After vet mistrust

[Lumi]

I took Lumi to the vet. Getting her in brand new carrier was not fun and she tried very hard not to go in. She rode in it all the way to vet 30 minutes with minimal discomfort. When we got to vet and waited in room I took her out and she got on my shoulder. She drank water and ate some food. When vet came in she stayed on my shoulder and was friendly. She had to go back in carrier. I asked vet to show me how they would towel her and she showed me to put her back in. She now disliked when i dried my hands with a towel. She went off with vets in carrier. She was retoweled to remove metal band with pliers. They also ran wellness tests/weight etc. and drew blood from jugular vein. When they tried to socialize with her after she avoided them in corner and looked towards wall, very quiet. She did end up going on the vets shoulder that did initial intake with her and I. On drive home she was sleepy. I unzipped carrier and she stayed on the perch for a few minutes. She stepped up try #3. She went on shoulder and drank water and ate and preened. She spoke a little. Once home she went on perch to continue eating and drinking. She is now only interacting with me if 100% necessary such as bringing her to bed and even then she didnt want to step up anymore. I gave her a treat to get her to step up. When I would leave room she wouldnt call to see where I was or initiate communication with me. Did I lose her trust? I also am going on a one week vacation for first time starting this Saturday. She will stay with my boyfriend who sees her every day and she likes well. Will she become weary of me upon my return and possibly not rebond?
Pictures: 5 minutes into carrier. 5 minutes into vet visit. 5 minutes after vet visit.

 

[Lumi]

Could this behavior be how my bird displays being stressed and or lethargic?

 

[zERo]

Welcome to the forums!

Sometimes our birds may respond this way to things like this.
My conure Tom was quite subdued after his vet visit last month but was acting himself in the morning.

She may be apprehensive to interact because she thinks she might be going back to that scary unfamiliar place.
I would avoid showing her a towel.

Feed her treats and, if you don’t already, you could begin target training her.

You may have to rebuild your relationship back up to where it was previously with her, it may take some time.
Parrots are great at holding grudges!

Keep us updated!

 

[Cottonoid]

She's just so darn cute!

I have two parrots. With one of them, any time I have to get him into a carrier means he runs away from me for weeks until he trusts I won't touch him again. My other parrot, a Quaker, is a bit younger and so far he's back to normal the next day.

If you do feel trust has been eroded a bit, I agree that going back to training basics is a great place to start building it back up.

 

[clark_conure]

The bird will rebound fine. mine always do.

but word of advice....

1) let the vet always get the bird from the carrier. So they bird doesn't get/feel betrayed by you. Leave the parrot in the carrier for the vet to get.

2) the vet is a vet and has to do things with a towel....it's how it's done so they don't killed by a dinosaur.

3) A birdie burrito to weigh them on scale or examine them doesn't hurt them.

4) Trust your AVN vet... they probably have had more birds than you before.

5) bird was sleepy because tired from fighting......it's fine.

6) try to schedual the earilest apointment possible so the lights are still out and you can get the bird in the carrier before it even knows whats going on. If you can get a 7 or 8 am appt. and reach in and get them before they are really active it saves a ton of effort.

Anyways my 2 cents.

I reccomend a checkup every 6 months. I do even though prices have risen.

 

[Lumi]

She is beginning to step up on me again and is interacting with me quite a bit more. I leave on a week vacation that initially I was going to take her on but now I can’t this also worries me. I hope she will be OK with all this it is a lot at once.

 

[Chenetaqwa]

I took Lumi to the vet. Getting her in brand new carrier was not fun and she tried very hard not to go in. She rode in it all the way to vet 30 minutes with minimal discomfort. When we got to vet and waited in room I took her out and she got on my shoulder. She drank water and ate some food. When vet came in she stayed on my shoulder and was friendly. She had to go back in carrier. I asked vet to show me how they would towel her and she showed me to put her back in. She now disliked when i dried my hands with a towel. She went off with vets in carrier. She was retoweled to remove metal band with pliers. They also ran wellness tests/weight etc. and drew blood from jugular vein. When they tried to socialize with her after she avoided them in corner and looked towards wall, very quiet. She did end up going on the vets shoulder that did initial intake with her and I. On drive home she was sleepy. I unzipped carrier and she stayed on the perch for a few minutes. She stepped up try #3. She went on shoulder and drank water and ate and preened. She spoke a little. Once home she went on perch to continue eating and drinking. She is now only interacting with me if 100% necessary such as bringing her to bed and even then she didnt want to step up anymore. I gave her a treat to get her to step up. When I would leave room she wouldnt call to see where I was or initiate communication with me. Did I lose her trust? I also am going on a one week vacation for first time starting this Saturday. She will stay with my boyfriend who sees her every day and she likes well. Will she become weary of me upon my return and possibly not rebond?
Pictures: 5 minutes into carrier. 5 minutes into vet visit. 5 minutes after vet visit.

I kinda use my travel cages as a temporary cage to keep my conures out of trouble while I clean their main cages ...the male didn't like being put into the travel cage at first but after putting him in and then taking him out a few times he got the idea that it was OK...now he goes in with no problem....try something along those lines so your bird doesn't see the travel cage as a bad place

 

[SailBoat]

May want to but together a list of do's and don'ts regarding a Vet visit!

The Travel Cage should be just a commonly used 'travel' cage. Getting you baby into that travel cage should be a problem of keeping her away for it as if you work to use the cage for general out and about and, going places and, especially having fun and, getting treats.

As stated above, let the Vet do the bad things and you need to be seen as the savior come to save her from that mean, bad Vet!

Traveling to and from should be; we are out and about, having fun! Seeing and getting into the cage and 'then' into the car should be joy time!

The Vet and Staff are use to being the bad folks and want you to be the hero!

Try doing this with a 500 gram DYHA that has a sizable weapon on his face and knows how to use it! Our Julio loves to travel and knows that the travel cage is the gateway to the SUV and "Going for a Ride!"

When the travel cage is connected with only going to the Vet, life will become ever more difficult to place your parrot in the cage!