Do you take your birds to a Avian Vet

[DEEJAY7950]

So bottom line is, there are few avian vets to find and if you did find one the cost is really prohibited and outrageous! The best answer to this thread comes from"Dan post #5" in which I agree we have to read up and learn as much as we can then buy our own equipment and do our own fecal exams!

[TAWhatley]

I still swear by my beloved Dr. Lee who is not avian certified but has some avian experience (and actually quite a bit thanks to me and all my birds over the past 10+ years). Dr. Lee is quite a competent and caring vet and is a terrific surgeon and great at setting difficult breaks and such. He is extremely fair and reasonable with charges for any and all rescues .. dogs, cats, birds, rabbits .. doesn't matter.

While he may lack an avian certification, he is still #1 in my book and has helped save countless birds and animals for me and many of my rescue friends in So Cal.

There have been times when I really would have liked a real avian vet to treat an incoming bird, but there is simply no possible way I could pay the fees.

I have a duck rescue friend who took an elderly male Pekin duck from a park here in So Cal as the duck was old and not doing well. He took the duck to one of the premier avian vets in the area and more than $5,400.00 later still has an old, arthritic, crippled duck. My friend was a fool, and the vet was unethical, IMO, to charge that kind of money for an old duck that didn't even belong to my friend.

Terry

[Charis]

Originally Posted by TAWhatley

I still swear by my beloved Dr. Lee who is not avian certified but has some avian experience (and actually quite a bit thanks to me and all my birds over the past 10+ years). Dr. Lee is quite a competent and caring vet and is a terrific surgeon and great at setting difficult breaks and such. He is extremely fair and reasonable with charges for any and all rescues .. dogs, cats, birds, rabbits .. doesn't matter.

While he may lack an avian certification, he is still #1 in my book and has helped save countless birds and animals for me and many of my rescue friends in So Cal.

There have been times when I really would have liked a real avian vet to treat an incoming bird, but there is simply no possible way I could pay the fees.

I have a duck rescue friend who took an elderly male Pekin duck from a park here in So Cal as the duck was old and not doing well. He took the duck to one of the premier avian vets in the area and more than $5,400.00 later still has an old, arthritic, crippled duck. My friend was a fool, and the vet was unethical, IMO, to charge that kind of money for an old duck that didn't even belong to my friend.

Terry

I agree with you, Terry. There are many good vets that are capable of treating birds, have the knowledge but aren't certified Avian vets.

[DEEJAY7950]

Jeeez 5,000 dollars for and old duck? I wonder if this person went in without getting some sort of an idea as to the cost or charges that would apply? Unless this person has un-told riches? For most of us that is sure a GREAT deal of money, I have a hard time scraping up enough money for my drugs due to my diabetes, sometimes the money is so tight for all the different medications! I understand the compassion this person must have felt for this old duck and there must have been a lot of love attached also to spend like that but it is hard to justify that much money into an old duck that in the end is no better off then when it was first brought in to be seen, Dare I say they seen you coming with open check book in hand and took advantage? if so I believe they will get there's in the end, what comes around goes around as the old saying goes! So sad a story!

[SmithFamilyLoft]

Originally Posted by learning

To quite honest, it is extremely difficult to find a qualified avian vet. I guess the money isn't in it. Dogs and cats give them a much bigger market.

Now, get this, I am in Atlanta which is just down the road from Athens. You know...the "Go Dawgs" Athens. This is home to one of the largest and finest veterinary schools in the country, but can you find an avian vet anywhere in the state? Good luck.

Very high on my "to do" list is to invest in a microscope and learn how to use it. At least I would be able to do my own fecals and crop flushes. So, I guess to answer your question...no, I do not take my birds to an avian vet, at least I haven't yet.

Dan

I suspect Dan, that this is pretty much the norm, anywhere inside the USA. You must become your own vet. My personal experience with a local Avian practice, with three "Avian" specialists.....is they know only the general stuff they learned in medical school.

In a panic I once rushed a valuable hen to them which we thought was egg bound. First they did not think she was egg bound, they had no idea about the number of eggs, or the reproductive cycle of a pigeon. They had been there for well over a decade, but had never treated a pigeon before. They took an Xray and surprise !..... ...."Oh I guess you are correct, there is an egg in there"......my confidence level in them, went to 0. Seems the five decades of fancier experience of my loft manager was worth a whole lot more, then the decades of parrot experience of these "Avian Vets". Hundreds of dollars poorer, but much wiser, I sought my own counsel. My loft manager and I took matters into our own hands, and the hen was fine.

This was the very first, and last visit to a so called "Avian" vet. Without any pigeon experience, they are almost totally useless. Unless you have the time, money and books etc. to allow them to educate themselves. Their estimate for a loft visit, to review the general health of my birds was to run thousands of dollars....I almost laughed in their face. I guess that is why they call it "practicing medicine". For what I spent to demonstrate their ignorance, I could have purchased all the available bibles of pigeon health and medicine. So, if you are going to need or want some good pigeon medical advice, you need to educate yourself on the subject.

There may be a small handful of exceptions in a nation of 300 million plus, but for the vast majority of readers here, you better get some books and start reading.

[spirit wings]

I'am lucky enough to work at a vet that has a great avian vet there. I get a 90 percent discount, and I can take fecals in anytime and have the tech check it out. I can also order products through them with a discount. but even with all that. after reading here on this sight, you are the one careing for and feeding and medicating the bird most of the time. I have not gotten my birds yet, but I'am bulding up my birdie first aid kit and reading reading reading!

[DEEJAY7950]

So the best advise we can give someone with a sick bird is from our own experience and that of members here @ PT, so i would think telling a new person to take a bird to a vet of any kind would really be doing them and this hobby or sport a dis-service! So new people please listen to the vast knowledge base here on this site @ your service!

[AZWhitefeather]

Originally Posted by DEEJAY7950

So the best advise we can give someone with a sick bird is from our own experience and that of members here @ PT, so i would think telling a new person to take a bird to a vet of any kind would really be doing them and this hobby or sport a dis-service! So new people please listen the the vast knowledge base here on this site @ your service!

Not necessarily. I think it depends on each individual situation.

Cindy

[Charis]

Originally Posted by AZWhitefeather

Not necessarily. I think it depends on each individual situation.

Cindy

I agree with Cindy. It's not so black and white. We are not vets. We can't see the bird in trouble or touch it and even if we have pictures, they alone don't tell the whole story. Precious time can be wasted, trying to figure out what's wrong with a really sick bird. Time wasted that may cost the bird's life.
Several of us have said that the vet doesn't need to treat birds exclusively or have the avian designation to know what they are doing. ...and they don't.
So you have a bird that needs surgery...what are you going to do?...

[naturegirl]

There are 2 where I live so I would say I am lucky, but only 1 which I would trust as the other one although a nice lady doesn't really care about the bird but more about the money, besides I took a juvenille Mourning Dove around 3 years ago with a poo plug and she tore the cloaca in 3 different spots because she had a broken pelvic girdle knowing the bird was going back to the wild after rehabbing her she charged me $80 then another $20 for meds and the next day she had yet another plug so I opted to put her down as she was in great pain and she charged me another $25 to put her down so she is in my red X book to never take anything to her again.

[TheSnipes]

I count myself very lucky to have a number of good avian vets in driving distance. There is only one (so far) though that I use for the pigeons, as she has experience with them and other non-cage bird type birds. She's been very helpful to me in the past and also extends a lot of no charge assitance to local rehabbers.

I do my own fecals, and I can identify the usual suspects, but it takes a LOT of practice with that to be able to reliably determine exactly what is wrong and when dealing with a sick bird, I still take them to the Dr. if there is anything I'm not sure of. You have to treat with the right medications and to make those choices, you really have to know exactly what is wrong. That takes lots of experience.

[TheSnipes]

Originally Posted by Charis

I agree with Cindy. It's not so black and white. We are not vets. We can't see the bird in trouble or touch it and even if we have pictures, they alone don't tell the whole story. Precious time can be wasted, trying to figure out what's wrong with a really sick bird. Time wasted that may cost the bird's life.
Several of us have said that the vet doesn't need to treat birds exclusively or have the avian designation to know what they are doing. ...and they don't.
So you have a bird that needs surgery...what are you going to do?...

have to agree with Charis and Cindy...it is not good to draw the conclusion that referring someone to a vet is a bad idea. There is a huge repository of knowledge here to be sure, but it's done remotely and it's just not the same as having a qualified expert make a first-hand evaluation. I really doubt anyone would advise AGAINST seeing a vet if one is available.

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by TheSnipes

I count myself very lucky to have a number of good avian vets in driving distance. There is only one (so far) though that I use for the pigeons, as she has experience with them and other non-cage bird type birds. She's been very helpful to me in the past and also extends a lot of no charge assitance to local rehabbers.

I do my own fecals, and I can identify the usual suspects, but it takes a LOT of practice with that to be able to reliably determine exactly what is wrong and when dealing with a sick bird, I still take them to the Dr. if there is anything I'm not sure of. You have to treat with the right medications and to make those choices, you really have to know exactly what is wrong. That takes lots of experience.

Then, we can start sending our droppings to you for analysis???
Just kidding of course. I had a microscope that I borrowed from someone a while back and tried looking at some droppings, but all I saw was a bunch of "stuff" that I didn't know what it was.

[TheSnipes]

Originally Posted by Lovebirds

Then, we can start sending our droppings to you for analysis???
Just kidding of course. I had a microscope that I borrowed from someone a while back and tried looking at some droppings, but all I saw was a bunch of "stuff" that I didn't know what it was.

Yeah I would be able to say, "there's something in there" That is the problem, learning to recognize what is what. I have LOTS to learn

[Margarret]

I think that most of the time the members here are the place to begin. I would say that 95% of the time the problems can be resolved with guidance from the list.

As Terry pointed out, the word Avian in front of Vet increases the price into the ozone layer. And to boot many of them don't know much about pigeons. They are hookbill specialists. That is where the money is and it's all they know. Now and again you will find a pigeon knowledgeable regular vet. Treat him or her with kid gloves. Take em See's candy and homemade cookies from time to time. They are rare and valuable people you need to stay close to.

IMO the best thing to do is as Dan said, learn as much as you can so that when there is a problem you can approach it with some knowledge with which to assess it and treat it. It might be useful to create a list for the forum of situations that members feel need vet attention. I'm thinking of one of those go to the emergency room if.......type things. Some members have the skill to handle just about anything, but I think the newer folks and many of us older ones do have to consult a vet from time to time.

Margaret