first vet visit....a little traumatic?!

floridamedgirl · Post by **floridamedgirl** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 12:13 pm

hey all,
'
I took Wally (3 mo old) to the vet today for a 'once over'. It was very traumatic in my opinion. They stuck cultures in his mouth and vent to take tests, they clipped his wings and toes. His nails bled alot, and he fought and screamed while they did it. I felt terrible. I started asking things like "is is supposed to hurt them? should it bleed?!?" and they assured me that the nails will bleed when they are younger... but it just seemed very barbaric. I thought the vet was very kind and knowledgeable but geeez!

Wally is already napping. He went to sleep as soon as we got home. Im sure he is totally wiped out at this point.

Is this normal or am I being a hypochondriac?

Thanks!
Jess

U.S Marine · Post by **U.S Marine** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 3:25 pm

I never took my bird to the vet.
If that is what you felt was right
then so be it.

floridamedgirl · Post by **floridamedgirl** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:05 pm

well, I took him there because I wanted to become established with an avian specialist so that if I ever ran into an emergency I would have someone to go to.

They checked him for avian chlamydia(respiratory), did a full bloodwork to test baseline stats on kindney and liver functions and did a full physical exam.. even checking his ears. I also had him weighed (123 gm) so I can better monitor weight losses and gains.

Im going to bolivia in 10 days for a surgical mission (we perform surgery for free for the residents) and Im leaving Wally alone with my hubby. In case something goes wrong, at least he has someone to go to!
US Marine- do you leave your bird fully flighted? or do you trim his wings/nails yourself? what do you do about that kind of thing?

dannywoods1 · Post by **dannywoods1** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 12:24 am

sounds like they did a great job of checking everything .... we took bluey to the vets for his wings clipping but my partner took him cos i would have been upset if bluey was getting upset .... iam a softie like that

but they didnt clip his wings properly ... he can still fly ... so we are now looking for somewhere else to take him after his molt

U.S Marine · Post by **U.S Marine** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 3:01 am

floridamedgirl wrote:well, I took him there because I wanted to become established with an avian specialist so that if I ever ran into an emergency I would have someone to go to.

They checked him for avian chlamydia(respiratory), did a full bloodwork to test baseline stats on kindney and liver functions and did a full physical exam.. even checking his ears. I also had him weighed (123 gm) so I can better monitor weight losses and gains.

Im going to bolivia in 10 days for a surgical mission (we perform surgery for free for the residents) and Im leaving Wally alone with my hubby. In case something goes wrong, at least he has someone to go to!
US Marine- do you leave your bird fully flighted? or do you trim his wings/nails yourself? what do you do about that kind of thing?

I explained this many times..lols
I had just gotten my bird before
Christmas 08, the wings were
clipped. I will let my bird have
free flight once they grow back.
It does not matter if you clip its
wing as long as you take care
of the bird and show it peace.

courtney · Post by **courtney** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:25 am

The birds nail absolutely should NOT bleed. They cut to far down on the nail. They can bleed to death from this, not to scare you. They did a good job with everything else.

Just leave your IRN be for a while. Let it de-stress. That had to be extremely tramatic.

floridamedgirl · Post by **floridamedgirl** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 4:53 pm

the vet told me that the vein in the nails is farther down when they are younger and next time he will most likely not bleed, but she told me before she even cut them that he would bleed.

Has anyone ever had thier baby's nails cut when the bird was 3 months old like mine? what was your experience?

I know usually they arent supposed to bleed... but maybe she was right about the quick being closer to the tip when they are younger?

Jess

U.S Marine · Post by **U.S Marine** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:14 pm

I never clipped my birds nails myself but if
it bleeds just put powder on it, don't worry
about it, your bird is probably loving life right
now.

cooking flower, baby powder.

julie · Post by **julie** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:14 pm

I only just take the pointy bit of when clipping nails. If you have a torch, try shining it on the feet in the dark and see if you can see how far down the kwik is in the nail, this might give you some idea about how far down it is.
Did they do anything to stop the bleeding?

floridamedgirl · Post by **floridamedgirl** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 8:47 pm

yes they had a styptic powder or something equivalent there to stop the bleeding.

She used the blood from the nails to do the blood tests and his DNA test. So at least they didnt have to prick him again to get blood.

I dont think I will take him in to get his nails done again any time soon. Ill probably just try and maintain the tips of his nails so they dont become razor sharp... but really they werent even bothering me when they were longer.

Ill start socializing him to the clippers now so that by time he is ready for a ttrim it wont be so terrible.

Jess

greeny · Post by **greeny** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 6:40 pm

They may have wanted some bleeding so as to collect the blood.

On a mature IRN, my vet can put a very tiny needle in the leg vein to get the blood, but on a baby, maybe not possible.

I cut my birds nails myself and am careful they do not bleed. If this vet makes them bleed again, I would not let her cut the nails anymore. It is not necessary that they bleed. However, maybe she was doing this so the nail trim would last longer? Anyway, the bleeding is not that great and can be avoided.

Other than that, it sounds like a good exam.

U.S Marine · Post by **U.S Marine** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 12:59 am

Its funny because they should have told floridamedgirl
about it before, if they wanted to collect the blood.