Need to Rant

[spiritbird]

My avian vet just went out of business with no notice whatsoever. He will be hard to replace.  Grrrrrrr

[Mare]

That's a good rant, Dianne! I live over an hour away from my Certified Avian Vet but there is a vet in my town (closer) that is a known vet that takes on birds. I haven't used him for my birds but he's an excellent animal doctor..in an emergency where I couldn't get to the Avian vet, I would go local.

Hmmm...at the moment, , I don't have any rant to speak of but believe me!...I have some!!

[kendrafitz]

Oh no!! I'm sorry to hear that! I hope you find a good replacement soon.

[spiritbird]

It turns out this is a rumor. Last night I was even checking the obits because this vet is older than most. He is just too good a vet to leave all of his patients in a lurch. I called the office today and the secretary answered. Business as usual. I was told they were closed by a member of another forum who goes to this vet. She actually took her bird to a different vet thinking he was no longer in business.

[Mr Peepers]

Wow, good thing you called and got the good news this avian is still in business and all is okay.

I use to live in Kingston Nova Scotia and the nearest avian was 200 miles away in Halifax. This is really distressing when you have a sick bird and you know a couple of hours in the car racing to get to the city is never good for the bird. The local vet in Kingston couldn't tell me if my budgie was a hen or cock so there was no way I would think of taking a sick bird there. :(

[spiritbird]

I wonder why there are so few vets that want to work with birds. Birds are medically complicated but so can other animals be that way.
It is scary for sure to drive a long distance with a sick bird and also be alone with this bird.

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[Casper's 2nd best friend]

I wonder how much business they lost because of that rumour?
Our local avian vets has two birdie specialists but do all other creatures as well. As well as dogs and cats a lot of people seem to take their exotic pets there, we can quite often be in the waiting room with (for instance) baby chameleons or a racoon (probably the only pet one in the UK).

[Cedardave]

I think there are so few avian vets because by the time most people see symptoms of illness in their birds, theres usually little that can be done to save them.A surprising number of people think of birds the same way they would think of a goldfish.....why would you need to take to a vet.

[Mr Peepers]

I think there are so few avian vets because by the time most people see symptoms of illness in their birds, theres usually little that can be done to save them.A surprising number of people think of birds the same way they would think of a goldfish.....why would you need to take to a vet.


I think you are right about that, I've seen this happen so many times. Someone with a bird has a bird that has been off or showing its ill for weeks and the owner does nothing. "It's okay, they are cheap I can buy another one."

This makes me rage. :mad-new:

[spiritbird]

Since I am home all the time I observe my birds and cat closely. I would know right away if one of them was "off" and make a vet appointment.
Of course there are those people that are lucky enough to be still working out of the home and may not notice.

[Mare]

I'm glad to hear your vet is still going strong, Dianne! I have an opinion on why there aren't more avian vets available. Before I LIVED with parrots, I had no clue as to what amazing, intuitive creatures they really are. I had heard they are very intelligent but never got to experience it first hand.

When my son was attending UCDavis, he roomed with a friend/girl, one year above him and she was applying to the vet program, got accepted, moved in with her boyfriend who had an African Grey. She had never been exposed to birds before this. After a year with this bird and boyfriend, my son tells me she is definitely going to get the Avian Certification. Sooo..just maybe, could be a reason we don't see more vets that are certified for birds.

[wingman]

I'm counting my blessings there is a bird doctor about 3 mins from my house!

[spiritbird]

That is a blessing. Good to have you posting again.

[Mare]

New rant...ok, we have several gardens that take hours to water and thanks to Tim (hubs), all by hand and all by hose, I get more and more and more pissed every minute I'm standing there watching water come out of this hose when we could easily have a drip system set up. Tim agrees to disagree with me and I think it is just his nature but I spoke with our son today..one of the kids that will be taking care with our place when we leave for two weeks..and Noah agrees with me, we need a watering system. He will help implement it this week :). end of rant

[spiritbird]

I agree. Hand watering is for small gardens or pots that are close to the source off water. I hope for your sake it gets done.