Pocket pets are the informal term for small companion mammals, mostly rodents and similar species, kept as household pets. In Singapore, the species approved by the AVS include hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, chinchillas, and mice. Each has distinct dietary, behavioural, and medical requirements that differ markedly from those of cats and dogs.
Exotic mammal specialists and vets with a clinical focus in pocket pets manage conditions such as dental overgrowth in rodents, respiratory infection, skin disease and mites, obesity, and reproductive conditions in unsterilised animals. Tools of the trade include small-patient anaesthesia, imaging adapted for tiny body sizes, and a working knowledge of the husbandry cages, bedding, diet, and social structure that drive most presenting problems.
While most general-practice vets are trained primarily to treat cats and dogs, a pocket-pets-focused vet is the practitioner who understands why a guinea pig cannot synthesise its own vitamin C, or why a hamster's tiny body size makes routine anaesthesia higher-risk than in a cat or dog.
Pocket pets are prey species, and they tend to hide illness until it is advanced, often presenting as a crisis rather than a gradual decline. A short consultation at adoption, covering husbandry, diet, and what to watch for, is often the highest-value visit an owner will make.
