Introduction
Basic equipment for high-quality exotic companion mammal practice focuses on supportive care, such as fluid therapy, appropriate housing and nutritional support, as well as equipment needed for physical examination and basic techniques. This detailed equipment list also includes supplies recommended for surgical and anesthetic procedures as well as advanced diagnostic techniques.
CLINICAL TIP: Half-inch (1.3 cm) anesthetic tubing is useful for creating Elizabethan collars for rats when covered in self-adhesive bandage material. The rat will need a little assistance at first and it must learn to eat without its hands. Photo credit: Dr. Evelyn Ivey
Equipment list
| Category | Equipment | Suppliers | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| THE BASICS | Pediatric scale, digital | Ohaus | Needed for rabbits |
| Gram scale, digital | Ohaus | A small 1-2 kg scale is needed for smaller species. |
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| Glucometer | |||
| Incubator, baby warmer, or intensive care unit cage various sized animals | Lyons Electric Company | ||
| Insulin syringe (0.3-0.5ml), 28-30 gauge needles | Becton, Dickinson, and Company | Syringes with a detachable needle are useful for oral drug administration. |
|
| Needles, 27-gauge needles or smaller | |||
| Otoscope with cones of variable sizes | |||
| QUIET space | No cats or dogs, adjustable lights |
||
| Speculum, illuminated bivalve nasal | Welch Allyn | ||
| Stethescope (pediatric and/or infant) | |||
| Surgical towels, small | Superior to washcloths for restraint of small rodents (toes get caught) |
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| Towels | Restraint; white towels may be bleached and present a professional image |
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| Weight box | Clear plexiglass containers with ventilated lids may serve as weight boxes |
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| NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT | Emeraid Intensive Care Carnivore | Emeraid LCC, a division of Lafeber Company | Suited for critical care of the carnivore |
| Emeraid Intensive Care Herbivore | Emeraid LLC | Suited for critical care of the herbivore |
|
| Emeraid Sustain Herbivore | Emeraid LLC | Suited for maintenance of the herbivore | |
| Emeraid Intensive Care Omnivore | Emeraid LLC | Suited for critical care of the omnivore | |
| Catheter tip syringes | |||
| Critical Care | Oxbow Hay Company | Suitable for maintenance of the herbivore |
|
| Curve-tipped syringes | |||
| Dishes, size-appropriate and/or shallow | |||
| Ferretone | 8-in-1 Pet Products | Helpful for ferret restraint |
|
| Hay | |||
| Water bottles | |||
| SURGERY/ ANESTHESIA | Ambu bag, neonatal | ||
| Anesthesia masks, small | |||
| Clear surgical drapes | Veterinary Specialty Products (VSP) | ||
| Doppler flow meter | Parks Electronic | ||
| Small inflatable cuffs | Parks Electronic | ||
| Endotracheal (ET) tube 2.0 mm uncuffed | |||
| ET tube 2.5 mm | VSP | ||
| ET tubes: 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, and 4.5 mm | VSP | ||
| Non-rebreathing or Bain circuit | SurgiVet | The C-pram breathing circuit is designed to maintain humidity and may reduce patient heat loss. |
|
| Pediatric laryngoscope blade | |||
| Isoflurane, sevoflurane | Aerrane, Ohmeda PPD | ||
| Isoflo, Abbott Laboratories | |||
| Ultane, Baxter | |||
| Small induction box | |||
| Supplemental heat source | Circulating warm water blanket or similar item |
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| Surgical instruments | Debakey forceps, iris scissors, fine tip mosquito hemostats |
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| MEDICAL PROCEDURES | Butterfly catheters (22-25 gauge) | ||
| Catheters, 24-gauge | |||
| Cutting burs, high-speed dental turbine handpieces, round diamond | Equipment standard for small animal dentistry |
||
| Bur guard | Jorgensen Laboratories | ||
| Dental kit (starter pack) | Universal Surgical | ||
| Rotary tool | Dremel | ||
| Magnification loupe | Very useful for surgical and dental procedures |
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| Microhematocrit tubes | |||
| Microtainers - green and lavendar tops | Becton, Dickinson, and Company | Used to collect small amounts of blood (200-700 ul). A given volume will yield more plasma than serum. |
|
| Mini-tip culturettes | Marion Laboratories | ||
| Nebulizer, ultrasonic or disposable | Acorn II Nebulizer, Marquest | ||
| Ultra-Neb 99, DeVilbiss Health Care, Inc. | |||
| Radiographic film, high-detail or mammography | Lanex fine screens/TML film, Kodak | Mammography film requires a special screen and different technique settings. |
|
| Syringe and/or fluid pump | |||
| Thermoplastic bandage material | Veterinary Thermoplastic, IMEX Veterinary, Inc. | ||
| Orthoplast, Johnson & Johnson | |||
| MEDICATION | Buprenorphine | Buprenex, Reckitt & Colman | |
| Butorphanol, injectable | Torbugesic, Fort Dodge | Very useful for ferret sedation |
|
| Chloramphenicol | Useful emergency drug for meningitis in guinea pigs. |
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| Ciprofloxacin or enrofloxacin | Baytril, Bayer | The 100 mg/ml bovine injectable formulation is easily mixed with a suspending vehicle to make a 50 mg/ml suspension. |
|
| Dexmedatomidine | Dexdomitor, Pfizer | A useful anesthetic adjunct for rabbits |
|
| Doxycycline | Vibramycin, Pfizer | ||
| Ivermectin, injectable | |||
| Meloxicam | Metacam, Boehringer Ingelheim | A highly palatable oral formulation; pharmacokinetic data is available in several species. |
|
| Midazolam | Versed | A benzodiazepene with excellent intramuscular absorption |
|
| Mortar & pestle | |||
| Selamectin | Revolution, Pfizer | ||
| Suspending vehicles | Ora Sweet, Paddock | Or simple syrup |
|
| V.A.L. Syrup, Allivet Trusted Pet Pharmacy | |||
| Tiletamine-zolazepam | Very useful for pre-euthanasia sedation |
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| Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole | Bactrim, Roche | ||
| Vitamin C injectable | |||
| Relationship with a compounding pharmacist | Some items such as liquid metronidazole are very difficult to compound in practice. |
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| OPTIONAL OR ADVANCED | Anesthetic tubing, half-inch | Very useful for making e-collars for rats when covered with bandage material (figure above) |
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| Crossley incisor luxator | Jorgensen Laboratories | ||
| Crossley molar luxator | Jorgensen Laboratories | ||
| Laparoscope, rigid | Karl Storz Veterinary Endoscopy | Useful for oral and otic exams |
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| Light leather gloves | May be useful for hedgehog restraint |
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| Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) bone cement | Surgical Simplex P, Stryker orthopaedics | Antibiotic bead production |
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| Septopal, Biomet Merck | Commercially manufactured gentamicin- PMMA beads available in Europe |
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| Skull, chinchilla | Skulls Unlimited | Useful for dentistry and evaluation of skull radiographs |
|
| Skull, domestic rabbit | Skulls Unlimited | ||
| Skull, guinea pig | Skulls Unlimited | ||
| Small mammal dentistry table top stand | Jorgensen Laboratories | ||
| TEXTS | See Recommended References |
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References
References
Brown SA, Nye RR. Essentials of the exotic pet practice. J Exotic Pet Med 15(3):225-233, 2006.
Capello V. The dental suite: equipment needed for handling small exotic mammals. J Exotic Pet Med 15(2):106-115, 2006
Lennox AM. Equipment for exotic mammal and reptile diagnostics and surgery. J Exotic Pet Med 15(2):98-105, 2006.