EXOT409-0324: Companion Marsupial Medicine: Sugar Gliders, Wallabies, and Opossums, Oh My!Course Open: March 12-April 19, 2024
Real Time Sessions (RTS): Tuesdays, March 19, 26, April 2, and 9, 2024; 8:00-9:30 pm ET (USA) World Clock Converter
Total CE Credit: 6
RACE Category: 6 hours Medical
| Enrollment is closed. |
Tuition: Member $138 ($124 early bird special if enrolled by February 27, 2024) |
Course Information:
This course is divided into four 90-minute sessions. The course will cover the commonly seen companion marsupials: Sugar gliders, Wallabies, Short-tailed Opossums, and Virginia Opossums. The first session will emphasize marsupial anatomy and physiology, including basic biology, natural history including diet and husbandry that become crucial to their health and well-being as companion animals. Basic techniques for diagnostics including imaging will be incorporated in the lectures to illustrate the topic. The second session will discuss the most common infectious diseases including parasites of the various species. Treatments and preventive care will be covered. The third session will discuss non-infectious diseases as well as dental surgeries and care. The last session will cover the most common surgeries as well as pre and post-operative care, analgesia and anesthesia. Questions that have been sent in during the course will be answered.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of the course, the participant should be able to
- perform physical examinations with understanding of the anatomy and physiology, provide appropriate restraint and handling of these marsupials.
- provide emergency care, analgesia and anesthesia to companion marsupials.
- develop differential diagnoses, diagnostic plan, and therapeutic plan for the most common conditions.
- perform basic techniques such as blood draws, imaging, and medication administration in these species.
- discuss appropriate diet and husbandry for each of the companion marsupials in this course.
- perform common surgeries such as castration and ovariovaginalhysterectomy or ovariohysterectomy, penile amputation, and other basic surgeries.
- educate their support team regarding the best practices for working with marsupials.
- educate owners of companion marsupials on diet, husbandry and preventive health care.
Level and Prerequisites: This basic VIN CE course is open for enrollment to veterinarians interested in companion marsupials.
Credit Approval: This course is approved for 6 hours of continuing education credit by RACE for veterinarians. (RACE 20-1112704)
Course Agenda: Week 1 (Real Time Session March 19, 2024): Introducing the Companion Marsupial
The companion marsupials to be emphasized are sugar gliders, wallabies, short-tailed opossums, and the Virginia opossum. Basics of marsupial anatomy, physiology, natural history including diet and environmental conditions necessary to properly address the health and well-being of these species will be discussed.
Week 2 (Real Time Session March 26, 2024): Basics of Marsupial Practice
Techniques for restraint and handling, taking diagnostics including imaging, and medication administration will be incorporated into discussions of individual species and the disease agent. Infectious diseases including parasites will be emphasized, with treatment, management, and preventive care discussed.
Week 3 (Real Time Session April 2, 2024): Non-infectious Disease and Dental Care
Non-infectious disease in these animals includes traumatic injury, reproductive problems, metabolic and neoplastic conditions. Dental disease and care can be complicated in wallabies and kangaroos, while dental care in sugar gliders and opossums follows guidelines common to working with eutherian carnivores.
Week 4 (Real Time Session April 9, 2024): Emergency Care and Common Surgical Procedures
This session will prepare the clinician to handle marsupial emergencies. Analgesia, anesthesia, pre- and post-operative procedures will be included. Common surgical procedures include castration, ovariohysterectomy and ovariovaginohysterectomy, penile amputation, cystotomy, digit amputations, basic orthopedics and wound care.
Successful completion (scoring 80% or better) on the end-of-course test is required to earn a certificate of completion for the course. To learn more about the requirements for earning a CE certificate, please refer to Receiving Your CE Credit and Course Completion Certificate. Course Materials: Course materials will be available in the course library prior to each Real Time Session.
Required Textbook(s): There is no required textbook for this course.
| Enrollment is closed. |
Tuition: Member $138 ($124 early bird special if enrolled by February 27, 2024) |
*To ensure participants are ready and prepared for classes, enrollment will close on March 19, 2024 at 5 pm ET (USA) or when the maximum number of participants is reached. *For more information on how online CE works, see the Participant Resource Center.
Enrollment qualifications:
- VIN CE Courses:
- VIN CE courses are open to VIN member, VIN student member, and non-member veterinarians.
- Veterinary support staff must be VSPN members in order to enroll in a VIN CE course open to VSPN member enrollment.
- VSPN CE Courses:
- VSPN CE courses are open to veterinary support staff and veterinarians.
- Only VIN and VSPN members can enroll in a VSPN CE course.
- Veterinarians will only receive credit for those VSPN CE courses that specify in the Accreditation statement that the course is accredited for veterinarians.
- Please check the course Level and Prerequisites, Accreditation, and Tuition before enrolling.
- Each enrollee must be able to receive emails from @vspn.org
and @vin.com addresses.
- Email is our major form of communication with participants; personal emails are highly recommended rather than clinic/hospital email addresses.
- For further assistance call 800-846-0028 ext. 797 or email CEonVIN@vin.com. Please include the course title, your full name, and contact information in your correspondence.
Course withdrawal and refund policy: A complete refund of the paid course price will be issued when your withdrawal request is received prior to the listed start date of the course. If you wish to withdraw after the start date please contact the VIN office 800-846-0028 ext. 797 to discuss eligibility for a pro-rated refund. *For more information on VIN's upcoming CE courses, check the VIN Course Catalog. Katherine James, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM)
VIN Education Director VIN CE Services: CEonVIN@vin.com
800-846-0028 or 530-756-4881; ext. 797
or direct line to VIN/VSPN from the United Kingdom: 01 45 222 6154
or direct line to VIN/VSPN from Australia: 02 6145 2357