exotİc animal medicine

8/14/2019 EXOTİC ANIMAL MEDICINE

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/exotic-animal-medicine 1/319811982

1980

19841985

1983 1

1979

Small Animal/Exotics 20TH ANNIVERSARY Compendium March 1999

Exotic Animal

Highlights and Horizons in

A sick bird is a dead bird.” “One of the best techniques for anesthetizing rep-tiles is refrigeration at 5˚C for 2 hours.” “Treat rabbits like cats with long

ears.” “If the medication from the pet shop fails to work, flush the fish down thetoilet and go buy another one.”

Today these statements sound horrifying, but 20 years ago they were close tostate of the art in exotic animal medicine. Since then, there has been a tremen-dous explosion in the popularity of all types of exotic species; and practicing vet-erinarians have made incredible efforts to keep up with public demand.

Expansion First as an Art, Then as a ScienceUnlike many fields in veterinary medicine, exotic animal medicine has been

driven by practitioners and their response to client demands. As a result, mostchanges in the practice of exotic animal medicine have been extrapolated fromother medical disciplines. A glaring drawback to this approach is its inability toaccount for phylogenetic and species idiosyncrasies. For example, many drugdoses administered to exotic birds have been adapted on a per-weight basis fromdose schedules for poultry, food animals, and horses. In addition, nutritionaldata for psittacine species has been extrapolated from data for poultry. Finally,equipment modification (e.g., using a party balloon as a rebreathing bag in non-rebreathing anesthetic circuits) has relied on the ingenuity of practitioners.

Two events likely had the most significant impact on the practitioner ’s ability to manage exotic patients. Indirectly, the formation of the Association of AvianVeterinarians in 1980 not only had a profound effect on avian medicine but be-cause of the organization’s inadvertent collection of practitioners with interest inall nontraditional pet species, also impacted the growth of exotic animal practices.

C O M P

END I U M ’ S

20th ANNIVERSARY

1 9 7 9 - 1 9 9 9

Michael J. Murray DVM Avian and Exotic Clinic of Monterey Bay

Monterey, California

1980

Association of Avian Veterinarians

formed

1985

Isoflurane anesthesia introduced

1986

The North American Veterinary Conference offered exotic animal

subjects and hands-on wet labs

1988

House Rabbit Society formed

Michael J. Murray

Although the association’s formal lec-tures addressed avian medicine, there

were also many informal discussionson mutual problems. This conceptcontinued to evolve and eventually entered cyberspace in 1991, when theVeterinary Information Network wasformed for online discussions.

Without a doubt, however, a moresignificant event in the developmentof exotic animal medicine was the in-troduction of isoflurane anesthesia in1985. Until then, the only anesthet-ics used routinely in exotic species

were methoxyflurane, halothane, andone of several parenteral cocktailscombining ketamine and anothercompound. Although all of theseagents had advantages and disadvan-

Exotic Animal Medicine



86

87

19891991

1993

1994199519971999

19981990 1992

Compendium March 1999 20TH ANNIVERSARY Small Animal/Exotics

tages, none had the safety net inher-ent to isoflurane with its minimalmetabolism and less profound car-diopulmonary effects. Safe anesthesiamade advances in exotic animal sur-

gery (including minimally invasiveendoscopy), diagnostic imaging, andother diagnostic and therapeutictechniques possible.

As the art of exotic animal medi-cine expanded, the science followed.Research on nutrition, pharmacology,infectious diseases, clinical pathology,and theriogenology was conductedand study findings published. Re-search was often thwarted by the very small captive populations for many

exotic species, lack of significant pri-vate industry interest, and the uniquephysiology of many exotic animalsand their pathogens. For example, thedevelopment of nucleic acid amplifi-cation techniques and probes for di-agnosing psittacine beak and featherdisease in 1990 was a breakthrough inthe management of infectious diseasein many exotic pets. Amplificationtechniques have a high degree of sen-sitivity and specificity and rapid re-

sults at a relatively low cost. Ironical-ly, most research funding for usingthis technology in exotic animal medi-cine came from the aviculture com-munity.

Technologic advances also influ-enced exotic animal medicine. Forexample, before the introduction of endoscopic sheaths, practitioners of-ten made antemortem diagnoses by inference or by ruling out a series of differentials, often by performing

major surgery (e.g., a laparotomy tocollect site-specific specimens fromthe coelomic cavity). Endoscopicsheaths allowed practitioners to useminimally invasive techniques for

collecting diagnostic samples frombirds and reptiles.

Government InterventionThe government is not renowned

for its assistance to private practition-ers; however, two legislative actions inthe past 10 years had tremendous in-fluence on the practice of exotic ani-mal medicine. In 1992, the Wild BirdConservation Act essentially forcedthe end of importation of parrots forthe pet trade. Emphasis therefore wasplaced on the importance of avicul-ture in captive management and re-production. Domestic production of birds for the pet trade eventually

spilled over into markets for reptiles,fish, and other exotic species.In 1994, passage of the Animal

Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act permitted the legal prescriptionof extralabel drugs (except in feed oroutside the veterinarian–client–pa-tient relationship) by veterinarians.The ability of exotic animal practi-tioners to select from the entire spec-trum of pharmacologic agents was fi-nally secured.

Industry ResponseThe veterinary industry has also re-

sponded to the growing popularity of exotic pets. Twenty years ago, only ahandful of textbooks contained any information on the medical and surgi-cal management of exotic pets. Today all large (and most small) publishersmarket a selection of books and jour-nals dealing with exotic species.

The pet industry has begun to ex-

ploit the exotic pet phenomenon.Formulated diets for the more com-monly encountered species abound,although many are based on little re-search. A trip to any pet shop reveals

a plethora of supplements, habitat

enhancements, and toys for birds andother exotic pets as well as books andmagazines for owners. Unfortunately,much of this information is misguid-ed and many products are inappro-priate for the intended purpose or oc-casionally dangerous to the animal.

Unfortunately, the veterinary com-munity has failed to respond to thegrowth of the exotic animal market

with the same vigor as the pet indus-try. For example, pharmaceutical

products are rarely developed, tested,and labeled for use in exotic species;and most pharmacokinetic work isstill researched within academia.Other attempts by private industry

s Exotics Pets—Who Cares? According to a 1996 nationalsurvey conducted by the AVMA,

among households that ownedspecialty and exotic pets, those thatowned ferrets were the most likely to seek veterinary care for their pets(49%); whereas those that ownedfish were the least likely (0.4%).

Average expenditures for exoticpet–owning households per vetvisit increased from $40.12 in1991 to $62.51 in 1996.

s A Mixed Bag. Not only is theaverage number of pets perhousehold increasing, but pet

owners are more likely to ownboth cats and dogs than justone species. The Morris AnimalFoundation’s Animal HealthSurvey (1997) found that 39%of pet-owning households aroundthe world had both dogs and catscompared with 35% that had only dogs and 21% that had only cats.

1990

Nucleic acid amplification

techniques developed

1991

Veterinary Information Network formed

1992

Association of Reptile Veterinarians formed

1993

First Diplomates in Avian Specialty recognized by the

American Board of Veterinary Practitioners

Endoscopic sheath system introduced

1994

Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification

Act ratified

OWNERS’ OUTLOOK



to market specific products (e.g., biologicals) have notbeen embraced by the veterinary profession.

What the Future HoldsThe future of exotic animal medicine must involve not

only private practitioners but also private industry andacademia. Veterinary schools should integrate courses onbirds and other commonly encountered exotic pets intotheir curricula. Information on the basic physiology of many exotic animal species needs to be available in text-books, and research into the pathogenesis of exotic animaldiseases remains to be conducted. Such research will needprivate funding as well as the financial support of practic-ing veterinarians and the public.

Small Animal/Exotics 20TH ANNIVERSARY Compendium March 1999

Leaders in the field of exotic animal medicine shouldscrutinize current continuing education (CE) techniques.Traditional veterinary education progresses from the nor-mal patient to the diseased patient to clinical managementof the patient. Often current CE emphasizes drug doses

for treatment rather than the pathogenesis of the disease.CE lectures rarely define the normal anatomy and physiol-ogy of exotic pets.

Finally, the future of exotic animal medicine depends onthe willingness of private practitioners to continue de-manding the best care for their patients. The advancesmade during the past 20 years have allowed exotic animalspecialists to manage patients with the same degree of pro-fessionalism followed in the more traditional companionanimal practices.

exotİc animal medicine

Documents