Help Wanted! Pacific Parrotlet Swollen Nostril

[AvianAmigos]

Hi parrot lovers,

My Pacific parrotlet Didi seems sick, with his nostril swollen badly. This is my first time keeping a parrot as a pet. I am not sure what happened to him 😭

Has anyone dealt with this before? Any help is greatly appreciated 🙏

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Hi parrot lovers,

My Pacific parrotlet Didi seems sick, with his nostril swollen badly. This is my first time keeping a parrot as a pet. I am not sure what happened to him 😭

Has anyone dealt with this before? Any help is greatly appreciated 🙏

I had a budgie with a similar condition. Took him to an avian vet who diagnosed an abscess/infection. He manually expressed some pus and put my budgie on antibiotics for a week. He recovered completely. Don't try to treat this yourself. Please bring him to an avian vet.

 

[AvianAmigos]

@DonnaBudgie Thank you so much for your help! Will take him to avian vet for treatment. ooc, how much did it cost you for such treatment. My parrot doesn't have any insurance.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

@DonnaBudgie Thank you so much for your help! Will take him to avian vet for treatment. ooc, how much did it cost you for such treatment. My parrot doesn't have any insurance.

I don't recall how much it cost. I'd expect to pay about $100.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I don't recall how much it cost. I'd expect to pay about $100.

Can you even buy parrot health insurance?

 

[AvianAmigos]

Looks like Nationwide is selling it: https://www.petinsurance.com/exotics/birds/

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Looks like Nationwide is selling it: https://www.petinsurance.com/exotics/birds/

Wow! What a great idea. I wonder what the fine print limitations are. I was an insurance coverage attorney for years and was basically hired to find reasons not to cover claims. Sounds harsh but I assure you I only handled commercial liability policies, not anything that affected individuals. Anyway, there are always "limitations" in every policy, like yearly maximum benefits, age limitations etc. I'd love to read the fine print on a full policy.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Wow! What a great idea. I wonder what the fine print limitations are. I was an insurance coverage attorney for years and was basically hired to find reasons not to cover claims. Sounds harsh but I assure you I only handled commercial liability policies, not anything that affected individuals. Anyway, there are always "limitations" in every policy, like yearly maximum benefits, age limitations etc. I'd love to read the fine print on a full policy.

I read the "sample" exotic animal health insurace policy and was pretty impressed by the things it covered. No preexisting conditions of course so get your bird insured as young and healthy as possible. For example, congenital conditions are not covered nor are problems related to breeding, but egg binding IS covered though you may have to deny attempting to breed them if it occurs. There are limits to how much they will pay for each covered illness or injury which may barely cover expensive problems. Lots of tests are covered as are x-rays. Well bird care visits other preventive care and dietary supplements are not covered. There may be a cost sharing involved too, meaning 100% of the charges may not be covered. Best of all, you can see ANY licensed vet. You have to submit claims yourself and get paid back it appears. I all, I thought it was pretty good and apparently the premium is about $25 a month, so you are talking at least $300 a year for coverage that doesn't pay more than about $200 for one sick or injured parrot incident so I don't know if that is really much of a cost savings unless your bird gets sick a lot. I would rather just pay my vet bills but it may make sense for some people. The link I was provided (THANK YOU!) has all the details I'm discussing here if anyone wants to examine it in more detail. I do think it's kinda cool that Nationwide even offers this kind of policy. Lots of reptiles and other small animals are also covered by the Exotics policy. I hope this information has been useful.

 

[AvianAmigos]

Thanks for summarizing it and sharing your understanding here! I'd like to check with a avian vet first before considering such insurance