Avian & Exotic

Health Examinations

• New Animal Health Examination                

Purchasing a new animal can be challenging. Is your new pet healthy? What should it eat? How do you provide optimal care? What training do you need to provide? All of these questions can be answered in a ‘New Animal Health Examination’. During your visit, our vets carry out a detailed physical examination, discuss recommended laboratory tests, and provide advice on husbandry and diet. They can even help identify the sex of your new pet. Where appropriate, vaccinations and other preventative treatments can be provided.

• Annual Health Examination

We recommend an annual health examination to monitor your pet’s health, detecting and remedying problems that may not be obvious on a day to day basis.  Your pet’s requirements will change as they mature from young animals to maturity, and then entering into middle and advanced age. A thorough physical examination and age-appropriate laboratory tests can ensure that these requirements are been met, giving your pet a long and comfortable life.

• General Consultations

Most of avian and exotic pet species a ‘prey’ species, meaning predators like to eat them. As a survival instinct, many of the prey species have learnt to mask signs of illness, meaning that if they look sick, they are so sick they can’t even hide it.  If your pet appears ill or has an injury, one of our vets will need to see your animal as soon as possible to diagnose the problem and start treatment.

• Referral Consultations from Other Veterinarians

We welcome referrals from veterinarians with any patients that they have. Details for referral can be found here.

Behaviour Consultations

All too often people and their pets find themselves in conflict over behaviour. It is often said that there is no such thing as abnormal behaviour – rather, problems arise from normal behaviour expressed inappropriately. For example, it is normal for a cockatoo to scream first thing in the morning – but it is inappropriate to do that in your house while you are trying to sleep. We work with you to identify problem behaviours and means of modifying them through the use of training, behavioural modification techniques, and occasionally the use of medication.

Sex identification

Many birds, reptiles and small mammals are either sexually monomorphic (both sexes are physically identical) or can be very difficult to distinguish between male and female. As many physical and behavioural problems are linked to an animal’s gender, it is important to know what sex your pet is. We use a variety of species-appropriate techniques (DNA sexing, cloacal probing, endoscopy) to identify your pet’s sex.

Preventive Health and Medical Management for zoos and collections

Caring for zoo and private collections presents many unique challenges for both the owner and the veterinarian. The Avian and Exotic Pet Service can advise on the management of both small and large collections of birds, reptiles or small mammals. This includes advice on biosecurity and quarantine, health and hygiene protocols, nutrition, disease screening, breeding problems, parasite control and other issues associated with collections.

Medical and hospital care

Because many avian and exotic patients are so ill, there is a heavy reliance on diagnostic testing and specialised hospital care to both diagnose the problem and provide specific and appropriate care for your pet. Unfortunately a “good guess” and “some antibiotics in the drinking water” are rarely sufficient treatment for most of our patients. We are fortunate in having direct access to advanced facilities for the care of sick and injured pets, including:

• comprehensive clinical pathology and pathology services
• diagnostic Imaging (X-ray, CT and Ultrasound)
• 24 hour/7 days a week care in a dedicated avian and exotics ward, away from predators such as dogs and cats

Surgery

We are able to provide surgical services for all species, including desexing, soft tissue surgery and orthopaedics.  Amongst the procedure we regularly perform are fracture repair in birds, caesarean sections in snakes, desexing of guinea pigs and rats, and many other procedures that other veterinarians may not have the necessary training and experience.

Wildlife medicine

The Avian and Exotic Pet Service is the first port of call for many wildlife carers and the general public in the Lockyer Valley and the Darling Downs. Where possible, we will provide the treatment needed for the animal’s successful rehabilitation and release. Although we do not charge for this care, we always appreciate a donation to help defray the costs associated with the treatment of these unique animals.

Donations can be made here

Taking care of your pet