Exotic Pet Veterinary Care

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Home • Services • Exotic Pet Veterinarian

What is an Exotic Pet?

The term “exotic pet” applies to any household pet other than the more traditional dog or cat. This includes:

• reptiles (snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises)
• birds (parrots, budgies, passerines, waterfowl)
• amphibians (frogs, salamanders, newts)

We will treat exotic pets including non poisonous snakes, bearded dragons, reptiles and birds.

We recommend that all newly acquired exotic pets be kept separate from your other pets for one month after purchase. They should also receive an initial health evaluation by a veterinarian prior to introduction to your other pets. During this veterinary visit, we will discuss how to care for your new exotic pet and answer any questions you may have. Many pet stores offer a warranty on newly purchased animals that lasts for 2-3 weeks, and it is ideal to schedule a veterinary visit within this time frame. These measures are vital to ensuring that you have obtained a healthy pet free of diseases or infections that may be introduced into your collection.

Bringing Your Pet to Cornerstone Animal Hospital

Here at the Cornerstone Animal Hospital, we recognize that coming to the vet can be a stressful experience for any pet, particularly our exotic patients. To ensure we minimize the amount of stress your exotic pet experiences we ask that when you bring them to the Cornerstone Animal Hospital that you arrive 15 minutes early to fill out new patient paperwork.

If possible, your pet may be more relaxed if brought in its regular enclosure. This will be helpful to assess your setup and make any recommendations. It is also best not to clean the enclosure prior to bringing your pet in. This will allow your exotic pet to be surrounded by familiar, comfortable smells, and will also retain samples for diagnostic testing to better evaluate your pet. For reptile patients, it is best to bring them with some sort of heated transport, such as a warm towel or hot water bottle.

Wellness Exams and Preventative Care

The health and well-being of exotic pets benefits greatly from regular checkups and wellness visits. The development of health issues in exotic pets can be gradual and difficult to detect by even the most diligent pet owner, underscoring the importance of regular veterinary examinations. During these visits, your pet receives a full physical exam and health checkup, thorough evaluation of husbandry practices, and recommendations for improvement where necessary. We offer a wide array of wellness services for exotic patients here at the Cornerstone Animal Hospital, including:

• vaccination
• fecal exam
• thorough oral examination
• evaluation for external parasites
• weight checks
• blood screening
• sex determination
• spay/neuter procedures
• husbandry review and recommendations
• behavioral counseling
• diagnostic imaging
• nail, beak, and wing trims

How to Tell When Your Exotic Pet is Sick

The best treatment for any health issue is catching it early, before they are showing signs of illness.

Exotic pets are skilled at hiding problems. Unfortunately, this means that when they finally do let us know that there is a problem, it is often advanced and more difficult to resolve. Signs to watch for include (but are not limited to):

• Decreased activity
• Decreased appetite
• Weight loss
• Changes in stool or urine production or appearance
• Ocular or nasal discharge
• Any sign of blood on the animal or in its enclosure
• Muscle twitching, weakness
• Fluffed up appearance, sitting on cage floor, or tail-bobbing in birds
• wing droop
• changes in respiratory rate or effort
• Witnessed or suspected injuries

Call us as soon as possible if your pet is displaying any concerning signs!