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Exotic animals
Dealing with exotic animals is a rare privilege and gives enormous extra interest to the whole practice.
At Filham we are very happy and keen to see exotic pets, and will treat
them with the same care and attention that we give to all of our other
patients.
David has had considerable experience working with zoo animals
and is particularly interested in reptiles and birds. Steve over the last
few years has developed considerable interest in reptiles particularly
in snakes; he has also treated numerous small mammals particularly rabbits
and guinea pigs. To improve our exotic animal service both of us have been
involved in ongoing professional development in this area.
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The picture is of Iggy, an Iguana. Iggy came to see Steve as a second opinion following a fall at home. He was climbing up the fireplace in the owner's home when his footing gave way sending him tumbling to the hearth. He suffered a fracture half way along his tail, initially he was treated with medication for pain relief as it was hoped that the tail muscles would provide adequate support and splinting to the bone whilst it healed. Unfortunately after 2 weeks it was obvious that this was not going to happen as the area beyond the fracture had started to die. Iggy was operated on to remove the tail a few centimeters before the fracture, then skin ends were sutured over to prevent secondary infection. Several weeks later the tail has started to regrow, this will occur in some lizard species but not all, and in iguanas the ability for regrowth is lost once they reach sexual maturity. Let's hope this maturity leads to a better balancing instinct'
One of our recent operations
was on a Puma - click on the name Puma to
see details.
