Tell me about your Avian vet situation!

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I've scheduled a well bird visit for Scooter. The vet was recommended by a good bird-oriented shop that is local, and is highly reviewed on the web for what that's worth. She is not board certified in avian medicine, but has a large number of avian patients and is considered an exotic specialist. She has done surgeries and has bird-appropriate equipment in the office. However, she is on in 3 days a week. For emergencies we will have to rely on other local vets or the local emergency clinic which is an all-animal off- hour emergency room -- this vet is sometimes there to cover for birds, but they don't always have an avian specialist in. Or we could drive elsewhere for a top-class avian-certified vet, but given traffic conditions in the LA area, it could be impossible to get THERE in an emergency either. On a good day it is less than an hour, but on a bad day it has taken us 4 hours to get to that part of town, my late MIL lived there. But I digress....

Is this typical? I would have thought the Los Angeles area it would be a slam dunk to find a good bird vet, and an off hours emergency clinic, but it doesn't seem to be the case.

[Michael]

Damn few bird vets in NYC too. I think there are two major factors:

1) Parrots are less popular than cats/dogs and less $$ value for avian vets. Also a lot of bird owners don't take their birds to vets. They seem to just leave them in the cage like fish in a tank.

2) Parrots get sick less and usually if they do get sick they die. They have a stronger and better immune system if they are doing well and less likely to get sick but unfortunately if they do there is little that can be done for them. Also parrots are usually in containment at someone's house so there is less exposure to other birds for them to catch diseases from.

[pchela]

It seems that there are only a handful of true Avian vets in the U.S. to begin with so that makes it difficult to find one. It would be lucky to find a regular vet who at least has some Avian training. I'm extremely fortunate that a well known Avian Specialist, Dr. Scott Echols, is moving back to Austin to reopen his practice here. I'm excited that my birds will have an actual Avian Specialist to go to soon. Barbara Heidenreich also lives here in Austin. I wonder if I could somehow get an internship with her. She's an excellent avian behaviorist.

[Suzzique]

I'm in San Diego and we have 3 avian vets total. There is one or two that will see your bird but will then refure you to one of the 3. I am really lucky that my vet happens to be about 10 maybe 15 minutes away (if traffic is really bad). While I'm sure he sees cats and dogs as well he mostly deals with birds and other exotics. It also happens to be a pet emergency.

[MissLady9902]

I take my guys to St. Louis to an avian vet there. It's about a two hour drive each way.
I take them there for their yearly checkups. If there was an emergency there's a local vet that I've heard does well with birds but he's not avian certified and I don't like the vet clinic. The employees are kind of rude and it's always hectic and crowded in the office.
The vet in St. Louis is Dr Kirsting. I think that's how it's spelled anyway.
It's almost time for Noodles yearly check-up!

[MandyG]

My Avian vet is 3 hours away. There is another vet that specializes in exotics that is very good and is only an hour away but he's not a certified Avian vet. The one that's an hour away would be where I'd go if there was ever an emergency and we weren't able to drive the 3 hours to the avian vet. The avian vet that's further away is where Mojo will get his first wellness exam this spring. Yeah, he's coming up on 2 years old, he should have had one already I know... Better late than never though

[oknuma]

OUr avian vets in NZ are all at Massey University in Palmerston North/ wellington ( about an 8 hour drive from here)

We use an exotic vet who is about 45 mins from home instead

[lzver]

I was actually surprised that there was only one avian vet in Guelph, ON considering Guelph University is the only Veterinary school in ontario (i think anyways). But I have since learnt that the university has a small animal clinic and they have an avian vet on staff as well.

Both birds have been to the regular clinic with the avian vet that is about 10 minutes from home and I was pretty impressed with her. She handled both Jessie and Lucy with ease and definitely knew how to handle birds. It was basically just an intro visit for me to check her out, so she just checked them over and said they both looked like they were in great health. At least we're registered patients there if I ever have to get them in in a hurry.

I keep the regular and emergency after hours numbers posted on the fridge ... just pray that I never have to use them in an emergency.

Laura

[MandyG]

I'm meeting with the exotic vet in May (appointment for the dogs) so I'm going to ask them about their 'wellness' avian program when I'm there. On their website it just says that even our avian friends need regular/annual care and they will check the bird's wings/beak/nails to see if they need grooming and they'll provide grooming. If that really is all they do then I will have to go to the avian vet 3 hours away. They offer the full physical exam/vet consult, weight check and nutritional consult, plus about a dozen other lab tests.

[phutch]

While I do have a BCAV, I also have the good fortune of having a vet although not BC'd he does know birds and does attend all avian conferences so I feel very comfortable taking by birds to him in an absolute emergency. My BCAV is 2 hours away.

You could always contact a BCAV's office and see if they could refer you to someone that has handled birds before in the event you need a vet right now.