Pet Health Library

Guides to pet symptoms and conditions, cited to the veterinary literature — what's normal, what's not, and when to see a vet.

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Showing 49–72 of 1068 articles

🐭Degu HealthAug 31, 2026

👁️Eyes & Ears

Degu Eye Discharge: Dental Roots, Injury, or Eye Disease?

Eye discharge in a degu may come from the eye surface, tear drainage, or dental disease affecting nearby structures. Prompt examination matters when discharge persists, the eye closes, or appetite changes.

🐟Fish HealthAug 31, 2026

💨Respiratory

Aquarium Fish Red Gills: Water Quality, Gill Disease, and Urgency

Red or unusually dark gills are a sign, not a diagnosis. Check the whole tank and water quality promptly, increase safe aeration, and seek aquatic veterinary help when breathing or behavior changes.

🐀Rat HealthAug 31, 2026

🤮Digestive

Rat Diarrhea: Loose Stool, Dehydration, and When to Act

True watery diarrhea in a pet rat is different from one soft stool and can quickly become important when appetite, activity, or hydration changes. Document the stool, isolate safely, and arrange prompt veterinary assessment.

Aug 31, 2026

🦷Dental

Pet Bird Overgrown Beak: Causes, Feeding Problems, and Care

An overgrown or misshapen beak is not merely a grooming issue. It can interfere with eating and may reflect nutrition, disease, trauma, or abnormal wear, so trimming and diagnosis belong with an avian veterinarian.

🐈Cat HealthAug 31, 2026

🛡️Wellness & Prevention

New Kitten FeLV and FIV Testing: Why and When

A new kitten's FeLV and FIV status cannot be determined from appearance alone. Learn when testing is useful, why one result may need confirmation, and how to protect resident cats while answers are pending.

🐁Mouse HealthAug 31, 2026

🚽Urinary

Blood in a Mouse's Urine: Causes and Urgent Signs

Red staining in a pet mouse may come from urine, the reproductive tract, skin, or another source. Confirming the source requires an examination; straining or inability to urinate is an emergency.

🐭Chinchilla HealthAug 31, 2026

💨Respiratory

Chinchilla Sneezing and Nasal Discharge: What to Check

Repeated sneezing or nasal discharge in a chinchilla can reflect respiratory disease, irritation, dental disease, or another problem that cannot be diagnosed from the discharge alone. Reduce irritants and arrange prompt exotic-veterinary care.

🦎Reptile HealthAug 29, 2026

🍽️Eating & Drinking

Red-Eared Slider Not Eating: Husbandry, Illness, and Urgency

A red-eared slider may stop eating because of temperature, lighting, stress, mouth or respiratory disease, pain, or systemic illness. Check the setup, but do not delay care for red flags.

🐭Degu HealthAug 29, 2026

💨Respiratory

Degu Breathing Fast: Respiratory Distress and Urgent Signs

Fast, noisy, or effortful breathing in a degu is not a diagnosis and can become an emergency. Minimize handling, check the environment, and arrange prompt exotic-veterinary care.

🐈Cat HealthAug 29, 2026

🛡️Wellness & Prevention

Choosing a Kitten Food: First-Year Nutrition Guide

Choose kitten food by the nutritional adequacy statement, calorie information, and your kitten's growth and body condition—not package buzzwords or one ingredient.

🦜Bird HealthAug 29, 2026

🌿Skin & Coat

Canary Bumblefoot: Red, Swollen Feet and Safe Next Steps

A red, smooth, crusted, or swollen canary foot may be pododermatitis, but trauma, mites, constriction, and deeper disease can look similar. Learn what to check and avoid.

🐟Fish HealthAug 29, 2026

🚨Emergency

Aquarium Fish Nitrite Poisoning: Brown Blood Disease and Urgent Steps

Nitrite can impair oxygen transport even when a tank contains oxygen. Test promptly, increase aeration, stop feeding temporarily, and address the nitrogen-cycle failure safely.

🦎Reptile HealthAug 28, 2026

🌿Skin & Coat

Turtle Red Plastron: Injury, Shell Disease, or Emergency?

Redness on a turtle's plastron can reflect surface irritation, injury, shell disease, or systemic illness; color alone cannot identify the cause. Photograph the change, assess the whole turtle and habitat, and seek prompt reptile care for spreading redness, soft or damaged shell, discharge, weakness, or appetite loss.

🐿️Sugar Glider HealthAug 28, 2026

💨Respiratory

Sugar Glider Breathing Fast: Signs of Respiratory Distress

Fast or effortful breathing in a sugar glider can signal respiratory distress and deserves prompt veterinary attention. Learn what to observe, how to minimize stress, and why appearance alone cannot identify the cause.

🦎Reptile HealthAug 28, 2026

👁️Eyes & Ears

Snake Retained Eye Cap: How to Spot It and What Not to Do

A cloudy or wrinkled snake eye after shedding may be a retained spectacle, but swelling, discharge, mites, injury, and infection can look similar. Do not peel or pull at the eye; check the shed and arrange reptile-veterinary care if the appearance persists or the eye is painful or swollen.

🐁Mouse HealthAug 28, 2026

🤮Digestive

Mouse Rectal Prolapse: Red Tissue at the Anus and Urgent Care

Red or pink tissue protruding from a mouse's anus may be rectal prolapse and needs prompt veterinary care. Protect the tissue, avoid trying to push it back, and look for signs of straining or illness.

🐕Dog HealthAug 28, 2026

🛡️Wellness & Prevention

Choosing a Puppy Food: First-Year Nutrition Guide

Choose puppy food by nutritional adequacy, life-stage fit, expected adult size, calorie information, and manufacturer transparency—not by marketing language or one ingredient.

🐈Cat HealthAug 28, 2026

🛡️Wellness & Prevention

New Kitten Weight and Growth Milestones by Month

A kitten’s growth is best judged by a steady personal trend, not a single ideal weight. Learn how to weigh consistently, read the first-year pattern, and recognize changes that need a veterinary check.

🦔Hedgehog HealthAug 28, 2026

🦷Dental

Hedgehog Mouth Lump: Gum Growth, Infection, or Tumor?

A lump in or around a hedgehog's mouth needs prompt veterinary assessment. Benign gum overgrowth, inflammation, infection, and invasive tumors can look similar without examination and tissue testing.

🐭Degu HealthAug 28, 2026

🌿Skin & Coat

Degu Skin Lump: Abscess, Cyst, or Tumor?

A new lump on a degu may be inflammatory, infected, cystic, or neoplastic, and touch alone cannot identify it. Track its location and change, prevent self-trauma, and arrange an exotic-vet examination.

🐟Fish HealthAug 28, 2026

🐛Parasites

Aquarium Fish Flashing and Rubbing: Causes and What to Do

Flashing is the sudden rubbing or flicking of a fish against objects. It can reflect skin or gill irritation, but behavior alone cannot tell you whether the cause is a parasite, water problem, or another disorder.

🐟Fish HealthAug 28, 2026

🛡️Wellness & Prevention

Aquarium Fish Clamped Fins: Causes and What to Check

Clamped fins are a warning posture, not a diagnosis. Check the aquarium and the whole fish promptly, because water problems, irritation, parasites, and other illnesses can look similar.

🦎Reptile HealthAug 26, 2026

🚨Emergency

Tortoise Cracked Shell: First Aid and When It’s an Emergency

A cracked tortoise shell is an injury to living tissue, not a harmless chip in a hard case. Protect the area, limit movement, avoid home repair, and arrange prompt reptile-veterinary care because deeper injuries may be hidden.

🐀Rat HealthAug 26, 2026

👁️Eyes & Ears

Rat Squinting One Eye: Corneal Injury, Ulcer, and When to Act

A rat that keeps one eye partly or fully closed may have irritation, inflammation, injury, or another eye problem. Because an ulcer cannot be confirmed by appearance alone and eye disease can worsen, arrange prompt care with an exotic-animal veterinarian.