Great Western Exotics

Last week the team had this little fox cub brought in 😍 He presented dehydrated, lethargic and had a heavy parasite burden. In the video below, you can see our veterinary nurses taking a small blood sample to run in our laboratory and place an intravenous catheter to start him on fluid therapy. He spent 2 days in our hospital before being discharged into the care of a local wildlife centre to continue his recovery. #whatVNsdo #VNAM2024

Lead vet Tom Dutton was chatting to BBC Radio this morning about the effect electricity bills are having on Reptile owners.

Last weekend vet Tom Dutton and nurse David Stokes performed a blood transfusion to a very sick Parrot. A big thank you to Birdline rescue for arranging a suitable donor. Quick video of the blood being collected prior to transfusion.

Lloyd & Rose Buck

Lloyd & Rose Buck, who are some of the finest bird trainers in the world, are giving a talk at the Swindon Arts Centre this Monday (26th Feb) and would be delighted to welcome you along! Their presentation will feature some of the most memorable sequences filmed over the past twenty five years, interesting behind the scenes facts and anecdotes, and of course the stars of the show, the birds themselves. For more information about them and their birds, and to see clips of some of their television appearances, please visit their website: www.lloydbuck.co.uk

A Skunk! This is Charlie Brown who visited us for a nail clip and health check last month with his brother Buster. Stripped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) are classified as part of the Mustelidae superfamily which also includes ferrets, stoats, weasels, badgers, mink and wolverines. Striped skunks are the most commonly kept skunk species in the U.K. They are omnivorous mammals whose natural range extends from Southern Canada into the United States and even into Northern Mexico. They are often solitary in the wild and can live up to 7-10 years. Skunks are well-known for their ability to spray predators with a particularly noxious liquid from their scent glands if feeling under threat. They can spray this sulphur containing liquid up to 6 feet with good accuracy to ward off predators! Many different colours of pet skunks are now bred in the U.K including albino, chocolate and lavender varieties in addition to the original black and white colouration. We found that providing a tasty treat of Emeraid whilst clipping Charlie Brown's nails was a useful distraction technique and he seemed to love it!

We wanted to update you with Romeo the rabbits progress since his surgery before Christmas. Poor 1 year old Romeo had an epiphyseal and metaphyseal comminuted tibial and fibular fracture with a medial displacement, due to a trauma! As you know the surgery went really well, Dan did a fantastic job and look at Romeo now!

Beaky Eating Well Post-Surgery with his Acrylic Support

Here is Beaky eating well post-surgery with his new acrylic support. For the full story on Beaky's brilliant recovery and to see photo's of Beaky pre-surgery check out our previous post.

This is Pakete, a rabbit that suffered a horrific injury several weeks ago and had a broken back (see the x-ray in the comments). He was dragging his back legs around. He underwent ground breaking spinal surgery at Great Western Exotics and while he is not perfect, he is now bearing weight on both legs and getting around and as the video shows, he appears to be a lot more comfortable!

Meet Mr Jingles, a green cheeked conure that was admitted out of hours being very poorly with a crop infection. A brief period in hospital and we are pleased to say he is looking much brighter!