Exotic Pets

Exotic pets are becoming more and more popular in certain sections of society for a number of reasons. These range from their "uniqueness" value to the more mundane realities of limited living space which makes keeping more traditional pets like cats and dogs problematic.

For our purposes here, we will define an exotic pet as any animal that is kept as a pet but is not a dog, cat, pig, goat, sheep, horse or bovine.

That definition of course means that every other creature in creation falls under the "exotic" category! While this is extremely wide, we can still outline, in general terms, what you need to do to protect the health of your pet.

Irrespective of the exotic species that you might acquire for a pet, the basic requirements for sound health remain the same as for any other pet. While there might be slight species variation, the basic functioning of the immune system remains the same. Provision of the basics underpins a healthy and alert immune system that will in turn support great pet health.

Having said that, I think it is also true to say that if you intend becoming an exotic pet owner, then you are going to have to do your homework properly!You need to really get to know what that particular species needs in order to maintain a robust immune system and good health.

You need to be careful about who you get this information from. Some exotic pet owners have gone about gaining their knowledge by trial and error and sometimes you will be told some fairly far fetched stuff. Don't take anything at face value - check it out from several different sources before you put any suggestions into effect.

Another factor to keep in mind is that not all vets will necessarily know a lot about your particular exotic pet. You need to establish upfront if your vet is prepared to learn about the species in order to be able to make informed pet health decisions, or you need to find a vet who is already involved and interested in your particular species.

The more rare the exotic pet species, the smaller the choice of vets you are likely to have. However, vets with expertise in a particular species are generally well known in the community of people who keep the species and thus getting good advice need not necessarily be that difficult - it might just not be face to face.

If all else fails, get hold of the vet at any large zoo and they will in all likelihood be able to point you in the right direction

While the decision to acquire ANY pet should not be taken lightly, this is especially the case when considering exotic pets .