Microchipping Macaw?

Rhage, my B&G baby, will be home at the end this month! Woo-hoo!!!!

To keep my health guarantee he has to be seen by my CAV with in 7 days for his chem/CBC, gram stain, C+S, and disease testing. I was told to wait a few days after he gets home for him to settle, because the stress from his move could up his white cell count.

I've heard of people microchipping their larger birds and have thought about it. He is banded and I will get his papers. He is being harness trained and will be clipped until his recall is perfect (though he will ALWAYS have his harness on.

However, my CAV doesn't microchip birds. Doesn't think it's necessary. So I'd have to travel a bit too see then
The only other CAV in my area that will see Macaws. Their fee for it is about $160-200.

I'm just uncertain if the pain (though this other vet sedates them slightly) and the cost are worth it if he's already banded.

I'm going to give him a few months at home before I do it, if at all. His initial visit is going to be hard enough on us both.

What do you all think? Worth it or no?

you may want to think about and research the procedure
sounds like it could be a crap shoot to me, just due to having to put the bird under. I was thinking about it but not taking the chance, leg bands are also coming off and I'm just not going to worry about it
I think anyone who wanted to steal some of these birds would need their head examined.

I wish there was more talking about microchipping birds now, as people do not know much about it and are scared of it, which is understandable. But honestly there is little to absolutely no risk or pain in doing this to even very small birds now!

The rescue I volunteer at has the local avian vet (my avian vet as well) microchip all the birds that come in, and then when they are adopted out the chip gets registered to the new owners. They have chips small enough now to do Quakers, conures, you name it. A macaw would be absolutely no big deal, and they should not have to sedate him at all! And that seems very expensive to me.

I had my Senegal parrot done last month and it cost me $80 for the whole thing. My vet used an alcohol wipe on his breast muscle, wiped the feathers back at the area, and then gave him a numbing shot of lidocaine I believe. Then he waited about 3-5 minutes for the numbing to take effect, checked to make sure it was numb, and injected the microchip, which was the size of a tiny little speck. He didn't even flinch, and he had one little drop of blood that clotted in a minute or two of pressure.

I suggest that you go on to YouTube and search "Parrot Gets Microchip", there are lots of videos of all sizes of birds getting the entire procedure done from start to finish. Seriously, a macaw would be less of a deal than having blood drawn.

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My vet, who's a very well known and excellent avian vet, strongly recommends microchipping. Last year he told us about reuniting a bird with his rightful human after YEARS of going missing, through several sales of the bird from person to person, because the original human had the bird chipped and the last person finally brought him to a vet that scanned for said chip.

I am a strong believer in Micro Chipping Mid to Larger Parrots! I have Posted several times over the last 18 months of the reasons, which ties to the legal description of Parrot's as 'Property!. Those Posts are available by using the Search button located above at the bottom of the Banner.

Of resent, I have been reading several Posts on this subject in which individuals presented their fears of the procedures based on either miss-information or not understand it. The above Post provided by EllenD provides a great description of the most common procedure used.

Based on the judgement of some CAV's, they 'may' choose to use a 'very' mild sedative, especially if the Parrot appears to be in any way upset by the visit. The price range that you provided seem high from what I have seen in my area, which are more inline with what EllenD Posted.

Since a MAC can with a good healthy diet and a flyer can easily out live dogs, by a factor of 4X. Thereby extending the useful life of the Micro Chip by the same factor, so based on useful life the 'necessary' statement falls apart. Also noting that the same CAV is also treating dogs and they push Micro Chipping dogs big time!

NOTE: Individuals that steal Parrots are commonly looking to 'flip' them quickly for money, commonly for drugs. After all, a Parrot that is between 900 to 1500 dollars in a Pet Store can be 'flipped' quickly for 100 dollars.