Take Birdie to Vet on the Way Home?

[BirdbrainJan]

Hi all!

Today's the day I go pick up my bird, hooray!

This may be a stupid question, but I'm still trying to figure out the logistics. Would it be a good idea to take the GCC to the vet on the way home, so we just get all the stressful things out of the way in one go? Or should I wait a week or so, get him a little bit tamed and accustomed to the carrier, and make a separate trip out to the vet? I'm thinking that sooner is better, but is there a greater chance he might pick something up from the clinic in his stressed-out birdie state?

[Rue]

I think it's probably a case of 6 of one, a half-dozen of the other...

But if it were me...and I was at all worried about the health of the bird, I'd go to the vet on the way home.

If I was quite confident the bird was healthy (ie. came from a healthy closed flock) I would skip the vet until it was necessary.

[BirdbrainJan]

Thanks for the quick response Rue.

He looks like a pretty healthy little bird, but I think I will go then, just to be sure.

[Rue]

No problem! Let us know how it goes! Looking forward to pics!

[notscaredtodance]

rue, what do you mean skip until the vet is necessary? each bird has a little bit different chemical makeup, so you will still need to do a first time, and hopefully annual/biannual vet visit, that way the vet can have something to go by if the bird does get sick later. he can know what her normal levels of blood chemistry are and bacteria cultures, that way if she gets sick, it is easier to diagnose.


i'd say yes on getting stressful things out of the way first.

[BirdbrainJan]

The vet clinic finally called me back, to say that they don't have an appointment until the 30th. I'll head down and bring him home today, but that gives us two weeks to work on carrier acclimatisation. I definitely do want him to have a healthy baseline visit to go off of.

Should I try to get a more social-type car ride in before the vet appointment, so he doesn't have a scary association with the carrier right off the bat?

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Yay!!! Congratulations on your new bird!

I wish I had more time to take Scooter around socially, but I haven't yet. I don't think the vet visit freaked him out -- we went a couple weeks after we'd brought him home.

[BirdbrainJan]

Thanks! I'm going in about ten minutes to pick him up...just getting his carrier ready!

My parents live in the same town as I do, so I'm thinking that would be an excellent social visit for him, once he's used to me and my house. I have a clamshell style carrier too (saw the carrier discussion up under General) and figured it would be much easier to work with than trying to shove a bird in through a front door!

[Rue]

rue, what do you mean skip until the vet is necessary? each bird has a little bit different chemical makeup, so you will still need to do a first time, and hopefully annual/biannual vet visit, that way the vet can have something to go by if the bird does get sick later. he can know what her normal levels of blood chemistry are and bacteria cultures, that way if she gets sick, it is easier to diagnose.


....

I don't want to get into a debate...and I always advocate vet help when needed, or even when in doubt...but as a rule I'm not an advocate of 'well-pet' checks...

For the record, I have experience, so this isn't an uninformed opinion on my part.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

...but as a rule I'm not an advocate of 'well-pet' checks...

Why not?