Rabbit vaccination:
To prevent your rabbit contracting the potentially deadly calicivirus, it is important that your rabbit receives regular vaccinations. Calicivirus, also known as Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) has been released in Australia as a population control method for feral rabbits. However, we also have new more virulent strains of the virus, referred to as RHDV-2, that is spreading globally as well. These viruses can cause sudden death in our pet rabbits so it pays to be vigilant with vaccination schedules- especially for outdoor bunnies.
RHDV-1 and RHDV-2 are both spread by:
- Nose-to-nose contact with infected wild rabbits
- Insect vectors that can spread the disease such as flies or mosquitoes
- Spread by predators, such as cats and foxes, that do not contract the disease themselves.
We are currently using the Filavac vaccine, which is on label for both RHDV-1 and RHDV-2. This vaccine is given at 10 weeks of age, and requires a booster every 12 months.
Parasite prevention:
Our pocket pets should also be treated regularly for external parasites like fleas and mites, just like our cats and dogs. Although off-label, spot-on products containing selemectin can be used to treat these. Just as important when we have these issues is overall environmental management- talk to your vet can help identify ways to manage various parasites in your home.
Dental health:
Correct dental alignment and wear is so important in our pocket pets. The reason for this is because their teeth are constantly growing throughout their lives. Rabbits incisor teeth (front teeth) can grow around 3mm per week and the cheek teeth can grow around 3mm per month. Guinea pigs, rats, and mice similarly have constantly growing incisors.
The pattern in which they chew their food is actually what helps to wear their teeth. Rabbits and guinea pigs chew in a side-to-side motion which causes tooth on tooth grinding and helps wear down the teeth, and in all species being able to gnaw helps wear down fast growing incisors. Should their teeth wear down incorrectly, many issues can occur including inability to chew or eat properly, sharp spurs that can cause painful ulcers, and tooth root abscesses.
Diet plays a huge role in this chewing pattern. Feeding your pets hay and grasses requires your pet to put in a lot of effort and force into chewing their food, therefore grinding more with their teeth. Rats and mice similarly should have things to gnaw on, such as non-toxic wood/branches, nylon ‘bones, and home-made non-toxic cardboard scavenging toys.
Ferrets teeth are more like our cats, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t prone to dental disease! You can feed them chews and even brush their teeth to help reduce plaque build-up. Sometimes they require dental scale and polish procedures just like us to keep their teeth in good condition.
For all our exotic pets we recommend regular dental checks, to ensure overall health and well-being.
Diet- Rats and Mice:
As omnivores, rats and mice have diets that generally are similar to a ‘healthy’ human diet. However, as they are very clever they will perform something called selective eating. This means if they’re offered free choice at many items, they will typically select high value, high calorie food. As a result, we recommend the bulk of their diet consist of high quality pellets such as those from Oxbow or Vetafarm, rather than mixes that might have different grains and dried fruit in them. They should also get 20-30% of their diet consisting of veggies such as peas, carrots, brussel sprouts, endive, lettuce, herbs, sweet potato, Asian greens etc. Some fruits may be offered in small amounts and treats in even smaller amounts.
Food should be worked into enrichment programs for our little rodents, and very high value items like peanut butter and chocolate should be used very sparingly.
Diet- Rabbits and Guinea Pigs:
A good diet will be high in fiber with moderate protein levels as well as provide some fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Diet is key for both bunnies and guinea pigs! Too much high energy food contributes to dental disease, obesity, and can cause gut issues like gut stasis- a bit like when our larger herbivores get colic or bloat.
For the below please note Guinea pigs are very similar, but can develop a condition called scurvy as a result of insufficient vitamin C intake. A Guinea pig specific pellet should be purchased which will supplement this.
| Diet breakdown | Types | Do not give |
|---|---|---|
| 70% Fresh hay and/or grass | < 1yr old – Lucerne hay > 1yr old – Oaten hay** Small handful for each |
Seeds, bread, oats, high grain mixes or high starch foods. |
| 1-5% Pellets – as a general rule, ONE tablespoon per animal per day. | We recommend Oxbow and Vetafarm | Supermarket ‘cereals’ (often contain above food) |
| 20-30% Dark green leafy veggies (roughly 2 cups per 1kg bodyweight daily) | Herbs, kale, broccoli, spinach are all great options | Iceberg lettuce, potatoes, onions, garlic, corn kernels |
| 1-5% Treats | Commercially available healthy treats | Dried fruits |
|
1-2cm cubes of:
|
** Bunnies are prone to urinary crystals if they have too much calcium, however baby bunnies need lots of calcium to promote growth!!
Diet- Ferrets
Ferrets are special in that they are what we call ‘obligate carnivores’ which means, like cats, they can only eat meat. They’re even more special, in that they have spectacularly fast metabolisms, and can really struggle to get enough nutrition if not fed high calorie meals. We generally recommend to feed ferrets a variety of kitten foods, and feed 3 times a day. Ferrets are creatures of habit so variety is essential to prevent them from becoming reliant on one type or brand of diet.
Desexing- Rabbits and Guinea pigs
We strongly recommend surgical desexing of female rabbits even if they are away from pesky males. Female rabbits have a 50-80% chance of developing uterine adenocarcinoma by four years of age, as well as being able to be fertile by 5-6 months. There is also evidence that desexing can help reduce risk of urinary crystals later in life. In terms of temperament, desexing also decreases aggression, urine spraying, and unwanted reproductive behaviours e.g. humping.
Desexing in females is best performed at around that 5-6 month age bracket, and is performed under a general anaesthetic.
Males similarly should be desexed to avoid unwanted anti-social behaviours, and to avoid risks associated with testicular neoplasia later in life. They can be done slightly earlier, at about 4-6 months.
Guinea pigs similarly have some health issues including uterine cysts, and of course you may wish to have them desexed to avoid unwanted litters given they can start breeding from 2-3 months of age. We can desex guinea pigs from this age.
For all our pocket pets, there are some conditions that can make surgical desexing carry a higher risk, so we recommend calling to discuss different options.
Reproductive health-Ferrets
Ferrets are prone to many health issues associated with their reproductive organs. If a female ferret is allowed to have a season, which typically occurs at 6 months of age, they can develop a condition known as hyperoestrogenism. This can result in a like threatening anaemia. This is because they need to be mated with a hob (male ferret) in order to ovulate, and without ovulation they continue to produce oestrogen in toxic amounts.
This can be tricky, as obviously we don’t always want more baby ferrets. While a vasectomized hob can be used for this purpose, they are not always readily available. Additionally, mating two animals unknown to each other can result in fights and injuries. Male ferrets also benefit from desexing, as in both genders it can help curb aggressive behaviours and the smell associated with their scent glands.
If you wish to proceed with desexing, our recommendation is to do so chemically using an injectable hormonal implant. This prevents them from going on heat, and also prevents any potential hormonal disorders associated with surgical desexing. Further to this, it avoids the need to undergo an anaesthetic, although some ferrets may require some sedation to be able to safely administer the implant.
In terms of surgical desexing, whilst not ideal we certainly recommend it if for some reason annual injections not be possible. For the males, this can either be done as castration (removal of the testicles) or by performing a vasectomy. In females, they undergo a spey procedure in the same way a dog or cat would.
Rabbit and Guinea pig housing and enrichment:
Rabbits and guinea pigs do well in a hutch or playpen that is either outside or inside that is out of direct sunlight, rain & windy drafts. Both are very sensitive to the heat and may experience heat exhaustion when temperatures exceed 28 degrees. The great news is that bunnies are excellent at learning how to use a litter tray, and are fantastic indoor only pets. Whether they are indoors or outdoors, ensuring they have lots of space to move and exercise is very important for helping maintain their mental and physical health.
If they are outside, the enclosure will need to have insect protection (netting &/or flyscreen) to prevent mosquitos and flies getting in. Mosquitos can carry the rabbit calicivirus and myxomatosis viruses and can potentially infect your pet rabbit. In Australia, there are no current vaccinations against the myxomatosis virus, however annual calicivirus vaccinations are strongly encouraged.
Newspaper can be used to line the bottom of the hutch, with a bedding substrate such as oaten hay on top of the newspaper. Bedding should be changed at least weekly, or more frequently as it becomes soiled. This will prevent the cage from becoming too dirty and smelly. For both guinea pigs and rabbits, it’s important to ensure soft bedding as well to protect their delicate feet- as they don’t have foot pads they can develop sores on their feet easily, especially when they are a little overweight.
Water should be fresh, ideally filtered, and readily available. It is best practice to have multiple water sources, as they often dirty water in bowls easily or knock them over. If you can train your pets to use them, upright water dispensing bottles are a good option as they can avoid these issues- although some rabbits in particular will only drink from bowls.
Be mindful of small pets around potentially predatory other pets in the household, and especially careful they don’t have access to things they shouldn’t chew- in particular thick fibres that can cause gut obstructions and wires.
Ferret Housing and enrichment:
Ferrets are highly inquisitive animals and are a real joy to have as pets. They are busy little creatures and really require secure and ‘ferret safe’ spaces in order to be able to thrive. A ferret safe space usually looks like a room that does not have any holes or windows through which they can escape, no other larger animals that they may have negative interactions with, and safe toys and items. Toys should not have sharp edges or contain parts that are small enough to be eaten- ferrets are particularly good at eating things they shouldn’t. They are particularly fond of tunnels, and moveable objects that trigger their prey drive.
Birds- diet
The diets of our pet birds vary greatly depending on what species you own. It is important to remember that birds are very sensitive to mould in food, so when feeding fresh fruits and vegetables, we recommend only serving what they are likely to eat that day, and ideally not leaving these items out for more than 4 hours. Providing fresh, ideally filtered water and regularly cleaning both drinking and food bowls is important to help avoid issues here as well.
For most parrot and passerine (canary, finch) species, we recommend feeding only what is needed for that day, rather than feeding ‘ad lib’, as this can avoid issues with spoiling, and also encourages them to not be overly selective in which foods they eat. This is especially important when they are being fed seed mixes, as it can help avoid them preferentially eating the higher fat seeds over their fresh foods.
Some fowl species like our chickens and ducks, especially if they are high frequency laying animals, benefit greatly from having a good quality scratch mix available.
Majority seed diets, especially those high in sunflower seeds, can contribute to significant health problems in our pet birds. Most commonly, they can have issues with high cholesterol and develop conditions like liver disease, lipomas (fatty lumps), and atherosclerosis. We also see many nutritional deficiencies, very commonly issues with calcium and vitamin A.
As a general breakdown:
- Fresh veggies 20-40% of diet, we recommend peas, chillies, capsicum, carrot, silverbeet, corn, broccoli, sweet potato, and Asian veggies.
- Fresh fruit should make up about 10-20%, as these can be high in sugar. We especially recommend berries, apples or pears without the seeds, and bananas.
- A high quality pellet and/or seed mix should make up the remainder of the diet. For Australian parrots, a seed mix may be better for long term health.
- Sometimes they can be given treats which may include bread, pasta, cooked fresh rice, and eggs.
We often joke having a parrot is like having a toddler, and just like little people parrots like to put all sorts of naughty things in their mouths. Unfortunately, many common household objects can be toxic, so ensure to keep them away from the following:
- Certain foods like macadamias, avocados, and onion or garlic
- Paints, loose jewelry, or any small metal items that could contain lead or zinc
- Fumes from non-stick cooking pans, or any aerosolized chemicals or perfumes
- Cleaning products can also be toxic, either from their fumes or if ingested, ensure a well ventilated space and moving your pets well away
- Batteries
- Certain household plants
Birds- preventative health care
Our beautiful, feathered friends are sometimes overlooked for vet visits, but there are a range of things we can help with to ensure they are living their best life.
A range of services we can provide include:
- DNA sexing
- Health checks
- At home flock visits and biosecurity checks
- Microchip implantation and registration
- Routine imaging and bloodwork
- Beak and nail trims
- Hormonal implants to manage unwanted reproductive behaviours
- Behavioural training
Reptiles
We love our scaly patients and are proud to offer a range of services for you and your reptiles. Regular health checks are a great way to check in and ensure you’re keeping on top of your pet’s wellbeing. Often many of the issues we see in our reptile patients are preventable with appropriate husbandry. Some things to discuss with our team include:
- Tank set up
- UV and lighting set up
- Optimal temperature zones and humidity
- Best diet for your specific animal’s species and age
- Water quality
Whilst prevention is the best cure, our clinic and team are also equipped to help with sick animal diagnosis and management, including performing blood work and imaging.