Profile: A wild office visit with Dr. Dave Rupiper

From cockatiel blood tests to porcupine neautering, exotic pet vet has seen it all|

An average day at East Petaluma Pet Hospital can include a visit from a mean, 45-pound African porcupine who needs neutering, a Patagonian cavy with a bladder stone, or a listless fennec fox.

And birds. Lots of birds.

Veterinarian and owner Dr. David Rupiper has presided over the chaos with tremendous calm and friendliness for the past 17 years. As a vet, he specializes in exotic pets and birds, treating about 3,000 winged patients last year.

As we chat in the back of the hospital - located in the nondescript Arroyo Center mall - office manager Emily Walker runs in exclaiming, “Your 2:15 flew out in the parking lot! She’s loose!”

Rupiper’s 2:15 appointment was a cockatiel named Lily, who outmaneuvered her owner and flew up into a tree in front of the Inspired Fitness Training Center a few storefronts down.

Nets are gathered and several of the women who work at the hospital (there are 10 employees - all women) all hustle outside, with Rupiper returning a few minutes later smiling and chatting happily, the bird wrapped in a small green towel.

Originally from South Dakota, Rupier says he has always loved animals. He raised pigeons as a kid, and always had dogs and cats. A family friend who was a vet took little Dave Rupiper out on calls, starting when he was around 8 years old, setting the course for his life and vocation.

After studying biology and zoology at Fresno State, Rupiper went on to UC Davis and established the university’s first avian specialty. Ask Rupiper “Why birds?” and his eyes dance a little behind his glasses. His usually-quiet tone jumps in volume and pitch as he launches into a spirited monologue.

“Their adaptations for flight are amazing!” he says. “Their bones are hollow! They’re like little primitive dinosaurs that are still around. They see light differently - they can see into the ultraviolet spectrum and tell if fruit is ripe from many feet away, just by looking at it. Birds are great pets. They’re sweet and smart and they live forever.”

Rupiper now turns his attention to Lily, the renegade parking lot escapee cockatiel. Her owner brought her in because she had blood on her tail feathers. Rupiper explains that this is common and is usually a broken “blood feather.”

“Feathers get replaced every year,” he says, as he rinses the bird’s long yellow tail in the sink. “As they grow, they have a stage where the base is filled with blood, and if they break they bleed.”

He trims Lily’s tiny, sharp claws and points to a drop of blood that comes from the cut. The blood isn’t like ours. It’s opaque and thick, like a little chunk of lipstick. Rupiper explains that Lily is mobilizing fat for egg production. He collects a few samples to test for fatty liver disease and smilingly hands me a thin glass sliver stained from within with a streak of cockatiel blood.

“A souvenir,” he says.

It was as a student at UC Davis, that Rupiper first fell in love with Petaluma and Sonoma County. He and his friends would visit the wine country on weekends.

“Who wouldn’t want to live here?” he asks. “It’s perfect.”

Seventeen years ago, when the pet hospital came on up for sale, Rupiper jumped at the opportunity. Asked what makes Petaluma a good place for bird or exotic pet owners, he explains, “Climate-wise, it’s perfect. It’s central to Santa Rosa - or San Francisco. It has a small-town atmosphere but it’s a pretty progressive city.”

Petaluma and its pet owners have definitely been good to him.

“I’m very fortunate that I do exotics,” he says. “It’s fairly recession proof.”

Rupiper believes in giving back to the community. Last year, he logged 400 vet hours volunteering for the Bird Rescue Center in Santa Rosa, and he takes care of animals brought in by good Samaritans, like the guy who patrols Lake Ralphine for swans that have swallowed fishhooks. Or Rooster Run golfers who bring in unlucky geese struck by their little hard balls.

Having now effectively passed along his contagiously clear enthusiasm for birds - from their superhero vision to their tiny, hollow bones - Rupiper concludes with one final pitch.

“Next time you’re out hiking around Petaluma, just look up at a turkey vulture!” Rupiper says. “They’re so funny! Like they can’t believe they can fly! On a hot day, they can lock their wings and soar at thousands of feet to reach a cooler atmosphere without expending energy. They can smell sulfur and rotting flesh miles away. What’s not cool about that?”

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