First trip to vet

within the next few days i am going to schedule my first vet appointment with our new amazon. Our bird has nothing wrong right now, but I want to just have a general health checkup, because the previous owners never had taken him to a vet. I have been referred to a certain av vet by a local breeder/store owner in the metro detroit area. I was sort of wondering what to expect. How much should a normal introductary health checkup cost? About how long should it take. What is she going to do(drawblood etc???). Things that vets try to push on customers that they might not necessarily need? or any other general info or unique experiences anyone has had will be useful.

also a question of ettiquite (sp?), i live in michgian and it is probably going to be colder outside... normally if i have to bring a bird outside and into a warm car i will simply put him inside my jacket against my chest. lol would a vet see this as ok? i cant think of a better way to keep a bird warm if i need to bring him somewhere.

thanks for any help!

You need a carrier to take bird to vet. Warm car first and should be ok. My 1st vet visit which was a well visit to establish a baseline was $60 and that included an examination of the droppings. It was worth it for the good advise I received. Good luck.

yeah your right i should have a carrier. lol. im just so use to always having him on my shoulder and bringing him places like that.

thanks, 60 bucks isn't bad... anyone else get charged significantly more for checkups?

$60 is a very good deal. I'd expect to pay more depending upon what you have done. If you just get a physical exam and a stool sample test then this would be about right, but your vet will likely recommend blood work - this can be much more expensive. Should you have it done? That's up to you, it can be expensive but to get a full check up for a clean bill of health to put you at ease it's well worth it if you can afford it.

A thorough exam with all the tests and checks could cost several hundred dollars. Its up to you to determine what you want. The affordable physical is a good way to start, then depending on the results you can decide from there. If he is healthy overall and the physical doesn't turn up any questions your vet may say that should be sufficient, but other vets might still recommend a full work up.

Just ask for reasons - few vets would LIE to get you to spend more, though they may recommend top treatment as its not their money being spent. If after the physical the vet says you should do blood work as a routine test then you can choose for yourself, on the other hand if they notice odd breathing sounds, or if something is odd in the stool these would be better reasons to invest more in a detailed check up.

Anyhow... I suppose there is no right answer. Most vets will encourage you to do more tests than you need, not out of greed but because they simply see more tests as better without realizing the costs. Very few vets would actually lie to get you to do more tests though - so just ask why they recommend a test then decide if it seems like it's justified.

You are right AG. Some vets charge way too much money for a visit. I did research and called the doc for fees prior to the visit. Since there were no outward signs of any issues we decided not to to do bloodwork.

Well, just wanted to say that the first vet appointment went good. nothing wrong with luka. She charged me 45 for the general lookover, and said that if i wanted bloodwork done they do a comprehensive test for 95ish. I decided to hold off on bloodwork, because i think the breeder that i know told me that he sends his blood to the same lab, and it would only cost me like 50ish.

If you're unsure about traveling, you might try looking to see if there's a mobile vet in your area.
Neither my wife, or I can drive so this worked out best for us. He verified that other than her plucking, Zoey is basicly a healthy grey, & gave us ideas to distract her frrom plucking(hard plastic, wood, & homemade cardboard chew toys), PetSmart is a good place for most parrot toys.

Hi Graydad Plucking is a very complex issue for a grey. I first look at the diet and environment. Does anyone smoke in you home? Is your bird on pellets? And yes, lots of stimulating toys they can preen or demolish are helpful. Stress plays a role too. Not the bird stress but the human stress factors can be felt by the bird. Hope it clears up for you.

Hi Spiritm in Zoey's case her plucking was triggered by a singular incident @ age 10mo. Our manager ordered a new new unit for our AC/heating, in the process of installing it, there was a lot of LOUD pounding that stressed my poor young grey into her plucking habit. Nowadays, if there might be a similar situation, we make sure her cage is covered & she seems to be able to handle it, but she is still a plucker overall. The image of her in my avatar is from one of her calmer times.

AW sorry to hear it was a trauma that started the plucking. I do not know how the collars work but have a hard time imagining a bird wearing one of those things. Mabye in time the bird will settle down. Grey's are so much fun aren't they? My Rosie is a 7 month old Timneh now and has not said her first word yet. It will be music to my ears when she does.