Well, I came back from taking Custard and Jimmi to the vets a little while ago, but I might as well not have bothered going!

 

I've been trying to find an avian vet for about a week as I think Custard's got scaley face (see my post with pictures in the Health Q and T section), and finally today, I thought I'd found one. I rang this particular surgery up and asked them if any of the vets dealt with budgies and they said yes, I was really pleased so I made an appointment. I got there, waited about 45 minutes to see the vet and when I finally went in, she said, 'Budgies, how lovely, we don't see many of them!' She had a look at Custard through the bars of the carry cage.

 

The converation then went along the lines of,

 

Vet: 'I'm not really a bird person, but I'd say it was just hormonal,'

 

Me: 'What makes you say that?'

 

She doesn't answer. The vet disappears from the room for ten minutes and reappears with a very large book, which she's obviously been looking through.

 

Vet: 'If it was mites, she'd have little holes in her beak as well as the flakiness.'

 

Me: 'But she has.'

 

Vet: 'Has she? Right. Oh, well I suppose we should take some scrapings from her then. You'll have to bring her back tomorrow though, she's taken up too much time now.'

 

She also thought my birds looked like they were going to mate soon, even though she admitted she didn't really know how to sex a bird very well. When I looked surpised, she looked at her book again.

 

Vet : 'Well that bit there is a cere. That's blueish, so that means he's a boy.'

 

Both Jimmi and Custard have light blue ceres with almost white bits around the nares. I had to explain to her that not all girls have brown ceres. I didn't realise this until recently, but I'm pretty sure now that I have two girls, especially since that's the conclusion everyone came to on this site (Check out my posts in My flock and the genetics and mutations what am I section to see pictures).

 

She told me to take Custard back tomorrow for a beak scraping, but I don't think I'll be taking my little girl anywhere near that surgery again. Why on earth did they tell me she knew about birds, when she clearly knew sweet ***** adams about anything vaguely feathery? I was mightily annoyed.

 

I think I've found a 'proper' avian vet though, so i'll phone them first thing in the morning to get somebody a little better informed look at her.

Thats terrible!!! I hope your new vet is a bit better!! hope custard gets well soon!

Oh my gosh!!! I can't believe how patient you were with them! :yelling:

and how much did they charge you for this insightful visit...

 

I hope custard gets the proper treatment she deserves and is better soon.

wow me too I think I would have been telling her off as soon as I saw the book. With my vet he might as a few question and get the history of the reson I'm there but quick smart he ha the bird in his hand and checking them all over.

 

Fingers crossed this other one is better, If not I would get some stuff for scaly mites at a pet shop to treat with. Not the best but better than nothing.

Urgh! That's shocking, i wouldn't have paid....you could've looked in a book for yourself! Even the non-bird vet that i've been to a couple of times at least gets the budgie out of the cage and checks it over.

Well Nerwen and Bea, that's another reason I was annoyed. She didn't even take Custard out of her carry cage to look at her. I was going to ask her to do a quick nail trim, and possibly clip her wings if it would make her easier to catch and treat at home, but she didn't even want to touch her to examine her. As you can imagine, I decided against asking her.

 

Grrr...

 

Thankfully, she seemed to realise her own inadequacies and decided to make the consultation free of charge.

Edited March 15, 200619 yr by Janette

Well i guess that's something. Still, why say they can deal with birds when they really can't?!

OMG how horrible

Your guess is as good as mine Bea. If they did it purely for the money from the consultation, there would at least be some logic in it. Without that, it just seems like a collossal waste of everyone's time.

 

Plus, I hate to think of the added stress my girl would have been under if i did take her back to that vet for a beak scraping from someone so obviously inexperienced with birds. If she didn't know how to hold her properly, all sorts of things could go wrong. It doesn't even bear thinking about.

 

I feel like I'm being a bit over-dramatic, but it does worry me that other people might not know to question the vet in these kinds of situations, or seek a more expert opinion.

 

There aren't many people (apart from my fiance) who realise how important my birds are to me and how attached I am to them, so they don't understand why I got so angry over this. It's always good to have a rant to people who are interested. I'm glad I found these forums. Thanks everyone.

Edited March 15, 200619 yr by Janette

Similar thing happened once when I took a rat to the vet! Apart from the fact that the vet was obviously terrified of my poor Zena, a lovely girl, she looked it up in a book! I knew more about rats than her! What a waste of time.

I really feel for you!!! when i took my 3 last week for the same thing, i was told it was "hormonal" and was advised to bring them back next monday for my proper vet (on vacation) to double check them! But at least they took them out, weighed them and checked/scraped the cere!

 

im sorry!

I met my current avian vet almost 13 years ago. I had taken one of my budgies to my vet for ( I can't even remember what was the problem now) and she took a look at the bird, patted me on the back, said "no charge my dear" and referred me to one of her former classmates, said to tell her who had referred her and said, "watch her laugh, she knows I am hopeless with birds". So obviously vets just get "basic" bird training in their schooling and choose to take additional training in other venues that interest them. I guess it is always best to phone ahead and check out one's credentials, heck we can always look in a book ourselves!

Don't worry your aloud to be worried and nasty they're your babies!

that's awful , especially since you phoned ahead and they told you that they do look after birds.

at least you didn't have to pay , but still ........:dbb1:

l hope you find a good avian vet for your babies.

So obviously vets just get "basic" bird training in their schooling and choose to take additional training in other venues that interest them

That's It Phoebe,t eh vet have to extra studies for bird and reptiles (they are done together) other than that it's just basic stuff and many will not see a bird years in between.

 

I'm glad to hear she didn't charge you for that, When are you seeing the other vet?

I'm not sure when yet. The other vets was closed by the time I brought them home from the first vet trip, but they open in a few minutes. I'm going to call to make an appointment. I'll hopefully be able to take them tomorrow, although that does mean they'll have to come to work with me afterwards. I don't think they'll mind sitting in the nice warm staff room for the day, though. They'll probably like the attention.

:(Laughing out loud): I'm sure they will.

:hap: Sorry to hear about what happened, Let us know if you make another appointment and how it all goes..

Well, it turns out the avian vet I found is no longer at that surgery. He's moved away somewhere. They did recommend a surgery to me, though, and as I was ringing around other surgeries to find out if there was anywhere else to go, the same vet kept being mentioned as a good avian and exotics vet. The only trouble is, he seems to be the only one around for miles, it's a nightmare to get an appointment (not for almost three weeks, he must be good!).

 

I've decided to get some over-the-counter ointment (Johnson's Scaly) for now. I thought I'd give her a head-start as she's got to wait so long for the vet. I thought it might at least ease the irritation a bit until she gets properly treated. Has anybody had any luck with home treatments before?

Edited March 17, 200619 yr by Janette

You should be able to go in to the vet and get the treatment from them without an appointment. The one (inverctmin I think) where you just put a drop behind their head seems to be a great product

Really? I didn't realise that. I'll see if I can get hold of some then. Thanks, Lin.