Services

Avian & Exotic

Avian and Exotic Pets Service

The Avian and Exotic Pet Service, operating from the UQ Veterinary Medical Centre, is the only veterinary practice outside Brisbane dedicated to the care of birds, reptiles, and small mammals (rats, mice, and guinea pigs). We also treat a wide range of injured and ill wildlife. Services available include:

Health examinations, including new animal health examinations, annual health examinations and general examinations
Behaviour Consultations
Sex identification of birds, reptiles and small mammals
Preventive Health and Medical Management for zoos and large collections
Medical and hospital care for sick animals, utilising comprehensive clinical pathology and pathology services, diagnostic Imaging (X-ray, CT and Ultrasound), and 24 hour/7 days a week care
Surgery, including desexing, soft tissue and bone surgery
Wildlife medicine

For clients

Routine primary care appointments – available
Specialist appointments – limited availability

Routine cases can be seen by our GP vets through our primary care service. Same-day appointments may not be available for non-urgent routine cases and will need to be booked in advance.

Specialist appointment waiting times will be longer than usual until late 2021, so please be aware that we may not be able to see you as quickly as we have in the past.

In an emergency, call us immediately. Patients may be seen by our avian specialist or through our 24-hour animal Emergency and Critical Care Service.

To check appointment availability or book a consultation, please call our team to discuss your pet’s circumstances.

For referring vets

Limited availability – primarily providing support to our internal hospital caseload.

We are temporarily reducing external specialist referrals to our Avian & Exotics service until late 2021. Due to resident study schedules and teaching commitments, our focus will be to support our hospital’s caseload.

If your case requires a specialist appointment before late 2021, our appointment waiting times may be longer than usual. Please be aware that we will not be able to see referred patients as quickly as we have in the past.

To confirm availability please, call our team to discuss your case’s circumstances.

Further Information

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.