Yesterday afternoon I took Banner for his "well-bird" checkup. I've done this before with past birds, but was still nervous that he'd be traumatized. I also went to a different avian vet than I usually go to - a newer facility that wasn't around the last time I had a bird. They were highly recommended, so I figured I'd give them a shot, as I was never really thrilled with the last vet (it was fine, but I just disliked the personality of the Dr., even though the care was always adequate). I feel very lucky to have options when it comes to an avian vet.
I loaded Banner up into his travel cage and off we went. We arrived at the vet slightly early, I filled out some paperwork and we were put in a room. Banner stepped up onto the scale like a champ. He was down a few grams from when we brought him home, but as that was expected, they weren't worried about it. We were asked a bunch of questions by the (very nice) vet tech - what are we feeding him, what kind of cage do we have, do we have other birds, etc. She left and we sat and waited for the Doctor. After what seemed like forever, the vet came in. He was very nice - a younger guy. He went over the answers that I had given the tech and then went on to do the exam. He had Banner step up and then dimmed the lights and gently toweled him. I'd never thought of dimming the lights, but it really did seem to ease the stress - he didn't see the towel coming, the lights just came on and he was in the towel. The vet looked into his eyes with a light, checked out his ears, crop, wings, and feet. He said that Banner looks great! The only other thing that they did was a fecal exam, which came up clean.
I did ask the vet what his thoughts were re: Yellow Crown vs Yellow Nape. The vet told me Yellow Crown, so that is what I'm going with. He also told me not to be so sure about gender one way or another, even though 3 employees at the Golden Cockatoo told me they thought he was a boy. So, I guess there's a real chance that Banner could be a Bannerette. We'll know one way or the other hopefully by Friday.
Anyway, I was pleased with the experience. After the vet was done with the physical exam, he gently un-toweled Banner on the floor - once he was out of the towel and standing on the ground, the vet said "Will you let me rescue you from the floor?" and Banner stepped right up for him, no hard feelings. I was mainly worried Banner would be set-back after being groped and toweled, but he was really no worse for the wear. I think it was harder for me to watch him be examined than it was for him.
The best part about the experience - on the way home in the car, Banner busted out laughing. I'd never heard it before and it scared the crap out of me. We were sitting at a red light and out of nowhere - "HA HA HA! HA HA!"
I practically jumped out of my seat.
Here are some photos that I took yesterday/this morning. Thanks for reading!
I loaded Banner up into his travel cage and off we went. We arrived at the vet slightly early, I filled out some paperwork and we were put in a room. Banner stepped up onto the scale like a champ. He was down a few grams from when we brought him home, but as that was expected, they weren't worried about it. We were asked a bunch of questions by the (very nice) vet tech - what are we feeding him, what kind of cage do we have, do we have other birds, etc. She left and we sat and waited for the Doctor. After what seemed like forever, the vet came in. He was very nice - a younger guy. He went over the answers that I had given the tech and then went on to do the exam. He had Banner step up and then dimmed the lights and gently toweled him. I'd never thought of dimming the lights, but it really did seem to ease the stress - he didn't see the towel coming, the lights just came on and he was in the towel. The vet looked into his eyes with a light, checked out his ears, crop, wings, and feet. He said that Banner looks great! The only other thing that they did was a fecal exam, which came up clean.
I did ask the vet what his thoughts were re: Yellow Crown vs Yellow Nape. The vet told me Yellow Crown, so that is what I'm going with. He also told me not to be so sure about gender one way or another, even though 3 employees at the Golden Cockatoo told me they thought he was a boy. So, I guess there's a real chance that Banner could be a Bannerette. We'll know one way or the other hopefully by Friday.
Anyway, I was pleased with the experience. After the vet was done with the physical exam, he gently un-toweled Banner on the floor - once he was out of the towel and standing on the ground, the vet said "Will you let me rescue you from the floor?" and Banner stepped right up for him, no hard feelings. I was mainly worried Banner would be set-back after being groped and toweled, but he was really no worse for the wear. I think it was harder for me to watch him be examined than it was for him.
The best part about the experience - on the way home in the car, Banner busted out laughing. I'd never heard it before and it scared the crap out of me. We were sitting at a red light and out of nowhere - "HA HA HA! HA HA!"
I practically jumped out of my seat.
Here are some photos that I took yesterday/this morning. Thanks for reading!
