How do you get them to the vet?

[wolf0994]

I finally found an avian vet in my location and found out where he works. He travels sometimes.... anyway. Now I want to take Kawie in and get him checked out but I am unsure how to take him there as this vet does not do house calls. Since Kawie will not step up onto anything and runs from my hand if I try to go below his beak I am assuming I am going to have to towel him but I have never done it before. I have a medium size pet carrier that I can put him in for the drive but I highly HIGHLY doubt he would walk in there by himself.

Looking for suggestions on how to get an unhandleable parrot to the vet

 

[Didomum]

I have two ways depending on which bird. Towel or leather gloves. If they going to get really upset getting them in the carrier I towel them so I can cover their eyes as well so they can't see it coming that way they are not so scared. With my IRN I'm training her to enter the carrier by chucking seed in she runs in to get the seed so life should be easier with her but a lot don't like the carrier.

 

[MaraWentz]

Towel them. Make sure you keep your thumb under their beak to restrain it and don't lean your hand or arm on their belly or they cannot breathe

 

[MaraWentz]

Or you can do like Didodum and sneak them into the carrier by throwing in treats or food. The best way I got all 7 of my Mommom's in their carrier was by either tricking them into the carrier with treats or placing them in with my hand BUT keep the top of the carrier off so t isnt so scary, but the door in that way you can place or sneak them in and quickly put the top on.

 

[wolf0994]

I didnt even think of the top off idea. That just might work. If I keep the room real dark. I have a few treats that he loves that might work. He is a smart boy and keeps a good eye out. So if there is enough light I suspect he'd see the top coming and get upset.

But thank you for the idea. If it doesnt work I think toweling is prob going to have to be the option. I do know they dont have a diaphragm so I cant put any pressure on their bellies. I am more concerned with him biting me, and/or just making him distrust me since I have worked so hard on earning it.

 

[MaraWentz]

Your best bet is to reach down from behind and grab around his throat and as doing so press your thumb against the bottom of his beak where it meets his neck- then towel him, I've found it quite hard to manuvuer with a towel on my hand- let alone be fast enough

 

[wolf0994]

So it worked out... We had a vet appt on saturday. I was trying to get near him with a towel but he wasn't having it. Even with my wife trying to distract him he was glaring at me the whole time and moving away from me. He ended up fluttering to the floor where I was able to have him step up without much of a problem at all. I then set him in the bird carrier and closed the top. He was trying to climb out but it wasn't a big deal. Our vet says he is a bit fat still. But thinks he will lose some now that he's on harrison's mainly. He did say that he wouldn't be surprised if Kawie starting flying once he lost weight. I guess that 16 years of human food from his previous owners packed on the lbs... lol. But he has taken to the pellets pretty well and he still gets treats like grapes, peppers, etc. Just not alot of the other junk. We did some blood work just to make sure things check out ok. If we want to DNA test his gender we can do that. I am on the fence on that one. He has been called good boy his whole life. I would hate that to turn out to be the opposite. He hasnt laid any eggs so I dunno. Though the vet said that he knew a too that didnt lay her first egg til age 40, but admitted thats rather rare. His idea behind getting the DNA test done is then if Kawie gets sick then some gender based problems might be eliminated immediately if we knew for sure. So we might get that done. He also mentioned removing the band from his leg and implanting a chip. He said there isnt as much of a problem with wild caught greys anymore so removing the band wouldnt be a big deal other than if I tried to travel overseas with him. Which I doubt that would happen. He showed us how to towel in case it was needed so thats nice. It was alot to contemplate and learn about. I am very happy we got him checked out though. He said aside from his weight and pending any bad news on the labs he looks good. We got to hold him a bunch that day in the vet's office which was AWESOME! But he was definately tired when he got home. He wanted nothing to do with food / treats / water etc. Almost for a full day. But now he's back to his old self and doing well.

 

[lene1949]

Glad the visit went well...

I have a Corella I had DNA tested as a female, and I still call him a 'good boy'... I'm sure she doesn't mind... lol