The Avian and Exotic Animal Clinic
The Avian and Exotic Animal Clinic was established through the reorganization of the FVM departments in 2003 by merging the Department of Reptiles and Small Mammals of the Small Animal Clinic which existed since 1993, with the Avian Clinic. The clinic is part of the FVM Small Animal Section.
The Avian and Exotic Animal Clinic is the only university facility in the Czech Republic specializing in exotic animals and poultry diseases. It is a reference facility meeting the requirements for a workplace specializing in diseases of exotic animals and poultry in the Czech Republic. Veterinary activities are primarily the operation of the clinic and professional consultancy for the veterinary public and breeders.
Teaching
The clinic provides courses for VETUNI Brno’s students in undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes of veterinary medicine. The teachers of the clinic also teach courses in lifelong learning programmes at VETUNI Brno (University of the Third Age). The main emphasis is placed on practical training in clinics and laboratories. In postgraduate programmes, the clinic provides courses of Avian, reptile, and small mammal diseases, and Dog, cat, and pet animal diseases for the VETUNI Brno’s graduates in doctoral programmes.
The clinic is an internationally recognized centre for undergraduate and postgraduate education focusing on exotic animal diseases and is a partner training facility for students from Purdue University and the University of Sydney.
The services provided as part of the clinic’s veterinary activities also include advisory services and requested expert examinations on poultry and bird farms, as well as on exotic animal farms (zoos, breeding centres).
Research
The research activities of the Avian and Exotic Animal Clinic are carried out in two basic directions. It is primarily research focused on clinical methods in exotic animals – anaesthesia, surgery, clinical haematology and endocrinology, cardiology, clinical immunology, clinical virology, dentistry, imaging methods and endoscopy. The staff of the clinic participates in the development of new methodological procedures intended for clinical practice. The clinic’s laboratory provides a diagnosis of avian leukosis, circovirus and polyomavirus infections in exotic birds, and chlamydiosis; it also determines gender in birds.
Facilities, instrumentation, and equipment
The clinic is located in the Pavilion of Small Animal Clinics (in building no. 43) which was opened in 2003. Practical training also takes place at the Centre for Avian Medicine. As a reference facility, the clinic has technical equipment permitting comprehensive veterinary care – from preventive examinations of exotic patients for reproductive problems to challenging surgical procedures and endoscopic examinations. There are devices for controlled inhalation anaesthesia and ventilators for small exotics, vital signs monitors, paediatric and special dispensers for long-term intravenous or intraosseous administration of infusion solutions and transfusions. The clinic is equipped with several boxes for stabilizing critical patients and postoperative patients. The clinic has equipment for ultrasonographic examination, radiological equipment for small exotics and for endoscopic examination. The surgical part of the clinic has equipment for radiosurgery and equipment for dental procedures. The hospitalization rooms, designed separately as rooms for reptiles, birds and small mammals, are equipped with special boxes designed for the hospitalization of exotics during longer-term care. The clinic runs a haematology laboratory and a PCR laboratory, which constitutes a significant part of the clinic’s activities, and which are used not only for the internal needs of the clinic but also for the veterinary workplace and breeders from the general public.
Prominent professors in the history of the clinic
Prof. MVDr. Bedřich Klimeš, CSc. – the founder of the Department of Poultry Diseases and its first head, a recognized figure in avian medicine in this country and abroad, dean of the faculty between 1964 and 1968
Prof. MVDr. Heřman Kříž, CSc. – a prominent expert on poultry diseases recognized by breeding experts, head of the clinic after 1990
Prof. MVDr. Vladimír Jurajda, DrSc. – recognized researcher in poultry diseases, focusing primarily on avian virology and oncology
Prof. MVDr. Zdeněk Knotek, CSc., Dipl. ECZM – an internationally recognized expert on diseases of reptiles, birds and small mammals, founder of the Summer School of Exotic Medicine, and current head of the Avian and Exotic Animal Clinic
Prof. MVDr. Zděněk Knotek, CSc.
