How to prepare for vet visits?

[HearSay and Ari]

Hello friends! I mentioned before ibe only been taking care of my 43 year old african grey since my dad passed. And due to this ive been researching local avian vets. Thankfully theres one two blocks away however... im worried about getting him TO the vet. For context hes an african grey, and he hasnt been to the vet... ever. I clip his nails (he seems to enjoy it for some reason? or at least okay with it, as he sings happy songs when i do them), so i haven't taken him for nails but i do want a checkup. His past owner (my dad) did... almost everything youre not supposed to do to a bird, unhealthy diet and toxic food and drink... but he looks so healthy. I really want to take him, but im worried about him attacking the vet or getting himself hurt due to freaking out. Ive been trying every other day to train him to be okay with someone touching his wings, or just holding him in general. Hes sometimes okay with it, and trusts me, but he also has bad days and doesnt want me to touch him other than stepping up on my hand. I also need to find a good carrier for him, and know i need to desentize him to it, but ive just been overthinking too much about 'what if its too small? what if he tries to fly in the carrier and hurts his wings?' so i havent bought one yet.

I rambled alot, but basically i would love any and all tips to help my bird prepare for a vet check up, being okay with touch, what carrier would best suit a congo african grey, and if i need to do anything else? Maybe a scale for birds too, since i would like to try and track his weight. Sorry for rambling again, but hope yall can help me out



p.s give ur bird a smooch on the head for me

 

[hiriki]

You said sorry for rambling--well buckle up lol here I go.

A first vet visit at 43 is quite overdue, good on you! Be prepared for bloodwork--assuming high stress levels doesn't make it impossible to draw blood safely, the vet will likely want to get a baseline blood panel in his file.

Regarding the safety of the vet tech: you're very considerate to worry about this! Exotics, especially parrots, are bitey little creatures. If the vet tech is bitten by your bird, I guarantee it won't be their first bite OR their last. But, they know how to restrain birds to minimize the risk of bites.

Regarding handling: the vet will likely towel him. I would say a negligible minority of pet birds have been trained to tolerate being held in the way that a vet needs to hold a bird. There is a great flocktalk video on it on Youtube but it only covers veterinary restraint for small birds who can fit in one hand, which your CAG presumably cannot (lol)... this is the video if you're curious:

At the end of the day, for a vet tech to be safe handling a large parrot like a CAG, they have to hold them around the neck as well as fully restrain their wings, and I wasn't able to find any yt videos that went over how to train a large bird like that to tolerate this kind of handling with bare hands. So a towel will be your friend. You can desensitize him to the towel--bring it near him, see if he's scared of it, let him see it and touch it and chew it, try putting it on his back... always stopping if he's showing any signs of being uncomfortable, and giving him his favorite treat every time he lets you touch him with the towel. You'll work towards gently picking him up in the towel. To avoid injury, make sure that when you get to the point of actually picking him up that you're fully restraining his wings... if he gets nervous and struggles suddenly, you don't want him to get his wing all twisted up in the towel and hurt. I think that's your best bet, I would be surprised if you reach that point before your exam date though and I think it's worth the discomfort to bring him in even if he's not fully comfortable with toweling yet.

The benefit of the towel is that the bird will learn to associate uncomfortable handling with the towel, not with bare hands. For that reason, even if the vet & vet techs at your exam are comfortable doing the vet restraint without a towel, it might be a good idea to bring an appropriately sized towel and request that they use it if it seems like they're not going to use a towel of their own. Since you're going to a new vet, of course you don't know what to expect, and I've been to plenty of CAVs who seem to think towels are for losers (lol).

Regarding carriers: I use cat carriers for my flock. They're all smaller than a CAG, but they do sell quite large cat carriers intended either for very large cats, multiple cats, or small dogs. I would 100% recommend hard shell carriers over fabric/soft carriers, and if you find one that's tall enough, your bird will appreciate if you take the time to drill a hole in the side to add a perch for them to sit on. You can find parrot carriers in stores and on Amazon with perches already in them, but the ones sold in stores are cockatiel/conure sized, and the ones sold on Amazon are--as far as I can tell--also cockatiel/conure sized but with macaws shopped into the picture... lmao.

This one might be a good size? I'm not sure it would be tall enough. You might be better off going to a brick and mortar pet store so you can see the sizes with your eyes rather than trying to visualize your bird in them just by looking at pictures.

Regarding weight monitoring: a kitchen scale with a T-perch would work well. Or you could get an all-in-one option. It's hard to find T-perches/training perches for birds as big as African Greys because again for whatever reason Amazon sellers insist on shopping macaws into pictures of products that are cockatiel sized at best but it's not impossible.

 

[wrench13]

Cheaper version of the cat carrier
Carrier $29.71

If the vet is only blocks away, size is not a big issue. This one is fine.

 

[HearSay and Ari]

You said sorry for rambling--well buckle up lol here I go.

A first vet visit at 43 is quite overdue, good on you! Be prepared for bloodwork--assuming high stress levels doesn't make it impossible to draw blood safely, the vet will likely want to get a baseline blood panel in his file.

Regarding the safety of the vet tech: you're very considerate to worry about this! Exotics, especially parrots, are bitey little creatures. If the vet tech is bitten by your bird, I guarantee it won't be their first bite OR their last. But, they know how to restrain birds to minimize the risk of bites.

Regarding handling: the vet will likely towel him. I would say a negligible minority of pet birds have been trained to tolerate being held in the way that a vet needs to hold a bird. There is a great flocktalk video on it on Youtube but it only covers veterinary restraint for small birds who can fit in one hand, which your CAG presumably cannot (lol)... this is the video if you're curious:

At the end of the day, for a vet tech to be safe handling a large parrot like a CAG, they have to hold them around the neck as well as fully restrain their wings, and I wasn't able to find any yt videos that went over how to train a large bird like that to tolerate this kind of handling with bare hands. So a towel will be your friend. You can desensitize him to the towel--bring it near him, see if he's scared of it, let him see it and touch it and chew it, try putting it on his back... always stopping if he's showing any signs of being uncomfortable, and giving him his favorite treat every time he lets you touch him with the towel. You'll work towards gently picking him up in the towel. To avoid injury, make sure that when you get to the point of actually picking him up that you're fully restraining his wings... if he gets nervous and struggles suddenly, you don't want him to get his wing all twisted up in the towel and hurt. I think that's your best bet, I would be surprised if you reach that point before your exam date though and I think it's worth the discomfort to bring him in even if he's not fully comfortable with toweling yet.

The benefit of the towel is that the bird will learn to associate uncomfortable handling with the towel, not with bare hands. For that reason, even if the vet & vet techs at your exam are comfortable doing the vet restraint without a towel, it might be a good idea to bring an appropriately sized towel and request that they use it if it seems like they're not going to use a towel of their own. Since you're going to a new vet, of course you don't know what to expect, and I've been to plenty of CAVs who seem to think towels are for losers (lol).

Regarding carriers: I use cat carriers for my flock. They're all smaller than a CAG, but they do sell quite large cat carriers intended either for very large cats, multiple cats, or small dogs. I would 100% recommend hard shell carriers over fabric/soft carriers, and if you find one that's tall enough, your bird will appreciate if you take the time to drill a hole in the side to add a perch for them to sit on. You can find parrot carriers in stores and on Amazon with perches already in them, but the ones sold in stores are cockatiel/conure sized, and the ones sold on Amazon are--as far as I can tell--also cockatiel/conure sized but with macaws shopped into the picture... lmao.

This one might be a good size? I'm not sure it would be tall enough. You might be better off going to a brick and mortar pet store so you can see the sizes with your eyes rather than trying to visualize your bird in them just by looking at pictures.

Regarding weight monitoring: a kitchen scale with a T-perch would work well. Or you could get an all-in-one option. It's hard to find T-perches/training perches for birds as big as African Greys because again for whatever reason Amazon sellers insist on shopping macaws into pictures of products that are cockatiel sized at best but it's not impossible.

Thank you so much!! ! And ive notice amazon sellers always photoshopping macaws too lol!