The sale of exotic animals has grown considerably in recent years. It is, to a large extent, a lucrative market, on the rise and unregulated, which has forced different states to apply for Positive Lists of Species based on animal and environmental safety and welfare.
The growing interest in exotic animals has caused veterinary clinics to face new challenges in their healthcare. In this way, training for veterinarians has evolved, incorporating new knowledge about these species in their programs, with the aim of offering professionals the latest scientific evidence to ensure quality in care.
The first study on the trade in exotic mammals in Spain, published in 2019, has revealed important data on the possession and marketing of these animals. Thus, experts have pointed out that birds, mammals, reptiles and wildlife are the main exotic species that go to veterinary clinics on a regular basis.
QUALITY PRAXIS IN EXOTIC PETS
Exotic pets pose a serious security risk due, in many cases, to their predatory, aggressive or poisonous nature. They can also pose a public health problem, as they often deal with animals carrying zoonotic diseases.
These peculiar pets, when being in captivity, can get to present / display pathologies derived from a bad handling in the maintenance and the feeding, reason why it is important to know all those particularitities of the exotic species.
In addition, some exotic animals tend to mask their pathologies, although they will become urgent, so it is essential to know all these peculiarities.
Therefore, in recent years, veterinary professionals have been forced to delve into aspects such as diagnostic imaging, pathologies, ophthalmology, anesthesia, surgical monitoring and traumatology applied to exotic species. Thus, in order to provide a quality care service in the current context, experts will indicate that veterinarians should contain the following skills:
– To determine the most important biological characteristics of these species in order to obtain general knowledge and a reinforced base.
– Compile the most common diseases of exotic mammals, classify and examine the most common diseases according to their origin: bacterial, fungal, viral, parasitic, hereditary and other health problems.
– To develop specialized knowledge in the treatment of emergencies in situations of hemorrhages, bone fractures and their treatments in states of emergency.
– Establish anesthetic emergency protocols as in any animal that is anesthetized.
– Establish the routes of administration of drugs and assess the degree of stress produced in each situation; point stress, sustained stress, and environmental stress.
– Examine the changes in behavior or aspects of the animal that present after a pathology.
– Develop specialized knowledge on the most advanced surgical techniques, with updated anesthetic protocols.
– Develop the prevention of public risks, zoonoses and animal flight.
– Carry out the handling, nutrition, deworming, vaccination, reproductive management and hygiene aircraft.
Establish the necessary guidelines applied to each medical treatment.
EXOTIC ANIMALS AND INVASIVE SPECIES
It is important to differentiate exotic animals from invasive species. The first are all those species that are different from dogs and cats. In this sense, rabbits, parrots and hamsters, among others, can be considered exotic.
On the contrary, invasive species are those that can cause an environmental disaster if they escape or are abandoned, leading to alterations in the richness and diversity of ecosystems.
Among the exotic pets most commonly found in Spanish homes include ferrets, rabbits, nymphs, guinea pigs, bedbugs and iguanas.
However, there are exotic animals that can pose a risk to the environment, while there are other species that, on the contrary, do not pose a threat. Thus, the Spanish Catalog of Invasive Exotic Species aims to differentiate those species that represent an environmental risk from those that do not, in addition to regulating the possession of these animals.