Read About Yearly Bird Veterinary Visits

Yearly bird veterinary visits are important to ensure the health of your pet bird. Because birds often don’t display signs of illness or infestation by parasites until the effects are quite serious, yearly bird veterinary visits allow your avian vet to perform a series of tests to be sure your pet is healthy. Yearly bird veterinary visits are also a good opportunity for you to discuss with your vet any questions or concerns you may have about your pet bird. Your vet will usually begin the yearly bird veterinary visit by observing the bird and how he reacts to his environment. Some birds are very curious about their new surroundings and others are more apprehensive. Your vet will watch for any abnormal reactions as he or she begins the physical exam. The physical examination of the bird will begin with the vet recording the bird’s weight and discussing any recent weight changes with you. The doctor will then look at the bird from the top of his beak to the feathers of his tail and everything in between. The vet will check your bird’s eyes and ears, as well as looking in his mouth and checking his beak and cere. The vet will feel your bird’s entire body, checking the condition of his /library/bird-care-wellness/bird-skin-care/signs-of-bird-skin-problems and feathers, and check his respiratory rate. Since birds are very adept at hiding physical signs of illness, the physical exam is only one part of your yearly bird veterinary visits. It is important that the vet do a serious of tests on the bird as well, to detect any possible problems with your bird’s health. Most avian vets recommend the following tests during yearly bird veterinary visits: • Complete Blood Count (CBC) • Blood chemistry profile • Gram’s Stain • Testing for beak and feather disease (if this has not been done previously) The CBC will tell the vet the counts and conditions of the various cells of the blood. An elevated white cell count, for example, can indicate an infection. A low hematocrit count can be a sign of anemia. Neither of these may be obvious during a physical exam, but could be very detrimental to your bird’s health. A blood chemistry profile is a series of tests that check things such as the glucose, calcium, uric acid, and protein levels in your birds. Again, variances in these levels can indicate problems that are not readily visible to you or your vet. Finally, a Gram’s Stain will be done, using choanal and cloacal swabs that are dyed with a special stain and checked under a microscope for the types and number of bacteria present. Your vet will let you know if your bird needs any vaccinations or booster shots as part of his yearly bird veterinary visits. If you wish to have your vet trim your birds nails or beak, or clip his wings, a yearly bird veterinary visits is a good time for this as well. Yearly bird veterinary visits are important in maintaining the health and welfare of your pet bird, and helping him live a long and healthy life.