Multiple Naps

[poysdaddy]

Hello all,
I am a newcomer to this forum and I had some questions. Well, first of all let me give some background on my little Poy.

Poy is a 2 1/2 year old green Pacific Parrotlet who is full flighted and escaped this past thursday. After an agressive search he was found on Sunday, four days after he went missing. He only spent one night in the wilderness as he was found by someone on Friday.

He has been back for about 30 hours now and has been napping a lot with his beak in his back feathers. He is not acting normal in this sense. Can anyone please give me suggestions as far as whether you think it is normal for him to nap this much due to the escape and reunion? Do you think the stress has caused him to be susceptible to a disease or sickness? BTW, he is eating normally and preening himself. When he is fully awake he perches on me happily.

I will be consulting an avian vet in the morning and hopefully can make an appointment for him to see one tomorrow as well.

[KDK241]

The stress from being gone could make illness more likely but it's also possible that he is just really tired. He probably didn't sleep as well being outside and in a strage house so the poor little guy is tuckered out. I'm happy you got him back!

[bethn]

Sounds like he may be very tired and stressed. I am so glad you got him back. Please keep us posted on how he is doing.

[poysdaddy]

He seems to be getting back to normal, but I will make an appointment with an avian vet tomorrow asap. There are three within close distance to me. Does anyone know what DVM stands for? Two of the Drs. have this next to their names but one doesn't.

[poysdaddy]

Sorry for the double post, but I found out that DVM stands for Dr. of Veterinary Medicine. Now, would it be more beneficial to go to the DVM over the other avian vet that is not a DVM? Does it make a difference?

[Chief's Mom]

Glad to hear that he's back! If he's a Certified Vet (avian or otherwise), he has to be a DVM. Some people don't always use their intials. In my opinion, the one that is specialized in avian medicine is the one to go to. If all three are and you have no personal recommendations or past experience with any of them, then I'd go with the closest one or the one that can get you in the soonest.

[poysdaddy]

Does anyone know about how much it will cost to get him checked? I've never taken him to a vet before and don't know what it will cost. I have no steady income at the moment, but will get him checked out no matter what.

[poysdaddy]

Ok sorry for the double post but I got the answer to my previous question about the cost of the checkup.

My next question is, if I choose to have bloodwork done on him, will it be too much stress for him to handle given the situation he was in? Should I request that bloodwork not be done? What do you all think? He's a small bird, only about 28 grams last time i weighed him and I'm just afraid to stress him more.

[DarwinTheSun]

That is something that your avian vet can assess once you guys are there. If he is your only bird, then your vet might want you to wait to get a blood panel done (because there would be no risk to other birds), and his blood molecules might be off anyway due to the high stress. But if he is not your only bird, then I bet your vet will want to do one. Either way, they will be able to tell you. And a good vet will have no problem taking blood, I was amazed at how fast and painless my vet did it.

But I will reiterate from a previous poster, it is important that you go to a cartified avian vet (not just a "normal" vet). This is a person that graduated vet school and then did 4 more years of vet school for birds on top!

[poysdaddy]

well, thanks for the response! I will let everyone know how it went after we get back tomorrow...er uh today...im up pretty late and our appointment with the avian specialist is in about 11 hours. He seems like hes back to his old self squeaking when I leave him and hopping around all over his cage, but I still need to take him to get checked out.