As Adolf Maas glides from room to room of his 7,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Center for Bird & Exotic Animal Medicine, he’s got a skip in his step. When he proudly speaks of the center’s digital X-ray and electronic-monitor equipment — and, of course, the animals they treat — he does so in a smooth voice that’s attached with a smile.

The center’s new location near the wetlands off Northeast 195th Street in Bothell is a bonus for the Kenmore native.

“I couldn’t come up with a better location. I like the fact that we’re on the wetlands and the stream and the amount of wildlife we have on the property, because I think that really reflects well on what we do. We do bird medicine and we’ve got pairs of nesting Canada geese in the wetlands behind the property,” said the 43-year-old doctor of veterinary medicine, who moved from his much smaller hospital (1,050 square feet) on Main Street to the new spot fourth months ago.

Maas (pictured below) also excitedly mentions seeing ducks, the murder of crows that flies over Bothell each night, deer in the parking lot, rabbits, weasels, river otters and more.

“The staff loves it. If nothing else, we can go outside on a day like today and have lunch and you don’t really remember that you’re right in town. It’s like a little private park — it’s great,” added Maas, who has been in business for five years.

The University of Wisconsin veterinary-school graduate notes that his facility is one of a handful of such large-sized centers in the country that treat exotic animals — everything from mice on the small end to llamas to kangaroos on the large end to birds of prey and beyond. (They don’t treat dogs, cats, cows and horses, but all other animals make their way through the doors.)

When choosing his fourth intern, Maas received applications from 50 veterinary graduates from all over the world. Alicia McLaughlin from Oklahoma State University snagged the coveted spot and now resides in an apartment on the second floor of the premises and treats patients on the first floor, which features minor- and major-surgery rooms, a radiology room and other areas where animals lounge before and after treatment.

Maas and his four doctors have about 14,000 active patients, and he notes that “It’s a great opportunity for (McLaughlin) because the type of caseload we have. There’s really very few places in the country that have this level of caseload.”

McLaughlin, who hails from the small town of Bixby, Okla., has been at the center since May and will work there for the next year. It’s her dream job to work in a 100-percent exotic-animal hospital and to practice the highest quality of medicine for her patients — and she feels she’s in the right spot.

“I’ve learned a lot in my first few months here and expect that will only continue in the months to come,” she said. “The variety is what appeals to me the most. You never know what comes in through the door — we may have a koi fish with cancer or a bird with food-allergy sensitivity.

“Surgery’s always fun, we get to do quite a bit of that,” she added.

Maas added that everything housed in the facility is geared toward the species they work with. “We have a lot of equipment that you’re not going to find, at least in our manifestation, in a dog/cat hospital. Even down to the drugs that we use — most of our drugs actually are more common in the human side than you’re going to find in the veterinary side.”

On a recent day, a dwarf rabbit was undergoing major surgery for mammary tumors. Later, the animal was resting in another room with a ferret who had pancreatic tumors lounging in an adjacent cage. Across the room, a pygmy goat, who had stones in his urethra that were blocking his urine path, was ready to return home after surgery two days earlier.

“He’s standing, he’s happy, so that’s always a plus,” Maas said while checking in on the goat. Maas also interacted with the exotic birds in one of the boarding rooms upstairs, speaking to one of the birds as it lets out a shrieking, “Caw!”

Animals have always been a big part of Maas’ life. While growing up in Kenmore, Maas said that his mom allowed the family to house dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, ducks, geese and frogs. However, his dad banned snakes from the household, which the younger Maas would have liked to keep as a pet.

Medicine is crucial for Maas, as well.

“I think to be a good vet, it’s probably more important to love medicine than it is even to enjoy animals,” he said. “I certainly enjoy the challenge of working with patients that you have to be very diagnostic in your approach. I can’t just ask my rabbits who come in, ‘Where does it hurt?’ I have to take the clues of how they move and what’s going on with their appetite and their behaviors, and run some tests to compare that and try and come up with a diagnosis.”