REMOVING tumours from cockatoos and curing rabbits of ear infections are all in a day’s work for Dr Daniella Hsu, a vet who thrives on treating unusual clients.

She’s one of the three vets working at The Unusual Pet Vets clinic, which opened in Fyshwick in November.

Daniella says their service was definitely required.

“There wasn’t an exotics-only clinic in Canberra until this one. Now we cater for the slightly unusual animals with some patients getting referred to us from two hours away,” she says, with the Unusual Pet Vets excluding dogs and cats.

Having grown up in China, Daniella says her family used to breed finches and budgies, they used to own a lot of rabbits and, in her early childhood, her family had silkworms.

“I’ve also had turtles and chickens,” she says.

Her passion for animals led her to become a vet and since graduating, in 2012, Daniella has worked exclusively in a bird and exotics clinic in Sydney, until her move to Canberra.

“I was doing a rotation internship for the final year of my degree and the clinic I was at had an exotics department. I really wasn’t sure that was something I wanted to get into, but I loved every minute of it,” she says.

“I was not afraid of birds too, which is apparently a common thing, so I volunteered to clean the cage for the vet if no one else wanted to, and that’s how I met the vet, and they invited me to watch some consults and that’s how my passion started.”

Now Daniella, 36, says she has downsized the numbers of pets in her home because she doesn’t have as much time to dedicate to their care, but she still gets her fix through work.

“Right now, I’ve got an English cocker spaniel named Mr Darcy, an Alexandrine parrot named Megatron and a carpet python, Sir William Snakespeare,” she says.

“In Canberra the most unusual animals I have treated are different species of frogs.

“In Sydney, not myself, my colleagues had treated seahorses and stingrays, which is very unique.”

Most of the patients that come through the Unusual Pet Vets are prey species, which makes handling them difficult.

“Besides ferrets, our patients are prey species, which means we shouldn’t be hospitalising them in the same facility as a dog or cat as the smells and noises can be quite stressful,” she says.

“Even when we handle these animals they become stressed quite easily, so we need to be aware of those signs and we need to be very gentle.”

In a time-sensitive emergency, Daniella says they still do all the basics first, just with an extra level of caution.

“Things like heating, stopping any bleeding, oxygenation, and then we give them five minutes to recover,” she says.

“We do everything in stages with the most important things first, whether that is checking for wounds or a heart rate.

“We see emergencies all the time. Recently we’ve had The Mate, a cockatoo, and Penelope, a rabbit. Penelope was a referral from about two hours away and she’s had ongoing alternate ear issues. We’ve taken over her primary care now.

“The Mate had a tumour growth and it is quite an intricate procedure, but we’ve done two procedures on him now and he’s recovering well.”

“The main challenge is sometimes the animals are just too little for us to do tests on. Some are between 20 grams and 40 grams, so we have to use our expertise and figure out a way to nurse the condition. Most of the time we’re able to perform necessary tests and treatments.”

Daniella says on top of emergency work, the Unusual Pet Vets offer all routine procedures from vaccinations to preventative care, microchipping to desexing.

The clinic has been fantastic for many reasons, she says, but especially because unusual pets don’t traditionally cost as much to buy as dogs or cats.

“So people tend to put a monetary value on them and don’t want to follow through with basic veterinary care, but we’re seeing clients actually treating animals like a pet and as part of the family, and they are often living a lot longer than dogs and cats do, so it’s really good to see exotic species being valued.”