Grr... vet rip off!

[sunnyshine]

The boys have needed their nails trimmed for a while. Their avian vet and the place where we got Sunny trims them for free but they're also about an hour away. I called a local vet to see if we could bring them in just to get their nails trimmed. Today was their appointment and let's just say I was a little less than impressed. We were brought into the room in their carriers and about 20 minutes latter the vet finally came. She first asked if Skittles is a lorikeet and minutes later asked if we know for sure Sunny is a "he" .She held Sunny for about a minute, and did not even touch Skittles. She had me take him out and hold him just so she could see him. She then asked basic questions (names, what they eat, where their cages are, that's about it). Then she took them back to trim their nails. A few minutes later a technician came out and said the vet said to let us know that the tips of their nails may be yellow because they are going to bleed. Then a minute later she brought them out all finished and we went up to pay.... get this....
$180!!! To cut their nails! She said that it was so much because the doctor did an "exam" on the birds. What?!! I told them her having me hold them while she just glanced at them is NOT an exam. She didn't weigh them or anything! No touching whatsoever except when Sunny was perched on her arm for a second. The technician who was ringing us up was very nice about it and said we should have been told ahead of time. Long story short (little late for that, huh?) she took the $65 off for each bird's "exams" and we ended up paying a total of $50 ($25 each) for them to get their nails trimmed. Much better than $180! We won't be going back there again.

[TinaInWonderland]

OMG! That is ridiculous! I've actually had surgery on my dogs that costed less that than nail trim! At least they reduced it a little after you complained, but DANG.

But congratulations on finding a situation where it actually would have been cheaper to drive somewhere else an hour away! LOL

[xafsmom]

The first time a vet called a Sun a lorikeet, I would have thanked them and packed my birds up and left. *shivers*

[cherriesanglea]

i dont know about the pet stores there but here where i live if you will bring them in they will cut them for free!! Just to get you to look at the stuff in the store!!
Thats really crazy i just took both of my birds in for their visits and they had every blood and fecal test ran known to man and it was only 257 and that included nail, wing, and beck trim!!! but he also did me a discount cuz i brought 2 birds to him with in a month (plus i think he felt bad both went in as girls and came out males lmao!!)

[guest1717171]

yick
i hate it when they gouge you like that
i was looking for a pain management doctor here and the first one i went to did NOT perform any kind of exam
he just asked me maybe 3 questions, did not care to see my records from my old pain management doctor
then he started talking about putting me back on percosets and the fentanyl patch
i was like UHM NO
it was creepy
i left and refused to pay

[red192]

omg! How can they get away with that! WTH? My birdie vet charges me $10 a bird and I don't mind paying that cos she is the one getting bit not me! LOL

[mmr]

First,
Any vet knows to not trim their nails to the point of bleeding! That would have been clue # 2 after the first clue she identified your bird's breed wrong.

Deffinetly don't ever go back there. Your fids toes might be a little tender. Especially if she made them all bleed. Just an fyi

[Halo]

You are all making me jealous... LOL

We have to drive at least two hours to get to a vet in the first place. We have no local pet stores or anyone that can trim nails. And the vets we have called want the same thing... $50 for the first bird's vet visit then $35 each additional bird plus and extra $15-30 per nail trim (depending on size of bird) and then another $20-30 for beak trim, depending on bird size.

Trust me... we have LOTS of those perches that do it themselves LOL.

[Lessadalinar]

GEEZ! I would have complained too.

It's things like that, that birds aren't taken to the vet nearly as often as they should. $.
If you had taken them in because your bird was sick, what would your bill have been?? 1000.00?? That vet is nuts!

[loubear]

I have started trimming my birds nails and wings myself the first few times I went to the vet and they taught me how to do it properly and how to have my husband hold the bird properly so I could do so without any accidents. There is a book called parrots for dummies out their and it does show the proper technique for trimming wings and nails. I think you need to also go online and try to find a certified avian vet in your area and ask a lot of questions so your birds will be safe if they happen to actually get sick. What a shame that vet had such poor avian training and you had to suffer for it.