Vet Visit

[Kile]

We have a vet visit this afternoon scheduled for Boo and the budgies just to check up on them and make sure everything is alright with Boo. I noticed yesterday she began to limp as if her foot was injured and it has continued today. Could have sprained something but I also want to make sure it isn’t mites or possibly something more serious. I have really considered that it might be mites because she has been shuffling her feet weirdly when she sits on my finger recently as if they are bothering her, and for a while, especially at night, I have noticed her pecking a little at her feet and making noises like they are hurting or maybe itching. Since mites are active mostly at night thats a big reason why I’ve considered it. She has been limping on her right leg and holding it up since yesterday. Starling feet and scales are different than a budgie or parrot but if anyone has had an issue similar to this I’d like to hear any opinions. I am also working on transitioning to natural wood perches since they are much better for their feet. Boo is still very young so I doubt it is arthritis, however I am glad we could a vet appointment this soon.

Another concern of mine is that we cannot go inside the building with the birds due to Covid. I am all for safety and social distancing, but I am worried that the vet won’t be able to handle Boo correctly without me there. She is hand tamed but I don’t know how she will act with a stranger without my company. Some vets aren’t so used to birds like starlings and deal more frequently with parrots. The budgies also are not very hand tamed yet, though I have been working on it. Has anyone had any bad experiences with vet visits during the Covid quarantine? Thanks in advance.

 

[Kile]

I’ve heard some pretty bad vet horror stories and its making me anxious that I cannot supervise the visit but she specializes in avians and exotics I’m pretty sure so maybe everything will go smoothly

 

[sunnysmom]

All of my birds have had covid time vet visits. I too was really nervous. It went fine but I also have gone to this vet for years. Out of caution when I got there I went over again what I wanted done. Just nails clipped, NOT wings, etc. Although the vet said my cockatoo gave him a run for his money, lol, it went fine.

 

[Blueberry]

I’ve also did the appointments during covid with an ACV I’ve never been to before and things went fine. It was for any on going issue- after the last appointment she was very upset- compared to all the other visits. And during the visit when the Veterinarian called me I could hear her :/ This time around I found a practice I could go in - this vet is an avian vet who is not certified. I’ve opted to do this for now until Covid cools down again. This visit went pretty smoothly.

 

[JewellBird]

I have also taken my birds to the avian vet multiple times during covid and I haven't been able to go in with them. I was really worried at first since I couldn't go in, but the vet had me on the phone the whole time during the exam so she could talk me through what she was doing the whole time and that gave me a lot of comfort. Maybe your vet would allow something like that?

 

[Kile]

I have also taken my birds to the avian vet multiple times during covid and I haven't been able to go in with them. I was really worried at first since I couldn't go in, but the vet had me on the phone the whole time during the exam so she could talk me through what she was doing the whole time and that gave me a lot of comfort. Maybe your vet would allow something like that?

Thats a good idea. We can ask!

 

[Kile]

Just got back from the vet, it went fine and the birds are ok. I don’t think she exactly knew what she was talking about though at least for Booboo. Starlings are insectivores and also have a sensitivity to high iron so I feed her Mazuri insectivore diet and Mazuri softbill low-iron diet and she said something like “What you’re feeding her is fine, starlings are really resilient, they are an invasive species” and then continued to tell us that any wild bird mix or a finch diet would be fine....? Seems like she should know starlings aren’t seed eaters but I don’t know... and about her leg, they gave us some anti inflammatory meds to give her for two weeks. She also acted like these birds don’t get scaley leg mites...she said something like she could have “environmental mites”. I know for a fact that they get scaley leg mites and it can be transmitted to them by their mothers in the nest, people have experienced it with their starlings and other birds... and she didn’t do a skin scraping for Boo anyways even though we asked about it so I guess I will have to do it later myself and use my microscope. We treated her this morning with some avimec (a type of ivermectin) which you apply to the skin once a week thinking it would help if she has mites and the vet told us that avimec does nothing and the vet assistant told us its bad for their health, which I have not heard before. The assistant didn’t seem to have any idea what she was talking about at all though because she didn’t know you can sex a budgie by their cere and called them “buggies” once. Has anyone had issues/experience using Avimec before on small birds? I want to hear some different opinions. My family owns chickens and ducks and my mom had been to vet school for a while a few years ago to become a vet tech (never finished due to my dad becoming disabled which was a huge deal) but she has a bunch of textbooks from school she uses for reference and does a lot of research online. We have used ivermectin for our chickens and ducks and from what I know it has helped them before. I want to make sure I am doing the best for my birds. Its frustrating asking a professional for help and not receiving very good advice. At least Booboo was behaved.

 

[Kile]

Forgot to add that she said if the foot condition doesn’t improve we will do a follow up appointment and try an xray.