Veterinarian – Focusing on Exotic Pets

Got an ill parrot or a sick snake? There are special vets to help your friend. 

CHILDHOOD

Susan Tyson (ST) grew up among exotic animals. Her father kept four caimans (look like alligators because they are a subspecies), each about 4 ½ ft long, at the family home in New Jersey when she was a child. 

The male caimans roamed freely, while the females were kept in a separate enclosure because they were “a little bit more aggressive,” said ST. 

Her grandmother had a green-checked Amazon parrot named Aristotle. 

CHALLENGE – PARENT QUESTIONING YOUR CAREER CHOICE

“Why do you want to be a vet?” quizzed ST’s mother to her teenage daughter. “You’re allergic to everything!” But ST countered with her persuasive arguments: 

1. “I’m not allergic to birds. And not to reptiles.”
2. “For everything else, I can get allergy shots.” 

So, ST started a lifetime course of allergy injections. 

EXOTIC PETS – DEFINED

The term “exotics” in the veterinary world covers anything that is not a dog, cat or horse. Thus, included are, as common examples, birds, rabbits and snakes.

MORE CHALLENGES ACCEPTED

In addition to possible allergies, other challenges to be coped with as a veterinarian treating exotics include physical injury from uncontrollable animal species and exposure to diseases carried by exotics which are rarely encountered for treatment by medical professionals. 

EDUCATION

Like all other veterinarians, successful candidates will have graduated from high school and college – those are the (relatively) easy parts. The ‘conventional wisdom’ is that it is more difficult to be admitted to a veterinary school than to a medical school – perhaps because there are far fewer schools for the former than for the latter. 

TREATING ‘EXOTICS’ IS A VETERINARIAN SPECIALTY

As a ‘vet to the exotics’ ST has treated lovebirds, ferrets, hermit crabs, hedgehogs, rats, tarantulas, parrots with osteoporosis and turtles with infected ovaries.  

She has performed uterine surgery on a spectacled owl, carried out a skin graft on a turkey that had been attacked by a coyote, and treated the intestines of a vomiting circus lioness. 

When ST opened her own exotic animals’ clinic in 2022, her patient base was 90% rabbit; it has diversified since then. 

Some exotics can be treated by regular veterinarians along with cats and dogs but Avian & Exotic Philly claims to be the only practice in Philadelphia (as of March, 2024) limiting its treatment to exotic animals.

TYPICAL DAYS OF A VET TREATING EXOTIC PETS

One Saturday, ST performed a miniature ultrasound on a tiny hognose snake named Linguini. In addition to appointments with a rabbit recovering from a respiratory infection and an arthritic Senegalese parrot (“Say aaa,” ST told him), she had a follow-up with Max, a 35-year-old macaw (bird of the parrot family).

Four weeks earlier, Max had undergone an extensive surgery to remove a large cyst in his body cavity, the bird equivalent of a human’s chest and abdomen, plus a cancerous testicle. It was his second major surgery with ST. Max also needed bloodwork, so the clinic’s head nurse prepared a sedative and amnesiac for him. All that followed would be a hazy dream.

In the exam room, Max lifted a wing to show the site of his surgery. The feathers were still bare. ST examined his eyes, peered into his mouth and listened to his air sacs with her stethoscope. She offered him popcorn, which he rejected. 

“A lot of the times with birds, we like to give them choices so that they feel more included in the exam,” said the nurse. 

Max was looking well. His owner happily hugged the vet. 

ST’s fourth patient of the day needed his previously problematic zinc level checked, so ST leaned over the tiny blue lovebird, inserted a needle into his jugular vein and withdrew a few drops of blood. The bird, whose full name (larger than the bird) is Archibald Whitmore Macleish, weighs just 49 grams. For him, any blood loss is a lot of blood loss.

“You got this, Arch,” said the bird’s human mother, from the corner of Avian & Exotic Philly Vet’s exam room, part of the veterinarian treatment center, which seems to be a combination pediatrician’s office and emergency room with some educational workshops thrown in. 

The office pet is a long-tailed boa (snake) named Medusa, who is forbidden from wrapping herself around human necks but frequently tries to do so anyway. 

Goblin, ST’s own green-cheeked Amazon, is the clinic’s mascot. One of his party tricks is mimicking the Eagles’ fight song, but despite ST’s repeated urging on a recent day, Goblin declined to perform. 

Nearby, a majestic-looking umbrella cockatoo named Chuckles perched inside a cage. When the vet tech / owner introduced him, Chuckles climbed onto the roof, turned his back and delicately pooped on the floor.

CAREER SATISFACTION

Like any good doctor, ST cares for the creatures who need her aid. “If something comes in crashing through the door and it’s dying, I can’t step away and say, ‘Sorry’ noted the vet. “We do have an oath to uphold.”

While the vet appreciates thanks and hugs from exotic pet owners, her main satisfaction is treating her unusual patients and watching them progress to full recovery whenever reasonably possible.

This career story is based on a news article written by Zoe Greenberg, published by the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper on March 15, 2024 plus internet research.