? about anesthesia

My girl is doing very well, I really cannot find a vet that specializes with my bird most exotic vets around me state they have never seen one in person. I had to change her 1st vet because we did not see eye to eye on her diet and she swore up and down all eclectus's have a blue ring around they eye. When she said that i knew she didn't know there are various types of eclectus's.

Anyway about 2 hours from me the exotic pet store i purchased my conure from referred me to a vet that deals with many exotic parrots. I was very comfortable going in he was very knowledgeable about her and offered some great tips; but then, i seem i didnt pay close attention to this 1st time form i filled out that talks about anesthesia it was amll print back of the page..anyway i have never seen a bird put under and within and instint he was holding her and on the back table was this hose, yes he put her under did her grooming. I was scared seriouslly he didnt ask me to do that, and when i questioned him he said it was normal to put a medium to large parrot under to do grooming... Okay is this true.. My conure has never been put under ever for grooming..and now i dont know if i want to continue using him even if i felt comfortable at 1st what irrrrkkkkked me was putting her under without asking and maybe i am wrong but putting her under for grooming just doesn't seem correct to me. Am i over reacting is it normal. She is not a mean bird she even loves blankies I got her used to blankets and she lays on her back , she even gives you her foot and u can clip her nails.

What kind of grooming did she need?

For wing and nail clipping there shouldn't be any need to put her under...

I have had wings nails and beaks groomed without anesthesia and by law they need a signed consent former anesthesia unless in an emergency but usually you sign paperwork then allowing them to do what ever is necessary to treat your bird

No, it's NOT normal to put a bird under for grooming, no matter what size bird, and no matter how "mean" or "aggressive" the bird may be.

All it takes is an experienced avian vet and a good assistant. The vet will gently towel the bird, hand him/her to the assistant, and then the vet can and will perform all sorts of exams and trims if needed/necessary.

Many birds will be stressed, yes, but they recover quite quickly.

Yeah, I would not like that.. especially without asking. There are a lot of risks to anesthesia and to do it for something as simple as grooming, I wouldn't approve. If you want to see this vet again I'd call him and have a talk to him about putting her under, tell him that you do not want this done in the future and if he won't do it without putting her under, maybe find someone else. =[

my vet treats and grooms my flock without any anesthesia, even the cage bound pair of Amazons. She removes them from their cage with a towel, and does whatever is necessary with the vet tech holding the bird in the towel. I would be very unhappy if my babies were anesthetized without my knowledge. Its a lesson to us all to always read the fine print.

She had wing, nails done there was no need to do any beak trim. He checked her vent , mouth. he put some type of oil on her skin not sure what type of oil I was ticked that i forgot to ask. She was a plucker so under her neck all her feathers are not back in so she tends to get a little dry even with her daily shower.

she never had her feather done because seriously i know her previous owner had a hack job done on those feathers cause she fell like a rock before so i let the feather grow some. He did a check on her to but she was sleeping the whole time.

the table is situated where he has his back to you this is how i didn't catch it instantly, because he did towel her at first I never thought nor did it come to mind that he was gonna do that, but he wasn't he put her under an put her in a bowl that had a scale on it..I almost cried i tell you when i saw her laying on the scale i could barely speak. I cannot put into words exactly how i felt i know my heart was pounding a mile a minute.

Yes the vet had a paragraph hooked to her info sheet that allowed treatment for the bird. On the back was a clause for anesthesia but it never occurred to me it was used for grooming. The vet knew i was completely upset the 65 dollar visit plus 40 for wings and nails became a 20 dollar bill total.

I am just a bit upset by the whole thing my bird is like a child to me

Trina, I understand how upset you must have been, but PLEASE don't blame yourself for anything. It's over and done with, and your girl is fine. She won't hold any grudges towards you, I promise.

I have heard it done, and a well known vet, Dr Scott McDonald (? - the traveling vet) does it all the time.


That said, I haven't had any of my birds put under unless it was for surgery. My mitred conure is missing half of his lower beak, and when I had the a-vet do his beak, he was wide awake, kicking and screaming! I was not comfortable with that experience, nor was he... (I wasn't because he wasn't) so I continue doing it alone, with no help, at home... At the vet, they wrapped him up, but at home, I have him sitting in my lap with no restraints other than my hand... otherwise, I'd be more than happy to have the a-vet do the trims every couple of months or so!

My vet never putted my birds on anesthesia ! He didn't even try to consider it even tho my bird was trying to rip his finger out while clipping toenails. If your not comfortable with it just tell him that in the future I don't want any sedating. If you don't feel comfortable then just leave him. I think I found some vets for you, you live in Nashville tn right? I saw it next to you info board.

Avian And Exotics Center of Nashville

Priest Lake vetinary Hospital

You could google these

I know of Dr. Scott and I have never had this done but might consider it for my CAG. He is extremely freaked out about everything and holds a long grudge whenever we need to take him in to get his beak and nails done.
The last time this was necessary, I had a knowledgable bird store person come by my home and towel him out of his cage (I left the room) and he was screaming his head off the entire time and even though it was pretty quick....he hid in the back part of his cage for about 4 days after. He already can't stand me...so whenever I need to take him in or get this done he regresses.

Here is a page from Dr. Scott's site.....he does bird clinics in the Midwest.

http://www.scottemcdonald.com/pdfs/Protocol Inhalation Anesthesia.pdf

I've never had this done, so I'm still learning.

I am an LVT for an avian vet and we do not use anesthesia for grooming, even on birds extremely difficult to handle. All you need is a good restrainer and a towel. Anesthesia can be dangerous for a bird because of their unique respiratory system. I would find a different vet. Don't blame yourself at all, they should have communicated this with you before thinking it was ok to do that. We have put birds under anesthesia for small procedures before for brief periods of time and they do just fine, however you always inform owners BEFORE this, and they always have the choice to decline. I'm sorry yiu had a bad experience, but like someone else said, your bird is doing well and now you have the opportunity to shop for a new vet . Best wishes!

I dont necessarily think you need to find a new vet, just insist that no anesthesia used next time, or you will be getting a new avian vet.

Your girl is fine, so no harm done this time. You just need to be so vigilant when at a vets, even if it's cats and dogs, the fine print, go over ALL the details with your vet etc.

Merlin was only ever put under anesthetic for when he was microchipped, and thus was groomed when he was still drowsy and asleep the first time. Now he's just restrained properly.

Trina said:

She had wing, nails done there was no need to do any beak trim. He checked her vent , mouth. he put some type of oil on her skin not sure what type of oil I was ticked that i forgot to ask. She was a plucker so under her neck all her feathers are not back in so she tends to get a little dry even with her daily shower.

she never had her feather done because seriously i know her previous owner had a hack job done on those feathers cause she fell like a rock before so i let the feather grow some. He did a check on her to but she was sleeping the whole time.

the table is situated where he has his back to you this is how i didn't catch it instantly, because he did towel her at first I never thought nor did it come to mind that he was gonna do that, but he wasn't he put her under an put her in a bowl that had a scale on it..I almost cried i tell you when i saw her laying on the scale i could barely speak. I cannot put into words exactly how i felt i know my heart was pounding a mile a minute.

Yes the vet had a paragraph hooked to her info sheet that allowed treatment for the bird. On the back was a clause for anesthesia but it never occurred to me it was used for grooming. The vet knew i was completely upset the 65 dollar visit plus 40 for wings and nails became a 20 dollar bill total.

I am just a bit upset by the whole thing my bird is like a child to me

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Im sorry you had this traumatizing experience. From working in many vet clinics I have seen similar issues time and again. I would suggest in the future being very assertive before you hand over your pet, regardless of the species. Veterinarians are so use to their routine, and bossing people around they forget that you are the client and you may not understand or approve of a treatment. I would strongly encourage you to call and ask to speak to the vet you saw. He will probably call you back at a time that is convenient for him. I would then explain to him exactly how you felt and why it upset you. I would make it very clear that you did NOT want your bird sedated and that you think its a violation to perform ANY procedure without first explaining every step and requesting permission. As difficult as it may be, try to do this in a calm and professional manner. I suspect that this vet is simply use to doing things his way, and will feel really bad about upsetting you. Try to remember hes a person, and he does his job because loves animals and wants to help you. His goal is to provide the best patient care and client satisfaction. He may have been taught that sedation is the safest way to do it, and he probably feels confident that its safe. If you explain that your baby is trained to allow you to clip he will likely agree to avoid sedation in the future. I imagine hes had a lot of nasty bites and probably has a lot of clients who resent the stress the birds endure during these procedures. I dont know about sedation in birds, but I would have preferred that for Mango when we went to the vet. He was so anxious despite our best efforts to keep him calm. After ward he shook like a leaf and looked so sad, I felt terrible. It took several hours for him to look like himself again, and he was terrified of hands and nervous of us for days afterward. Of course I would never sedate him if it meant risking his life just for a nail and wing clip. This vet should have spoke with you about all of this before he even touched your bird however, and you have every right to let him know you feel his methods were inappropriate.