Schools for small mammal medicine?

[psilovethomas]

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Are there any schools that are known for small mammal medicine-hamsters,gerbils,etc-? Is small mammal medicine just a specialty in small animal practice? Thanks!

 

[lalzi22]

While some people will argue this point, calling them "pocket pets", small mammals other than cats and dogs are generally put under the "exotics" category. How exotic is a hamster, really? But still, these fall under exotic animals, along with ferrets, snakes, rabbits, and birds. What you need to find is a good exotics program, but really, it doesnt seem to matter what school you go to for vet school, it matters more about specialization (if you go into exotics, then you are specializing, thus requiring an internship and residency) location. I know Kansas has a great exotics program, but I don't know of what others are out there. Maybe someone more educated ont he subject can chime in.

 

[zeebra44]

Have you looked into Laboratory Animal Medicine?

 

[psilovethomas]

zeebra- i'm not really interested in lab animal med, but thanks!

 

[sumstorm]

we have a small animal exotics focus area. however, it includes all the 'small' exotic pets; ferrets, prairie dogs, reptiles, birds, rabbits (ok, not so exotic.) You still have to learn everything else, though. and some of our classes are through lab animal med, honestly, zeebra has a good thought; the skills for these animals is often learned in lab animal med areas, even if you don't pursue lab animal med. So keep an open mind.