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Avian & Exotic Animal Endoscopy

Endoscopy has proven to be a most useful diagnostic tool in veterinary medicine. In the field of zoological medicine, the application of diagnostic endoscopy has shown great promise in a variety of species but has probably been most exploited by avian veterinarians (Brearley, Cooper and Sullivan, 1991; Burrows and Heard, 1999; Taylor, 1993; Taylor, 1994). Avian endoscopy has evolved since the 1960s and includes coelioscopy, tracheoscopy and gastro-intestinal endoscopy – indeed it is difficult to imagine a well-equipped avian clinic without an endoscope.

To date, endoscopy in reptiles and small exotic mammals has not enjoyed such widespread acclaim although there are numerous reports to indicate its use since the 1960s. The majority of previous reptile reports describe the use of the endoscope to examine or retrieve foreign objects from the gastro-intestinal tract (Schildger, 1997; Ackermann and Carpenter, 1995; Lumeij and Happe, 1985; Coppoolse and Zwart, 1985). There are some descriptions of laparoscopy, bronchoscopy and more general descriptions of practical reptile endoscopy, particularly in chelonia (Jenkins, 1996; Gobel and Jurina, 1994; Schildger and Wicker, 1992; Wood, Wood, Critchley, Wildt and Bush, 1983; Divers, 1997; Kraut, 1995). The use of endoscopy for sex determination and for internal examination of the urogenital system is well documented (Schildger, 1994; Frye, 1996; Taylor, 1994). The use of the endoscope in small mammals has concentrated on its uses in the visualization and identification of diseases affecting the oral cavity. However, more recently the endoscope has been shown to be useful in a variety of procedures for rabbits, rodents and ferrets (Hernandez-Divers and Murray, 2002).

>>  Endoscopy Report Form (SAMPLE)

Exotic Animal Endoscopy Course
© Stephen Hernandez-Divers, The University of Georgia

• Association of Zoo Veterinarians
  ( www.aazv.org/ )



• Association of Avian Veterinarians
  ( www.aav.org/ )



• Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians
  ( www.arav.org/ )



• European Association of Zoo & Wildlife Veterinarians
  ( www.eazwv.org/ )

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