The Vet Check, Testing, and Regular Check-ups

(Boarding Requirement for Health at TTBC)

Short picture-article:  Bobby getting a well bird visit with Dr. Anna Osofsky here.

     There aren’t very many qualified avian veterinarians, but if you can find one, you’re very lucky indeed.  There are many veterinarians who have some professional avian training and they can either have lots… or almost no… experience with birds.  Be a good pet owner:  Ask questions about your vet’s experience, not only with birds, but experience with the type of bird that you own.

     Take your bird for a first visit, get the suggested wellness testing done if you can, and in that way your veterinarian can determine a baseline for your bird’s normal health.  Then, if your birdie gets sick, your vet will have a history on your bird and that a good place to start in basing an effective treatment for your bird’s illness.  Be sure to ask about the cost of the visit, including the tests and follow-up visits in advance.  There may be things that are nice to do, but not critical at this time.   Perhaps you can afford to do everything possible.  That would be great, but perhaps you can only afford to do what is basically necessary.

     In addition to a physical examination of ears, eyes, nares, and vent, your veterinarian will examine your bird for healthy weight, feathering, and skin condition.  The veterinarian will likely take some tests to verify wellness and to determine what is normal for your bird.    These tests might include a “droppings” exam (poop) to see if it appears normal.  Your vet might also take a culture swab from the bird’s bottom (vent) and another from the bird’s mouth.  These swabs can be sent to a laboratory to test for any viruses or infections that might be lurking in these warm, damp places.   Your vet may draw blood from your bird to send in to test for various diseases and to determine the chemical makeup of the blood.  The veterinarian can also have the blood DNA tested to determine your birds’ sex. 

   ~Vaccinations are rare for birds, but in certain cases they are recommended.  Ask your veterinarian.~

     If your bird needs nails, beak, or wings groomed, your veterinarian can handily take care of these needs, or you can get normal grooming done at Tree Top Bird Center. 

     Ask your veterinarian lots of questions.  If they love birds, they love to teach their patient’s families the best ways to take care of birds.

    While testing at the vet’s office is reassuring, your pet bird could become exposed to a virus or contract an infection any time after the veterinarian visit.   So, keep in mind that a battery of tests once a year does not insure your bird against disease.   It’s important to keep your bird in a clean environment that also prevents cross-contamination with wild or untested birds.  Keep water and food bowls feces-free and the cage environment as sanitary as possible.  Quarantine any new birds from your flock and use proper procedures to avoid cross-contamination until the tests on your new birds come back disease-free.  

     We recommend that you visit your veterinarian and get a well-bird check-up and disease testing every year.  Disease testing is a requirement (every 12 months) if you are going to board your bird at Tree Top Bird center.

     Many people have multiple birds and while we wish all of them would always go to the veterinarian every year, this does not always happen.  There is another method that can provide some assurance that your bird’s environment is disease-free.  You can test your bird’s environment for lurking contamination.  An environmental test kit with swabs and instructions can be purchased from the Tree Top Bird Center.  You can swab the environment of your bird(s) per included instructions, send in the test kit, and receive results back in the mail indicating a safe or unsafe environment.    For more information, please see the test kit product details.  (We are in the process of refining this package, so please call the store for details for now.)

     At Tree Top Bird Center we have a boarding room where we keep many birds during customer's weekends, holidays, and vacations.  We sanitize our cages and all things that come into contact with your bird.  Therefore, the greatest risk for health problems arises from the possibility of airborne contaminants.  While we have a hospital grade air purifier sufficient to cover a room much larger than our boarding room, we still have to be very VERY careful.  We require boarding birds to have a passing, or disease-free, test every 12 months before they are allowed to stay with us.   (Link Here for boarding your bird.)

There are (three) ways to accomplish the passing test:

1. A certificate from a veterinarian must be provided to TTBC showing a disease-free bird.  The certificate must be dated within the past 12 months.  
   
2. Bring a fresh sample of your bird's poo to the store and we will send it away for testing.
   
3. The only other allowable passing test is a passing environmental test where the customer has followed the steps to take the proper swabs samples, sent them into the lab, and the results are shown to be disease-free.  We require viewing the original documents showing your bird is disease-free and would like a photocopy to be put into your bird’s file.  (We are still in the process of getting this method refined and available to our customers.)
   

     Again, we at Tree Top Bird Center recommend that bird owners take their birds to a qualified veterinarian for a wellness visit and obtain the recommended bird testing and exam. 

     Please email info@treetopbird.com for more information on your situation with regard to bird(s) testing before boarding your bird with us.

     All of our birds are “somebody’s baby” and we want to do all we can to make sure they have a safe and healthy stay with us.