printable resources include articles, case studies, and client education materials.
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Introducing Mr. White, the official First Christmas Pet of the Season! We saw Mr. White today for his first wellness check, just a few days after Santa delivered him to his new home. We applaud Santa for being able to keep new Christmas exotic pets warm and safe during their long trips from the North Pole. :)
All new exotic pets deserve a wellness visit to start their New Year off right and wellness exams are a big part of that!
Most exotic pet species are masters at hiding illness from owners. Most are prey species, and an important survival trick is to hide injury and illness to prevent predators from targeting them. Therefore, regular veterinary visits are important to help detect early indications of illness. During a normal well pet visit, the staff will go over many aspects of pet care, discuss ways to detect early disease and minimize preventable illness, and share any new advances in exotic pet care that might benefit your special pet. All new pets go home with written care instructions.
November marked the 20th Conference of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in New Orleans. The focus of the exotics program (Avian, Exotic Companion Mammal and Reptile/Amphibian) was Evidence Based Medicine, and how we can critically evaluate information sources. This is of special importance in exotic medicine, which despite advances, lags behind other traditional pet species. One entire presentation focused on critical evaluation of drug dosages published in exotic animal formularies. Most dosages from these sources are anecdotally-derived only, with very few pharmacokinetic or efficacy studies. This is especially concerning when we learn that existing pharmacokinetics show differences in how parrots metabolize the same drug. So a drug dosage found to be useful in one type of parrot may not be useful in another.Other presentations focused on how to interpret current information on hot topics such as E. cuniculi in rabbits, the use of GnRH agonists in various exotics and diagnose of liver disease in birds using so called "liver enzymes" (not a good idea by the way!). Consider ABVP in 2016 in San Antonio October 6-9th for CE for canine/feline/shelter medicin/exotic species and more . Check out www.abvp.com for more details.
From the ABVP website:
"ABVP certifies veterinary practitioners with exceptional knowledge, skill, and competency in the care of the total patient. ABVP Diplomates are certified in clinical practice for the species in which certification is granted. Clinical practice, as it pertains to veterinarians, is the art and science of applying medical knowledge to animals for their care and the alleviation and prevention of their diseases.
Most veterinarians performing broad-based clinical practice are not board certified. The ABVP board certified veterinarian has demonstrated they are capable of providing a level of clinical practice that is clearly superior to the norm of the profession."
Swing by the clinic this holiday season to pick up some festive gifts for your pets! All proceeds go to the Exotic Animal Rescue and Pet Santuary (EARPS) and the Indiana House Rabbit Society (IHRS). Thank you for supporting great causes!
To learn more about these great organizations, check their websites -
http://indianahrs.org/
http://earps.org/EARPS,_Inc/Home.html
