Deworming parrots?

[dollfish]

There is a fellow parrot owner on my instagram who regularly asks me questions and their bird is new and they are new to bird ownership. It is a CAG and it is 4.5 months old. The vet had told them to end formula 2.5 months ago in order to deworm the bird. I said to them that vets are not always very knowledgable on parrot psychology as much as they are on physiology and that they should continue the formula by at least providing feedings once or twice a week.

And they told me that the vet dewormed it as a preventative measure, the bird didn't have worms / wasn't tested for worms. This all seems very sketchy to me. I realise that I'm in no position to criticise medical knowledge but the fact that they said to cut hand feedings at 2 months old tell me that they cannot be very competant.

Also Astro was never dewormed and the topic wasn't even brought up by the two vets that we go to who are known to be Istanbul's best avian and exotic vets. She was always tested though in full check-ups.

So I'm debating whether or not to tell this person to switch to a different vet. What are your opinions on this issue?

Thanks!

 

[Mizzely]

I think some countries do this.... In the US I've never been asked if I want to proactively worm any of my birds

 

[sunnysmom]

We don't deworm here. I have seen people from different countries mention it. I personally wouldn't do it unless I knew my bird had worms.

 

[dollfish]

I don't think it is worth cutting hand feeding so abruptly at such an early age in order to deworm JUST IN CASE... To me that sounds almost like doing it for the money even. I think I will tell them they could switch to another vet. I find early psychological development very important in parrots and this kind of thing just makes me upset.

 

[Mizzely]

I agree, I'm also not sure why the handfeeding formula can't be given with dewormer if they truly needed it? That doesn't add up