General Health Checks

Caring for unusual pets is an enriching experience full of fascination, joy, and unique quirks. But it can also come with challenges, especially when understanding your pet’s health and husbandry needs.

With so much misinformation out there and many general veterinary clinics unfamiliar with exotic species, it can be challenging to know if you’re on the right track. That’s where we come in. At The Unusual Pet Vets, we’re here to support you with expert advice and veterinary care tailored specifically to your extraordinary companions.

How Often Does My Pet Need a General Health Check?

When it comes to exotic pet health, our knowledge and experience extend past the norm. We are the trusted experts when it comes to the health and wellbeing of extraordinary animals.

Exotic pets are very good at hiding signs of illness; therefore, regular health checks are essential for your unusual pet’s health and happiness.

As they say, ‘prevention is the best medicine’ and 6-12 monthly visits allow our veterinary teams to perform a thorough examination of your pet and detect any changes with their health before it becomes a serious concern.

What Does a Health Check Involve?

Our general health check visits are booked in for a dedicated 30-minute appointment. This time allows our veterinarians to perform a physical examination on your pet that focuses on checking your pets’ vital signs (heart, temperature, respiratory rate), eyes and ears, teeth, joints, and skin. It is a nose-to-tail examination.

During a general health check, we will also discuss the husbandry and dietary requirements for your species of pet.

If you have any concerns or questions regarding your exotics pet’s health, this is the perfect time to discuss them with your veterinary team.

What Happens if a Health Problem Is Detected During a Routine Health Check?

If a health problem is detected during a general health check visit, we will often admit your pet for the day to do more diagnostic testing. The benefit of identifying a health concern during one of your regular health checks is that we’ve likely caught it early. Therefore, medical treatment can be introduced at this early stage, improving your pet’s chance of recovery and survival.

If you think your pet is overdue for a general health check or showing signs of illness, or they’re displaying unusual behaviour, make an appointment with your local Unusual Pet Vets team today.

How often do I have to trim my pet’s nails?

The frequency that nails need to be trimmed depends a lot on their living environment. Some pets who spend a lot of time outdoors never need their nails trimmed to wear them down regularly. Others that are always inside will generally need their nails trimmed every 4-12 weeks.

Does it hurt my pet to clip their nails?

When done correctly, nail trimming does not hurt your pet; however, they may not like the restraint or sensation associated with having their nails corrected.

How Can I Help My Pet’s Nails to Wear Down Naturally?

Providing access to areas where your pet can wear their nails down is a great way to minimize the frequency that they need their nails trimmed. This can be as simple as providing lots of appropriately sized, safe, native branches to your bird or allowing your rabbit access to a safe area where they can dig.

At the Unusual Pet Vets, we offer free nail clipping with any consultation or as an independent service (without a consultation) for a small fee.

If your pets’ nails are getting a little sharp, we can help! You can make an appointment online or by giving us a call.

Other Services

The Unusual Pet Vets has a highly skilled team that keeps up to date with the best practices in nutrition, ideal bird home maintenance, care and treatment. In addition to medical care for your pets, we also offer professional advice, fact and care sheets, training courses, and documentation to ensure that your bird remains healthy and is well cared for.

Our team of avian veterinarians provides the latest in quality care and can help with:

Wing Clipping

We can perform wing clipping on some feathered friends. However, it is a service that requires consideration. We recommend that you think about and discuss with your veterinarian the reasons you are clipping them and what you hope to achieve.

It is important to consider your bird’s environment and how not having the same level of flight might impact them. If you would like to have a more detailed discussion about the pros and cons with one of our vets, make an appointment with your local Unusual Pet Vets team.

Nail Clipping

Are your pet’s nails getting a little sharp? Many pet’s, particularly those kept indoors, often don’t wear down their nails as they naturally would if they were out in the wild. Over time this leads to them becoming sharp and overgrown. Some nails will even curl back on themselves and start to dig into your pets foot which can be very painful.

We recommend regularly nail clipping for rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets, many birds, some reptiles as well as some rats.

We offer free nail clipping with any consultation as well as a service on its own (without a consultation) for a small fee. To book your pet in just give us a call.

Microchipping

All exotic pets can be microchipped. We routinely microchip snakes, lizards, birds, rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, rats and even turtles.

As part of the microchipping procedure, we register the unique code with a national registry so that when a lost or displaced animal presents to our clinic, or any clinic for that matter, the first thing we do is scan them using our microchip scanner. The lucky pets are reunited with their rightful owner, but those that are not microchipped often never find their way back home and are re-homed.

Vaccinations

Ensuring your pet is up to date with their vaccinations is very important to prevent deadly diseases. Vaccinations involve your pet having a small injection under their skin that allows their body to become familiar with the inactivated disease particles. That way if they are ever exposed to the real disease, they are ready to fight it.

Currently, in Australia, there are no commercially available vaccines for parrots, reptiles, amphibians, guinea pigs, rats, or mice. However, we routinely vaccinate rabbits and ferrets, and recommend it an important part of their preventative health program.

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