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Nutrition

Small mammal herbivores part 3: taking a dietary history and providing nutritional support

02 November 2022

Clinical

17 mins read

02 November 2022

Volume 13 · Issue 9

ISSN (print): 2044-0065

ISSN (online): 2052-2959

Figure 5. This guinea pig is suffering from dental disease. The crowns of the mandibular jugal teeth have grown into a ‘bridge’ over the tongue, entrapping it. Surgical intervention is required, and this patient will likely need nutritional support prior to and after surgery.

Abstract

The unique dietary needs of exotic companion mammal herbivores has been thoroughly explored in this series of articles. The veterinary nurse can be well-equipped and is in an excellent position to take a detailed husbandry and nutritional history, which can help to identify nutritional disease and problems with dietary management that may contribute to future pathogenesis. Providing nutritional support in the hindgut fermenter inpatient or outpatient is centred around both restoring the negative energy balance (as the target species will rapidly enter a catabolic state) and providing enough fibre to stimulate gastrointestinal motility.

The unique dietary needs of exotic companion mammal herbivores, including the domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), the guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), the chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera), and the common degu (Octodon degus), have been thoroughly explored (Miller 2022a, 2022b). Delegating the collection of husbandry information to a veterinary nurse or technician is an efficient use of their skills, and knowledgeable nurses can certainly review husbandry problems with pet owners. Effective history-taking techniques will be discussed, as well as some common dietary mistakes made by the pet owner when caring for these animals. Finally, a review of nutritional support for these patients will be discussed.

Taking a thorough history is a cornerstone of exotic animal medicine: estimates of the prevalence of husbandry-related diseases vary depending on the study, but it is generally agreed that inadequate husbandry (including nutrition) is a leading cause of illness in small mammal herbivores (Hartmann, 1993; Fawcett, 2011; Jekl et al, 2011; Prebble, 2011; O'Neill et al, 2020). Always assess your patient, the diet offered, and how it is offered (Carpenter et al, 2012). Many dietary inadequacies can cause serious short-term and longterm health consequences in small mammal herbivores.

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