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Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

Dick Vet Rabbit and Exotic Practice

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Edinburgh
Dick Vet Rabbit and Exotic Practice

The Rabbit, Exotic Animal and Wildlife Service offers veterinary care for small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and wildlife.

ging cases. Should a patient need to be hospitalized, we have four individually tailored wards – rabbit ward, wildlife ward, avian ward and reptile ward. We also have a grass paddock to allow grazing for our rabbit inpatients. Our patients are very varied and range from hamsters and guinea pigs, to leopard geckos and iguanas, to budgerigars and golden eagles. We recommend 6 monthly health checks for your pet, where your vet will perform a full clinical examination and discuss the importance of husbandry to help keep your pet fit and healthy

This page is monitored Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. We regret we cannot reply to questions regarding patient advice and would ask you phone the hospital to speak, or book an appointment, with a vet.

25/09/2025

Meet Skye, a Congo African Grey parrot, and Kudo, an Yellow-Headed Amazon parrot, who came in to our practice recently for a general health check and nail trim.

Both birds were very well behaved for their consultation, including their pedicures, and were very popular with both our vet and nursing team.

We recommend that all our avian patients have an annual or bi-annual general health check to help identify any subtle health changes, and ensure they remain in tip-top shape.

Birds are very good at hiding signs of disease, therefore if you notice that your bird is unwell, it is important to act quickly and seek veterinary care.

Non-specific signs of illness include having a 'fluffed up feather' appearance, reduced appetite, watery or different coloured faeces, reduced vocalisation and being less active. A more specific clinical sign, which can be an indicator for respiratory disease, is 'tail bobbing', where there is movement of the tail back and forth when the bird is sat at rest on their perch.

If you have any concerns about your birds health, please contact your vet for further advice.

22/09/2025

How sweet are these little guinea pig pups?

This trio is just under four weeks old and came in to see our team for s*xing. Guinea pigs can become s*xually mature from as early as 4-6 weeks old, so it’s very important that individuals are correctly identified and separated into single-s*x groups to avoid unwanted litters.

Although it is relatively straightforward to determine the s*x of guinea pigs, it can be very difficult to determine the s*x of some animals based on their external appearance, and the s*x of some birds and reptiles can only be determined by checking the DNA in a blood or feather sample!

If you need help determining the s*x of your pet, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our experienced team.

Pictured left to right are DVREP nurse Dale and DVREP vets Michaela and Athin

20/08/2025

Free faecal parasite check for pet rabbits

We would like to invite our registered rabbit patients to participate in a research project. Our study aims to better understand how common intestinal parasites are in rabbits by examining faecal samples, and we are offering free faecal sample analysis for rabbits registered at our practice.

To participate, we would need you to complete a short questionnaire about your rabbit and collect 5-10 of your rabbit's faecal pellets per day over a five-day period. We will then analyse the sample free of charge and send you the results.

Study numbers are limited and will be recruited on a first come, first served basis.

If you would like your rabbit to be involved, please speak to one of our Practice vets during your next visit, or if you don't have a visit planned, please send an email with your name and your rabbit's name(s) to [email protected] with the subject title ‘Rabbit Intestinal Parasites Study’, and we will be in touch.

14/08/2025

Today is World Lizard Day, a great opportunity to learn more about our scaly friends.

Meet lovely Clementine, the bearded dragon 💕

Clementine recently came to see us as she was losing weight and was quieter than normal. When examined, her coelomic cavity, the name for the internal body cavity in reptiles, felt abnormal. A conscious ultrasound scan confirmed that Clementine had a common reproductive condition in female pet lizards called follicular stasis.

In this condition, follicles develop from the ovaries but, rather than developing into eggs, the follicles fail to develop any further and remain in this state. It can be difficult to diagnose as clinical signs can be vague. In advanced cases, we can see a very distended body cavity and even collapse.

Good husbandry can help to prevent this condition, so it is always worthwhile to book a 6-monthly Reptile Health Check with your vet to discuss all things husbandry, and for your reptile to have a general health check examination to identify early signs of disease.

To help Clementine, she underwent neutering surgery to remove the offending reproductive tract. Thankfully, she has been much brighter in herself since her surgery and has now made a full recovery.

31/07/2025

Our Rabbit and Exotic Animal team would like to give a big thank you to everyone who joined us for Rabbit Night!

It was lovely to see so many new and familiar faces, and we hope everyone enjoyed an informative evening from fellow rabbit enthusiasts.

The photo shows some of our vet and vet nurse team (from left to right): Jenna, Michaela, Aicha, Marende, Megan and Dale.

We are planning more education evenings about different species later in the year, so keep an eye out for more about these.

If you would like to be added to our Rabbit and Exotic Practice mailing list, which includes receiving notifications of upcoming events, please email our reception team at [email protected].

22/07/2025

Attention, Rabbit People!

We are delighted to announce that our next ‘Rabbit Information Night’ is taking place on Wednesday, 30 July from 7-9pm in the William Dick Building (to the right of the Hospital for Small Animals building - EH25 9RG).

The event is free to attend and open to all bunny enthusiasts. Our Rabbit and Exotic Animal veterinary team welcome you for an educational evening all about rabbit health. A series of short talks from our team will cover a wide variety of topics, all designed to help you understand your pet more fully.

Light refreshments will also be available.

To book your free place, please phone 0131 650 7650 between 9am and 5pm or email [email protected] .

We look forward to seeing you all there!

16/07/2025

Today is Guinea Pig Appreciation Day, and we’re celebrating their care by talking about teeth.

Did you know guinea pigs have 20 constantly growing teeth?

To help keep them in tip-top shape with plenty of dental exercise, it is important that the majority of a guinea pig’s diet is good-quality hay or grass so they can spend many hours a day chewing.

Diets too high in pellets can make a guinea pig feel full quicker, which means they spend a lot less time eating - think how quickly a bowl of pellets or leafy greens disappears versus a pile of hay.

It can be challenging for owners to see guinea pig cheek teeth, so veterinary dental examinations are an important part of health checks.

A dental check involves:
🐾Gently massaging the upper and lower jaw for any lumps, bumps, or swellings
🐾Checking that the jaw has normal side-to-side motion, essential for healthy chewing
🐾Parting the lips to see the incisor teeth
🐾 Using an otoscope, with a light and magnifying lens, to look at the 16 cheek teeth at the back of the mouth.

We recommend health checks every 6 months for our furry friends; please contact our Practice to book an appointment. As Juniper shows, guinea pigs often enjoy dental checks - or face massages, as we like to call them.

We’d love to see photos of your own guinea pigs in the comments below!

11/06/2025

Welcome to the new cohort of final year veterinary students, who have begun their clinical rotations with our practice.

For the next 12 months, over 150 students from the Dick Vet, some of whom are pictured below, will spend time with us, gaining practical experience and consolidating their knowledge in a supportive learning environment, in preparation of joining the workforce following graduation in 2026.

Our practice clients may see some of these students, dressed in burgundy scrubs, in the weeks and months ahead as they work alongside our qualified clinicians; we are grateful to them for helping us train the next generation of vets.

Good luck to all our students in their final year 😀

31/05/2025

On , we are sharing the story of a little parakeet with a big problem.

On arrival at our Practice, the petite bird was bright and eating, but with a swollen abdomen after laying an egg a few days previously.

On gentle palpation of her abdomen, a large egg was found. There was also swelling and inflammation where she had been trying to lay the egg.

She was admitted to our specialised avian ward, with additional warmth and UV lighting, and given pain relief and anti-inflammatory medication, calcium and warmed fluids.

Conscious (awake) X-rays showed a single large egg in her abdomen. With pain relief and gentle lubrication, she was able to pass the egg on her own, avoiding the need for a general anaesthetic and potential surgery.

To prevent further egg laying a hormonal implant was placed under a brief gas anaesthetic the next day and she was sent home on pain medication and has made a complete recovery.

Egg binding can occur in parrots for a number of reasons. Sometimes the egg is oversized or misshapen, as in this case. Sometimes it occurs secondary to low dietary calcium, or other nutritional deficiencies, lack of UV lighting or nest box provision, or due to underlying conditions.

Recognising that there is a problem early is important so that pain relief and prompt veterinary treatment can be given. Birds are good at hiding illness, so we would always recommend seeking veterinary advice if you have any concerns about your pet parrot as well as annual health checks.

We are proud to be the largest Exotic Practice and Hospital in Scotland and have a dedicated team of vets and nurses with the specialist qualities, clinical skills and knowledge to provide the best care to our avian patients.

For more information, visit https://edin.ac/43SgIbC

29/05/2025

We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded the Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund (RWAF) Gold Award for our rabbit-friendly practice and hospital.

The award recognises the exceptional service and specialist knowledge of our team of vets and nurses, who work tirelessly to ensure the very best care of our rabbit patients.

Our practice - the only one in Scotland with Gold Rabbit-Friendly Status - provides a first-opinion service for local clients and a veterinary referral service for more challenging cases.

We are proud of our facilities, which include a dedicated rabbit ward with day patient kennels, companion enclosures so patients can bring a friend along for moral support, and long-stay enclosures that allow a little more space for exercise.

Should a rabbit patient require further diagnostic investigations, our hospital has an on-site computed tomography (CT) scanner and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, as well as X-ray and ultrasound facilities. We also perform in-house blood, urine and faecal analysis and offer advanced diagnostics such as endoscopy, video-otoscopy and ocular tonometry.

For more information about our Practice, visit https://edin.ac/43SgIbC

The Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund

23/05/2025

As part of Vet Nurse Awareness Month, we wanted to introduce one of the newest nurses to join our team.

Meet Aïcha, who worked hard to achieve her career ambition of becoming an exotic nurse at our practice.

“I’ve always had a deep passion for science and exotic animals. Volunteering at a big cat sanctuary in Namibia, and taking part in public engagement within a zoo, solidified my desire to pursue a career working with exotic animals.

“I wanted to be a nurse because I wanted to provide care and compassion and spend time with these incredible creatures. I feel that some exotic animals, particularly reptiles are misunderstood, which fuelled my desire to advocate for them, ensuring that exotic animals receive the same level of care and respect as other pets.

“After completing my training, I worked in first opinion practices and exotic clinics, which cemented my career path. Soon, my career goal was to work at the Dick Vet Rabbit and Exotics Practice, as it has an amazing reputation due to the expertise of its staff, along with the multi-disciplinary approach of the Hospital and amazing clinical facilities. So, I focused on achieving my goal and initially secured a job as a rotating nurse here, before joining the exotics team last year.

“I feel privileged to care for exotic animals – it really is the best job in the world. I love learning about each patient’s personality and how I can make them comfortable. Whether I’m syringe-feeding a rabbit, monitoring the anaesthetic of a bearded dragon spay, assisting in x-raying a parrot or helping with a hamster ultrasound, the variety and challenge of the role, and the constant opportunity to learn, make me excited for the start of each shift.

“I also enjoy sharing my knowledge and enthusiasm with students, to help ensure that vets in the future are confident and knowledgeable when working with exotic animals, and I am always excited to continue my own learning.

“I am so happy to have found my tribe and my perfect job. I’d encourage everyone to follow their dream and grasp every opportunity that presents itself.”

Address

Hospital For Small Animals. Easter Bush Campus
Edinburgh
EH259RG

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

0131 650 7650

Website

https://vet.ed.ac.uk/clinical/small-animal/rabbit-exotic-practice

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Our Story

The Rabbit, Exotic Animal and Wildlife Service provides gold standard veterinary care for the more unusual pets. Our Veterinary Surgeons and Nurses have undertaken further training and qualifications to specialize in Exotic Pet veterinary medicine. We provide both a First Opinion service for our local clients and a Referral Veterinary Service for veterinary surgeons needing assistance with challenging cases. Should a patient need to be hospitalized, we have four individually tailored wards – rabbit ward, wildlife ward, avian ward and reptile ward. We also have a grass paddock to allow grazing for our rabbit inpatients. Our patients are very varied and range from hamsters and guinea pigs, to leopard geckos and iguanas, to budgerigars and golden eagles. We recommend 6 monthly health checks for your pet, where your vet will perform a full clinical examination and discuss the importance of husbandry to help keep your pet fit and healthy This page is monitored Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. We regret we cannot reply to questions regarding patient advice and would ask you phone the hospital to speak to, or book an appointment with, one of our vets.