We began our project with extensive literature searches far afield from traditional veterinary sources; we collected our own data, performed thousands of autopsies, and encouraged each other to publish and to maintain an intellectual curiosity when considering the health care of our exotic charges—thus this book is not to be considered an end point, but rather a staging for all veterinarians and professionals who work with exotic species to “come up to speed” with the state of the art without the need to re-invent the wheel. It is our wish that this book provide a widespread understanding of the anatomy, physiology, diagnosis, and treatment of the rainbow of species with which we share this planet.
Diseases of Exotic Animals: Medical and Surgical Management, a 1,159 page tome, was finally published in July of 1983. Comprehensive in its identification of disease states, symptoms, causative factors, and treatments, the book remains a trusted academic treatise found in the libraries of veterinary schools across the country as well as in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. (where it is listed as a “National Treasure”). The book contains some two thousand illustrations, references to over 25,000 autopsies, and references to some 10 million tissue chemistries and slides.
