“We found him in the shed….”  Ay, yi, yi. What do you do when your patient is such a shrimpy little guy? Become an inventor, really. Neonates, miniature breeds, ferrets, pocket pets, etc all need some special tweaking of the equipment you normally use for pets of “regular size”.  Unlike the airplanes in the USA these days, smaller is not always better.  Here are some things to consider when figuring out how to treat these tiny patients.

“We found him in the shed….”  Ay, yi, yi. What do you do when your patient is such a shrimpy little guy? Become an inventor, really. Neonates, miniature breeds, ferrets, pocket pets, etc all need some special tweaking of the equipment you normally use for pets of “regular size”.  Unlike the airplanes in the USA these days, smaller is not always better.  Here are some things to consider when figuring out how to treat these tiny patients.

• First off if you are unfamiliar with your patient do a quick internet search to determine what is their normal diet, heat requirements, formula requirements, feeding schedules, etc.
• Now you have to figure out how to somehow get the medications, anesthesia, food, and fluids into such a small thing.

For ferrets, small birds, and pocket pets there are usually some readily available supplies in your clinic already.  Smaller anesthesia masks/boxes, tiny gauge needles/catheters, etc.  For teeny tiny patients you will have to improvise.  Such as the case with the field mouse pictured above.  This baby field mouse was dropped off with 3 other tiny siblings, eyes still closed and needing to be fed formula. 

Supplies I like for tiny critters:

• I.V. catheters, various sizes.  Pull out the needle and chuck it (which your doctor may not appreciate).  Use the plastic catheter tip as a mini-nipple for formula feedings.  Open-ended Tom cat catheters will sometimes work too.
• If your clinic stocks them, tiny feeding syringe tips.  They fit right on 1 cc tuberculin syringes.
• Small gauge butterfly sets.  Because giving fluids to a squiggly, blind, hairless creature is next to impossible.
• Q-tips and cotton balls to stimulate bowel movements and urine.
• For injectable medication or blood draws use an insulin syringe.
• Depending on hypothermia levels, a fully heated incubator or a small plastic carrier on half heat via a heating pad (place a 1/2 inch of towels on the heating pad to avoid thermal burns and line crate with towels as well).  You always want to place only half of a heating pad under crates in case the patient does become overheated they can move to the cooler section.
• For tiny patient needing anesthesia or oxygen, grab a clear Tupperware container and cut one tube sized hole in it for Isoflourane or Oxygen chamber.

What are your best tips for dealing with “patients of extremely small size” ???