Starwing
Member
I finally got to make an appointment with an avian vet last week, which is
something I wanted to do for a long time! She had us come over today, so
Kobus went on quite a trip today!
We tucked him/her (we'll know in a couple of days :09
in a traveling cage,
and off we went!
The avian vet was very friendly (maybe Kobus does not agree with that...)
and very knowledgeable. I thought I knew my
could make quite some
noise, but I will never forget what I have heard today! When the vet took
Kobus to check her feathers, face and nails, she screamed like a banshee!
Luckily for Kobus (and us) she was very quick but firm about it, and Kobus
was good to go after only a minute or two.
She told us Kobus looked great, had nice feathers, but could use some
more regular bathtimes, and her beak, nails, eyes and mouth were all
looking good. Her stool sample was also very clean and good looking,
and also brought no surprises under the microscope.
The doctor also took some blood so the lab could test the DNA for his/her gender, and also for PBFD, although she did tell us that with her young age, strong virility and good plumage, my wish to have a test was probably a little redundant, but she understood my determination to do so.
She did however tell me that she wouldn't test for Polyoma, because with her age, if she ever *did* have it, it won't be a problem anymore, and adult birds very rarely contract the disease and get ill from it at all.
Finally, Kobus was also weighed, and turned out to be quite a big bird weighing 430 grams / roughly a pound (lb) (or 15.2 ounces?) and might grow a little bigger even yet!
I also got to ask some questions I had prepared before going, so I asked some stuff about her diet and she advised me to stop giving her vitamin A supplements in her water, and to start adding palmoil (?) throug her pellets. She seems to enjoy it when I first gave it to her, and the smell is quite nice too!
She explained to me that although the risk of a vitamin A overdose in birds is very rare, some birds tend to eat more than others, and palmoil contains carrotene that the liver turns INTO vitamin A only when necessary. If not, the body will just dispose of it without having to be expelled through the liver.
Like she said, the chances of having a vitamin overdose are extremely slim, but as an added risk, most vitamin supplements for water contain other vitamins as well, and whereas vitamin A loses its value after mere hours, vitamin C and B remain in the water, and make perfect soils for all kinds of spores and microbes. Nevertheless, she told me it was really easy to mix with pellets so I'm going to try that for a while now!
All in all, we're back home and Kobus is sleeping on her homemade pirateship as we speak, she's exhausted!
I am very happy to have gone on this trip, and although I tend to get very anxious if I have to take my bird on a roadtrip, I'm so very glad and relieved to hear that an actual avian vet that has now seen (and heard!) him/her in the flesh thinks he/she's a lively, feisty big little bird with lots of fighting spirit in it!
I'm more or less convinced the PBFD test will return negative, but ofcourse I'll let you know if I'm going to refer to Kobus as a "him" or a "her" from that point on!
StarWing out!
something I wanted to do for a long time! She had us come over today, so
Kobus went on quite a trip today!
We tucked him/her (we'll know in a couple of days :09
in a traveling cage,and off we went!
The avian vet was very friendly (maybe Kobus does not agree with that...)
and very knowledgeable. I thought I knew my
could make quite somenoise, but I will never forget what I have heard today! When the vet took
Kobus to check her feathers, face and nails, she screamed like a banshee!
Luckily for Kobus (and us) she was very quick but firm about it, and Kobus
was good to go after only a minute or two.
She told us Kobus looked great, had nice feathers, but could use some
more regular bathtimes, and her beak, nails, eyes and mouth were all
looking good. Her stool sample was also very clean and good looking,
and also brought no surprises under the microscope.
The doctor also took some blood so the lab could test the DNA for his/her gender, and also for PBFD, although she did tell us that with her young age, strong virility and good plumage, my wish to have a test was probably a little redundant, but she understood my determination to do so.
She did however tell me that she wouldn't test for Polyoma, because with her age, if she ever *did* have it, it won't be a problem anymore, and adult birds very rarely contract the disease and get ill from it at all.
Finally, Kobus was also weighed, and turned out to be quite a big bird weighing 430 grams / roughly a pound (lb) (or 15.2 ounces?) and might grow a little bigger even yet!
I also got to ask some questions I had prepared before going, so I asked some stuff about her diet and she advised me to stop giving her vitamin A supplements in her water, and to start adding palmoil (?) throug her pellets. She seems to enjoy it when I first gave it to her, and the smell is quite nice too!
She explained to me that although the risk of a vitamin A overdose in birds is very rare, some birds tend to eat more than others, and palmoil contains carrotene that the liver turns INTO vitamin A only when necessary. If not, the body will just dispose of it without having to be expelled through the liver.
Like she said, the chances of having a vitamin overdose are extremely slim, but as an added risk, most vitamin supplements for water contain other vitamins as well, and whereas vitamin A loses its value after mere hours, vitamin C and B remain in the water, and make perfect soils for all kinds of spores and microbes. Nevertheless, she told me it was really easy to mix with pellets so I'm going to try that for a while now!
All in all, we're back home and Kobus is sleeping on her homemade pirateship as we speak, she's exhausted!
I am very happy to have gone on this trip, and although I tend to get very anxious if I have to take my bird on a roadtrip, I'm so very glad and relieved to hear that an actual avian vet that has now seen (and heard!
) him/her in the flesh thinks he/she's a lively, feisty big little bird with lots of fighting spirit in it!I'm more or less convinced the PBFD test will return negative, but ofcourse I'll let you know if I'm going to refer to Kobus as a "him" or a "her" from that point on!
StarWing out!
