Small mammals

Rabbits, rodents, ferrets and hedgehogs

Paws and Claws Medical Center is a rabbit and small-mammal veterinary hospital in Miami. We see rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets, rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils, chinchillas, and hedgehogs. Ramon de Armas, DVM, PGCert(EAS), GPCert(EAP), leads an AEMV member practice. If a rabbit stops eating or stops producing droppings during open hours, call (786) 361-9344. We are not a 24/7 ER.

Who we see

Rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets, rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils, chinchillas, and hedgehogs are patients at Paws & Claws Medical Center. This is exotic mammal medicine, not a dog appointment with the numbers shrunk. Dr. Ramon de Armas holds PGCert(EAS) and GPCert(EAP) and the hospital is an AEMV member practice. If you were told “most vets will not touch rabbits,” that is a reason to come here, not a reason to wait until the animal has been anorexic for three days.

Boarding is for existing patients, by appointment, when space is available. This page is medicine: dentistry, surgery, imaging, and honest husbandry conversations.

The first visit

Do not fast a rabbit or guinea pig unless we explicitly tell you to. Bring the hay, pellets, and greens you actually feed, plus a photograph of the enclosure. A hide box in the carrier reduces panic. Tell us about cecotropes, urine color, grinding teeth, and the last time you saw a normal stool pile — those details matter more than a story about how the animal “seems pretty happy.” We will handle fear-free: quiet room, towel support, no chasing, no performative dominance.

If your rabbit has stopped eating, is producing fewer or no droppings, is grinding teeth, or is sitting hunched, call (786) 361-9344 during open hours. Gastrointestinal stasis is not a wait-and-see weekend project.

Common problems

Rabbit GI stasis and dental malocclusion. Guinea pig vitamin C failure dressed up as “picky eating.” Ferret adrenal disease, insulinoma, and foreign bodies. Rat respiratory disease. Hedgehog obesity and skin disease. Urinary sludge in rabbits. These are not rare zebras. They are the job.

Dentistry in rabbits and rodents is medicine. We radiograph when the clinical picture says the problem is not just the crowns you can see. We do not “clip teeth and send home” as a plan. Anesthesia is species-specific. A rabbit is not a cat with longer ears, and we do not anesthetize as if it were.

We will talk about RHDV2 with rabbit clients. Vaccination status belongs in the record. If you have not heard of it, that is not your failure — it is a gap we will close in the appointment instead of hiding it in a handout you will not read. Start with our RHDV information page, then call for current vaccine availability — we do not republish outdated state-case claims from old handouts.

Husbandry we will not ignore

We will not ignore iceberg-lettuce-only feeding, empty hay racks, carpet housing, cedar bedding, heat stress in Florida summers, or the myth that rabbits “get all the water they need from vegetables.” We will not ignore a guinea pig on a vitamin C–deficient diet. We will not ignore a ferret on a grain-heavy snack diet. You will hear it in the room. You will also hear what to change this week, not a twelve-step lifestyle overhaul that nobody finishes.

In-hours urgent care is real: call if they are in trouble while we are open. After close, we are closed. We are not a 24/7 ER. Go to a local emergency hospital. Bring the same enclosure photos and diet list you would have brought us.

Hablamos español. Call (786) 361-9344.

Questions owners actually ask

Do you see rabbits in Miami?

Yes. Rabbits are a routine caseload here, including dentistry and GI stasis workups.

My rabbit stopped eating. Can this wait until Monday?

No. Call during open hours. After close, go to a local emergency hospital.

Do I fast a rabbit before the visit?

No. Do not fast a rabbit or guinea pig unless we explicitly tell you to.

Do you vaccinate rabbits for RHDV?

We discuss RHDV2 and vaccination status in the appointment. Call for current vaccine availability.