Vet trip tomorrow

[marie83]

Ok I'm taking both Ollie my brave little conure and Harlie my semi tame nervous wreck (cockatiel) to the vets tomorrow. One will be transported in a modified cat carrier and the other in an old budgie cage. Last time I put Ollie in the budgie cage with a towell over the top but if I'm honest being unable to see out seemed to stress him out so I took the towell off. He is quite comfortable being in the budgie cage and I've also fed him a few meals in the cat carrier last week to get him used to it. He seems quite happy in either but clings to the front door on the cat carrier to try to see whats going on.

Harlie on the other hand is going to get majorly stressed which ever carrier I put her in. I'm just wondering what everyone else thinks, would she be better off in the cat carrier and not being able to see as much, or in the budgie cage where she can see whats around her. Either way she's going to have a panic and flap about, I'm just wondering which people thought would be best. I think I've already made up my mind which way round to have them but second opinions from other people are always good.

[Michael]

Honestly, the day before the vet trip is too late to be thinking about this. It's important to develop good travel behavior way before it is necessary. Kind of irrelevant at this point but I suggest after this vet trip working on carrier time a lot more. It's similar to cage taming. Bring the parrot near, give treat. Put parrot on top, give treat. Put parrot inside for a second, back out, give treat. Put parrot inside, give treat, take parrot out. Feed parrot meal inside. Take parrot out in carrier on trips and such.

In the short term probably keeping it covered is best because they calm down and usually go to sleep when its dark. It will go by quicker. But it's your fault for not preparing the birds for this ahead of time so that it wouldn't be stressful when it needs to be done.

[marie83]

Not really, Ollie is well prepared. Its Harlie who is the problem because she's severly scarred from her past. You cannot push a bird beyond the point it is ready for and it's taken me over 5 years to get her to the point she is at now. Every single bird is different and all need to take things at their own pace, I've had birds like her before and none of them have taken anywhere near this length of time to tame and trust but I've known other people who use the same methods I do whos rescues have taken even longer to calm down so I don't believe it is my fault. The budgie cage has been outside her cage since I've had her, its only the cat carrier which is new to my birds and thats because my other cage broke a few weeks back if you remember my post enquiring about the kings cage. She's only recently started coming out of her main cage despite years of leaving the door open, and walking away, using food to lure her etc. The only thing I could have done differently is by using flooding methods which I completely disagree with.

Just incase your wondering my methods of taming are pretty much exactly the same as yours, the only difference is most of my birds have been rescued from abusive homes, not just neglectful homes.

[Michael]

Ok. I understand. This does of course make it a lot harder. But carrier preparations are essential. I think I should stress it more in the future. It's not just fun and games for taking them outside, most parrots will need to be taken to a vet or groomer in their lifetime. So denying them the practice and throwing them straight into a carrier and major trauma isn't right. I end up taking it for granted that parrots just go into the carrier cause I have been traveling with mine since I got them. This is obviously the best way cause it's just a part of their lifestyle and they don't question it.

Yet, if your bird is tame, you should still be able to get it to go in the carrier if not willingly, at least without fear. It shouldn't be so bad that it is flapping around and getting hurt. That is as abusive as employing flooding. Basically it is flooding. Flooding with the carrier.

BTW, don't think that leaving something in sight of the parrot all its life makes it feel ok going into it or touching it. In fact it works the other way. Stuff that parrots are used to seeing only but never touching they seem most phobic of when you change it on them. They get used to being on the outside of the carrier so they can't imagine being in it, etc.

You can and should use systematic desensitization as I described above. Here's another article I did about taming my parrots to their Kings Cage when I just got it:

http://trainedparrot.com/Travel_Cage

It's not just you. I get this a lot. Where people decide to ask for advice the day before going to the vet or on a trip about how to get their parrot in the carrier. Clearly it's not enough time at that point, especially for a 10 year old parrot that has never been in a carrier. This is a long term skill that must be developed. Teaching wave and turn around are cute but this is a place where training is absolutely mandatory (unless they don't care and just go in). The amount of stress you cause in the short term does come back to you because you put the parrot in there in the first place. This is why I always recommend practicing toweling, grabbing, handling, carrier, harness, etc throughout the year so when it becomes necessary, the bad experience is the exception and not the rule. On the other hand, for a parrot that never goes in a carrier but then does when it has to got to the vet only has bad things to remember it by!

With a phobic rehomed parrot it's even more important to take these steps slowly in the long term rather than all at once. Do your best to make the vet visit less stressful but when you're done with it, let's chat about how to reconcile and make this tolerable for the parrot in the long run.

[marie83]

yea been trying to do things slowly thats why things have got to this point, like I say shes only just started having the confidence to come out her cage at all. The budgie cage was progressively moved closer. I did put much more priority on everything else first. First things I needed to get in the same room as her without her freaking out, get her used to daily routines, gradually sitting closer and closer to her. Sitting outside the cage talking to her, getting her to accept my gentle movements outside the cage, getting her to take seed from my hands through the bars, getting her to take them through the open door, getting her out of her cage onto the perch outside. Introducing smaller, less terrifying objects to her. Currently working on getting her to step onto my hand, all the time gradually moving that cage nearer and nearer too.
It has been a case of prioritizing getting her tame and the other stuff can wait til later when I was more in a position to work with her, of course time passes so so quickly especially as she wasn't the only bird I was working on taming for quite some time, just happens she's the most damaged from her experiences and I haven't realised the time these progressions take I've been so intent on taming them. That said carrier preparations ARE important and they have always taken the same/second priority depending on how the initial taming is going. I just don't like pushing too much onto a bird in one go and in Harlies case everything was completely overwhelming for her.

Obviously yes we are now in a position where the middle and last part of her carrier training is unfortunately going to be flooding her tomorrow which isn't what I wanted but as scatty as she is hasn't left me with a huge amount of choice other than forcing her out of her cage before she was ready in order to do the carrier training which is why I was asking for another opinion on making her more comfortable. I had already decided on the cat carrier as it will be darker and easier to pad the floor with a thick towel to prevent her hurting herself. I'm also waiting for the vet to finish his surgery to see if we can delay taking her to give me additional time on training, it may be just seeing Ollie will be fine for now. I wasn't asking for anyone to tell me how to train her to go in the carrier the night beforehand, I already know how to train her to it in the same way I did the others (although you obviously don't know that) which I had planned on doing as soon as she's tame enough to work with. Just not had the opportunity