Avian and Exotics

As one of only 215 board-certified zoological veterinarians in the world, Dr. Jenessa Gjeltema is rarer than some of the endangered animals she treats at the Sacramento Zoo.

Dr. Joanne Paul-Murphy has been named the recipient of the 2019 Animal Welfare Award by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Ginger, an 8-year-old female eclectus parrot, was not feeling like herself a few months ago. Over the course of several days, her decreased appetite caused her to skip a meal of kiwi—her favorite fruit—and she no longer danced around her cage like normal. Her owners thought she was having trouble with egg binding, a condition she suffered from previously. As regular clients of the Companion Exotic Animal Medicine and Surgery Service at the UC Davis veterinary hospital, they brought Ginger in for an examination.

Virulent Newcastle Disease (vND) is a poultry disease that has not been seen in California since 2002. It has recently re-emerged and represents a serious threat to backyard and commercial flocks.

Hedgehog owners should refrain from kissing their small, spiky friends, health officials warn. Since October, 11 people across eight states have been infected with a particular strain of salmonella, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported, and all but one of those infected said they had contact with a hedgehog.

Coconut, the snow leopard cub born at the Sacramento Zoo earlier this year, underwent a rare eyelid surgery on Wednesday, October 24. UC Davis veterinary specialists and the Sacramento Zoo veterinary team collaborated to correct a congenital eyelid defect known as colombas. This ocular deformity is sometimes documented in snow leopards under human care.

When Madonna’s abdomen recently became distended, she was examined by the UC Davis veterinary hospital’s Aquatic Animal Health Unit of the Companion Exotic Animal Medicine and Surgery Service.

UC Davis veterinary specialists are helping a baby snow leopard, born in May at the Sacramento Zoo, with a condition known as “swimmer’s syndrome,” a developmental deformity that forces animals to paddle their legs like turtles when they try to walk.

The zoo’s snow leopard cub is one lucky cat. Despite being born with several birth defects affecting his eyes and abnormal development of his rear legs and chest, the cub is receiving the very best care and world-class veterinary treatment to help him overcome these challenges.