Vet Visits for Birds That Aren't Hand-Tame

[The_Mayor]

Most importantly: my quaran-teammates are both fine and don't have an immediate need to see the doctor.

Now that I'm getting Esmerelda and Mustrum accustomed to going into a smaller cage so they can go outside (still a work in progress), I realized that that means I can also start planning to take them to the vet for their well-bird visits. Which, I'm happy to do - unlike me, I expect the Vet to marvel at how fit and trim they're looking.

My question is the logistics.

I've taken numerous animals to the vet over the years, but they were all animals that I was able to directly control during the process. Mustrum and Esmerelda don't step up and definitely don't come when I call. I'm pretty sure that it won't take too long to get them reliably going into a smaller cage for transit (by leaving it open with mounds and mounds of millet visible, not, like, by saying, "go into your travel cage"), and it wouldn't surprise me if after a few trips outside they start to look forward to that (and then, "haha! surprise vet visit!), so I think I'll be able to get them into the cage and into the examining room.

But, what happens then?

Do I just stand back and make a "this is your problem now" gesture? Or, how does that work?

 

[Chomskypom]

That’s what I do!
Really though, I warn the techs and then the vet as I encounter them that my birds aren’t hand-tame and ARE flighted. I think there’s a note in their charts as well about it.
At my specific vet they get a weight by putting the bird in essentially a hot-rodded tupperware container, then the vet very deftly grabs the bird out of it in order to do the examination. Jazzy screams like he is being murdered the ENTIRE time and it stresses me out, so I guess be ready for that possibility.

 

[The_Mayor]

That's really helpful, thanks.

And yes, the screaming. I don't know whether my birds will go that "help, help, I'm being repressed!" route. But, my parents had one dog who would scream like she was the ingenue in a slasher film. The other dogs were all big, stolid types (think lab and newf crosses) who were fine with the vet. They always looked away like, "we don't know her."

 

[finchly]

Yeah I think most vets are equipped to handle this.
I have 2 caique drama queens, you should hear the way they scream when the vet tech holds them (very gently) so the vet can look at them. No one's doing anything yet and they're "HELP!!! MURDER!!! HELLLLLP!"

 

[FiatLux]

This thread was really helpful and hilarious.

 

[Mizzely]

I've taken two not hand tame birds to the vet and both times I had no issues. The vet and assistant usually know how to handle them to be as least stressful as possible

 

[Sparkles!]

It’s amazing what specialist vets can do. Horse vets can get blood drawn from wild, raging stallions- and avian vets can handle the most non-tame birds ever. Once I watched a marine mammal vet get a urine sample from a manatee with ease! Specialty vets are a sight to watch! Love them!

 

[The_Mayor]

Once I watched a marine mammal vet get a urine sample from a manatee with ease!

Now I have an image of a tech holding a collection cup under the manatee while the vet puts on a shark mask.

Edited to change a verb.

 

[BirbBrain]

Most importantly: my quaran-teammates are both fine and don't have an immediate need to see the doctor.

Now that I'm getting Esmerelda and Mustrum accustomed to going into a smaller cage so they can go outside (still a work in progress), I realized that that means I can also start planning to take them to the vet for their well-bird visits. Which, I'm happy to do - unlike me, I expect the Vet to marvel at how fit and trim they're looking.

My question is the logistics.

I've taken numerous animals to the vet over the years, but they were all animals that I was able to directly control during the process. Mustrum and Esmerelda don't step up and definitely don't come when I call. I'm pretty sure that it won't take too long to get them reliably going into a smaller cage for transit (by leaving it open with mounds and mounds of millet visible, not, like, by saying, "go into your travel cage"), and it wouldn't surprise me if after a few trips outside they start to look forward to that (and then, "haha! surprise vet visit!), so I think I'll be able to get them into the cage and into the examining room.

But, what happens then?

Do I just stand back and make a "this is your problem now" gesture? Or, how does that work?

Well, my birds don't step up and they don't come when I call, I am pretty sure they don't even recognize their name. But I just brought them to the vet a few days ago. They were fine. So, don't worry about bringing them to the vet.