First Vet Visit Experience

[ZenDragon]

Hello everyone!

This is a long post so prepare to read!

I went to an avian vet today with my "new" green cheeks Koda and Boo.

I found the vet on the Association of Avian Veterinarians website. I thought he would be a great vet right? Wrong.

When my fiance and I pulled up to the animal clinic, it looked pretty shady. It was located on a corner in south Philadelphia.

We waited about 20-25 minutes for the vet to get ready to check our birds, and he wasn't even busy.

He asked us what we fed the birds. I told him pellets, fruits and veggies. They LOVE orange juice!

He told us to feed them a healthy diet. In my mind, I was thinking "the parrots' diets are VERY healthy". He gave us some samples of Nutri-berries from Lafaber. I don't feed my birds seeds much though.

He examed them. My birds almost had heart attacks from getting their wings clipped. He and his assistant (with LOTS of piercings on her face, not very professional) were VERY rough with my parrots. She didn't do a very good job with clipping their wings because their sides are not even and there were sharp edges. The assistant clipped REALLY fast and carelessly. The birds were so traumatized and their wings looked rather untidy.

They used black light to try to find parasites. My birds live inside, in our room and the cage is cleaned daily so I DOUBT that they didn't have parasites. I let him check anyway ...

He got stool samples to figure whether the birds are healthy.

He took their weight. 82 grams for Boo (3 years old), and 79 grams from Koda (11 months old). Are their weights within normal range? He didn't tell me.

I guess he examed them very well, but I expected better handling and information from him.

The birds turned out very healthy. Of course!

----

I NEARLY had a heart attack when I got the bill.

The regular examination fee for each bird is 30 dollars. 60 dollars for both. That's fine with me.

However, the assistant told me that the total was 140 dollars!

I asked for a receipt and it said:

Fecal Exam for Parasites : $20
Examination Avian X2: $60
Avian Grain Stain: $35
Wing Clip X2: 24

Total - 139.00

:x

Note: It also took almost half an hour for them to print out my parrots' health certificates and the receipt.

----.

I had to ask my fiance for 70 dollars, which he received for Christmas. He wanted to save it to buy something for himself (a Playstation 2, which he has been wanting for months). He said it was alright because this was for the birds.

I nearly had a heart attack because I didn't expect to pay that much!

I felt like I was scammed.

He didn't tell me that any of that fecal examination, wing clipping etc were EXTRA! He just went ahead and had his assistant to perform them.

I WILL NEVER EVER GO BACK TO HIM AGAIN!

For the quality and price, I don't think it was worth 140 dollars. AT ALL.

I've been upset ever since this morning.

I want to go and get my money back. Does anyone recommend this?

How would you go about doing it?

---

Thank you for listening. And please, I want to hear your thoughts and comments whatever they will be.[/b]

[Graehstone]

Welcome to the world of Parrot ownership. When I first got Ruby, my Congo African Grey, I took her to the Vet to get a thorough check up. I had other things checked and done to her than you did but never the less, here is a list and cost of what I had to pay;

O.S.H.A. - medical waste fee $3.00
Damaged feather removal $71.00
Anesthesia - Sevoflurane (1 hr) $226.00
Exotic Blood OH Chlamydia DNA $71.00
Express mail Handling Charge $16.00
Avian Blood test $116.00
Culture/Sensitivity $107.00
Polyomavirus $69.00
Blood test - PBFD virus $71.00
Microchip "Home again" $51.50
Exotic BiopsyHistopath "mini" $143.00
Surgical biopsy - tissue (avian) $54.50
Boarding (one night) $15.50
Ward care $13.00
Tender Loving Care! $0.00
Miscellaneous $75.00
Total estimated charge $1102.50

But as to the handling of your birds, I think you might want to look around and find yourself another Vet.
I am sorry to hear that they had a bad time at the first Vet visit. I hope you find a better one, just because they have themselves listed as Avian certified doesn't mean squat. I shall see if some other members here or other boards I belong to can recommend a good Vet for you in the Philly area.

[Monica]

Green cheeks usually weigh 60-80 grams so I'd say that your two little babies are a good weight!

I had a similar experience with a vet in my area... He is said to be the best, and so far, I have no complaints, cept for the extra costs... I was told that a general check-up was $32 (sounds pretty cheap, though this guy is said to be the best in Northern Nevada). The vet checked my new tiels eyes, his ears, his nose (had to clean out one nostril), checked his flight feathers (said he had a good clip that I did myself), checked his mouth... All seemed fine. The total cost however was $40 some dollars, though I had in the least bit expected it, so I had extra cash on me to begin with...

I hope you do find a better a-vet though! One that you feel comfortable with! Good luck!

[BirdzRmylife]

As Greah said...welcome to the world of birding. The only thing I think you got gyped on was the wing clip...$24$ Yeesh I get my birds wings clipped for free lol. If thats the price your paying for a wing clip I'd recommend learning how to cut them by yourself.

JMHO,

[Candice]

That seems very cheap for your first vet visit with these birds. Our first vet visit for Gillian was around $400. This included all blood work to be used in the future if she is ill so that they have it to compare to, to see what is wrong.
I don't think you were scammed at all the. The charges seem normal to me.. you even got away very easy for the first visit if you ask me. We spend that amount each time we take one of our pets to the vet.
When you find a vet you are more comfortable with you might want to get the blood work done. :D

[The Outlaw]

A standard well-bird check with a good avian vet on the east coast is anywhere from $200-$300 depending on how far YOU want to go. That's why I constantly preach "Build a Better Bird!". I'd rather buy the freshest foods, keep very clean cages and play gyms and shower them every few days to prevent disease and to inspect for problems. Learn to clip nails and wings and you'll rarely have to visit your vet.

Just because you dog's visit may only set you back $50, that has NOTHING to do with a bird. By the way, that's one of the reasons so many smaller birds like keets and tiels don't see old age. It rarely costs less to treat a small bird than it does to treat a large parrot. Often the cost of vetting far exceeds the value of the bird.

THE OUTLAW

[Regina U.]

I think the vet visit was pretty inexpensive compared to what mine cost around $300.00 for the first visit with all of the bloodwork, etc. What really concerns me is the way your birds were treated. I wouldn't ever go back there. A bad wing clip can really cause the bird some pain and trama. My Bubba was clipped really bad when we got him. He has never learned to fly real well because the clip was so bad. He used to pull out his flight feathers when they started to grow in, because he thought they shouldn't be there. With alot of time and healing and training, he is now letting them grow in. He flies better, but not the greatest. I am so mad at the people who clipped him when he was a baby.

My suggestion when looking for a vet is get some feed-back from people who have seen vets in your area. I know a good vet in Central New Jersey, but that would be about an hour and a half or so away from you. I know from a friend, Lisa, that the Animal Medical Center in New York is great, but that is about 2 hours away I think from Philadelphia. I think there may be an Avian Vet in South Jersey?

If you go on the Long Island Parrot Society Web site, they may have a list of Avian Vets.... not sure if they go as far as Philie, but it's worth a try....

I don't know if you can ask for your money back... but I wouldn't go there again, if they didn't have the loving care for your bird.

My vet is so concerned about the birds. If they have an emergencey and you have to wait they are always apologizing and asking for your patience. They put us in a room away from all the noise, so the birds won't get upset. He always spends time with them talking and playing alittle so they get comfortable before they start any exam. I love our vet.

[LMPego]

You didn't get gypped on the money, only the exam. If I remember correctly, any vet can become a member of the AAV by paying their dues. I found our first vet through their website, too, and although I believe she's probably a very capable vet, she did not have the knowledge of parrots that I would expect from someone calling themselves an avian vet. The good news is that she gave Zen a very thorough exam and told me a lot of things I didn't know about taking care of my first bird, but then they injured Zen's foot when they took off her band and she wanted to amputate the foot. Thank God I decided to get a second opinion. We now see Dr. Sakas and love him and Zen still has both her feet!

What I did when we changed vets was to write a letter to the first vet explaining that I felt my bird needed to be seen by someone who had more experience with birds. She was really nice and called me to see how Zen was after we saw the other vet.

[Vega]

For Gypsy's first vet visit it was somewhere around $200. The exam alone was $45! But I expected that because I once worked for the vet...however I felt that he had lost his "personal" touch with the owners...either that or he just expected me to understand and/or trust him. But I like to be INFORMED, even with things I "should" know. So even though he was very gentle with her, I wasn't completely comfortable.

I agree with the others that you should look into other avian vets in the area. I ended up switching to another vet that I feel MUCH more comfortable with. I heard about her from a co-workers wife. Word of mouth is great and if you trust the person doing the reccomendation...Yes, there are long wait times at her office, but it's because she's taking the time to explain things to each owner rather than rushing them through the visit and out the door. To me the wait is worth it.

Ona side note: I had to take her in on an emergency visit with the first vet. I thought she had swallowed a piece of vinyl shower curtain (she wasn't eating right and wasn't have the same volume of droppings). That visit ran me around $300 to be told the barium was moving very slowly, but so far they hadn't seen anything...so just watch her through the night and if there's any more problems call in the morning. Just be sure to set aside an emergency fund...you never know what will pop up and with birds we don't have the time to spare to wait on the next paycheck.

[Stacey32]

Now i'm worried that bindy didn't have a full check up! her visit only cost 102$.

They did do a blood test. Does anyone know of a past post that lists what tests recommended each year?