Should I recommend owners to do their own grooming?

[Michael]

I'm facing a moral dilemma on this topic more than ever before. It used to be much more simple. I posted videos of how I performed my own grooming but strictly recommended people to get it done by a professional. Sounds like reasonable advice considering people may not have the right tools, overcut the talons, hurt the bird, ruin their relationship, cause severe bleeding, and even death.

However, the more "professional groomers" that I have seen, the more convinced I've become that they are best avoided! I haven't taken my birds in for a store grooming in years. Not only am I concerned about disease but also don't appreciate how unnecessarily rough they are with the parrots. I can do the same with my birds in the comfort of my home, take my time, save money, do it on my own time, and most importantly not stress the parrots.

So many "professional groomers" don't sterilize any of their instruments, reuse the same filthy towels, scare the heck out of the birds, and mislead customers. They recommend grooming more often than necessary and are very pushy in favor of clipping. I'm at a point where I see no advantage to having them perform grooming at all. I used to at least buy into that "it's best someone else do it so your bird doesn't hate you." That is BS plain and simple. If you do it gently, use positive reinforcement, and keep a positive hands on relationship with your bird all the time, then there is nothing about doing it yourself that will ruin the relationship. In fact, anyone doing it any way that should ruin relationships is doing it wrong.

Now I do realize that there are plenty of people who couldn't even grab their bird let alone have the competence to trim the talons appropriately. They need a major attitude change and to work with their parrots so obviously it's a stretch for them to be able to do it themselves. However, for the good parrot owners who have a good relationship with their parrot... how can I morally recommend going to a groomer?

Would suggesting good parrot owners to do their own grooming inadvertently promote incompetent parrot owners to hurt/kill their parrots? Is the mitigation of exposure to disease/stress/hurt for some parrots actually a death sentence for others? Could I explain/demonstrate grooming thoroughly enough to ensure that people do it properly? What should I tell people when they ask where/how to groom their parrot?

[marie83]

I'm really in two minds about this. Some pet owners are just not that great when it comes to restraining etc and nail clipping is really dangerous if not done properly, other owners are absolutely brilliant with their animals though. Clipping a birds nails is really unlike clipping another animals, particuarly on the smaller species.

I've always done all my own grooming regarding nail trims but I started on cats and dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs way before I ever got a bird, even then it was self taught and touch wood I haven't had any accidents yet. It never really occured to me to get anybody to show me how it was done, it was just kind of instinctive to me.

I definitely definitely would encourage you to do some sort of article on it though, if your really struggling with morals maybe just go into nail filing rather than nail clipping? much less dangerous and may prevent clipping being needed in the first place. If you do go down the route of showing people how to clip nails then you could make a big deal of getting people practicing the actions (restraint methods, handling of individual toes, bringing nail trimmers securely right up to the feet but without actually doing anything ) so people can guage how their bird is likely to react before risking injuring the bird.

Most of my birds have never needed a nail trim but Magics we had to do as a one time thing and he was the first bird I ever trimmed the nails of but I had someone experienced holding him and I did it in teeny tiny stages so I wouldn't over cut. Rosies were grossly overgrown when we rescued her, again I had someone holding her and we had to do hers a bit at a time over a long period of time because they were curling round , Ollies grow like wildfire but I can do his without anyones help but I am still extremely cautious as all it takes is one small movement or mistake for the bird to lose it toe in a worst case scenario. I would never recommend someone to do their bird alone.


Sorry this has turned into an essay! lol.

[marie83]

Oh just to add, if I was learning how to trim a birds nails from some sort of resource rather than being shown in person I would most definitely prefer to learn from someone experienced who goes into a lot of detail doing a video and article rather than looking in a book at a brief description and one or two photos.

[terri]

I would say use commensence ,If you have trimmed other animals nails and it went well.Go ahead and try.You know which one of your birds is going to be easygoing[like on a perch lifting a foot ] to the ones that need 2 people and know enough not to if your birds [like its not going to happen].To where its to stressful on the bird.I would use that approach when recommending grooming.

[Pomlover2586]

I think if trained on proper restraint etc people can groom their own birds. But again they need to be taught how to do it properly. Grooming is dangerous if you hit a blood vessel, or traumatize the animal unnecessarily. Some people will never be able to properly groom their own birds, and those individuals should seek the help of a professional. Iago is great about being groomed, but for my own peace of mine I have him professionally groomed- and I worked at a vet clinic and learned proper restraint, grooming techniques for many species etc. I feel confident grooming other people's animals, but with my own bird I prefer a professional.