Vet bills add up

[Rockinthecasbah]

So I have a bird (sun conure) that Brewmaster gave me. Hes been an awsome bird since I've had him actually the best small parrot I've ever worked with. Well the other day while I was on my way to SCST I got a call that she had an accident. She was reading or something with the bird on her and the (lets say long skinny 2 lb cat) was playing with my chi. She wasnt paying attention for a minute an the ( skinny cat like creature) grabbed it by the neck. Took him to the ER vet overnight where they urged me to just put him down saying he might have nerological problems etc. Said no way he was a family member and had them take care of him for the night. He made it to the next day in bad shape and we transfered him to out local bird vet in Norco, Animal and bird Hospital awsome vet by the way. Anyways its been 5 days or so and after antibiotics and incubation hes walking around and clicking just having a little bit of problems with his foot control. Anyways 260 dollars a day or so since last tuesday he comes back next tuesday, thats alot of money but what are you gonna do. And too the other people out there dont give up !!

[BFloFoxRider.]

thats good that you didnt give up
that bird is neat..
i kind of want a bird but man those things cost alot of money!

[SheDevil]

Careful owning those "cats" in CA....big extreme radicals in San Diego I am sure you know about. I'm in Texas (for the weekend) and theres a pet store with a bunch of kits....so cute as babies. Best wishes for birdie pie....

[Rockinthecasbah]

Yea I know we are actually supposed to have more in this state then anyother state in the US. I just got a newsletter saying theyre doing a Fish and Game study finally

[dirtmistress]

I love you!
I've put so much money into saving my pets over the years from one various problem to another! It is all so totally worth it!! Unconditional love and yes,entertainment,should have no limit!!

[BFloFoxRider.]

we spent thousands of dollars for surgery on my rottie that had cancer really bad in his cheek area... it kept him around another year... now 3 month after we had to put him down... we have a new rottie puppy and we owe more for his surgery than we do my stepmoms surgeries... and she's had 2 since then!

i just love animals so i persuaded my dad into it =D

[mtnbikerfred]

Sorry about your little buddy. We've spent thousands on sick Fids. Some that had illness they could not overcome with ANY amount of care (I've cried like a baby over the ones we lost), a couple that pulled through fine, and at least one that's just plain neurotic and chews on her leg....

Can you guys provide supportive/convalescent care at home? We have on a couple of occasion saved ourselves allot of money an at least one Fid by doing so. Here's the story:

Our Dusky Headed Conure "KiWi" took flight one day (even he didn't know he could do that...) across a parking lot directly into the store front windows of a pet store. I estimated his velocity at about 1.2 Mach when he was stopped abruptly by plate glass. 3 seconds later, when I got to him he was laying on his back still flapping his wings. I thought for sure he was broken beyond repair. We raced him to our avian vet (who was closed), then to the animal ER in Mission Viejo. They incubated, gave subcutaneous fluid, and X-rayed him. since he had no fractures, and no palpable internal injuries, we decided to take him home. We got a bottle of pedialyte, and set him up in a hospital tub with a heating pad beneath it ans a towel over the top.

The little guy nary missed a meal. He begged like a baby for more pedialyte (he's a little fruit-bat), and a couple of days later, he bit our daughter, so we knew he was just fine.



If you can administer the antibiotics, and monitor his weight closely,* and keep him warm and comfortable at home. I guarantee he'll recover quicker in his own surroundings with his own flock.

*For God's sake, get a gram scale if you own birds. Weight loss is the first and most significant sign of illness in birds. By the time we stupid humans notice anything else wrong with them, they are practically dead. It was a painful lesson we learned early on. A 5g drop in weight (normalized by weighing them at the same time every couple of days) for a 120g bird like a conure or a cockatiel sends up huge red warning flags for us now.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about your Fids.

BTW, we too have had "fuzzy-snakes". The not-so funny story was when our then 2 yr old daughter decided the the "fuzz" belonged in the tank with the red-tailed boa. Proving once an for all that these are fully domesticated animals devoid of any instincts (besides playing all the time) to survive on their own, the boa grabbed her and was very successfully constricting her. I had to give mouth-to snout, but she regained consciousness, and was back to bouncing around in a few minutes no worse for wear and tear accept for the small bite wound on her leg which a little BPN ointment took care of just fine....

[Wrecker]

Glad that story had a happy ending

Hope your birdie heals up fast! I agree, if you can get him home and give him care, he may be better off--however, I know nothing about birds

[Abui]

Originally Posted by SheDevil

Careful owning those "cats" in CA....big extreme radicals in San Diego I am sure you know about. I'm in Texas (for the weekend) and theres a pet store with a bunch of kits....so cute as babies. Best wishes for birdie pie....

Finally caught on about "cats". I read about a guy in prison for keeping cats. When other prisoners asked what he was in for they thought he was dissin' 'em with a silly answer. His life was in danger so he had to make up a story about a violent crime.

[El Salt]

We have a couple of parrots... Our female SI Eclectus has cost me the price of a few [bicycle] frames... she is a "plucker" and we have done and tried everything with her (she is sitting on my knee as I type this), we love her, we love them all, but it ain't cheep - but it is worth it!

[Rockinthecasbah]

yea some things we can do at home im a bg snake guy actually get pad to take care of reptiles so have a gram scale and ll kinds of vet stuff i just had to take him in this time punture wounds n the neck and he neded antbiotics every two hours

[DISCO]

Here I go again;

Growing up my house was a veritable zoo, large reptiles being our specialty. We had several kinds of monitors that grew to be four to seven feet long and quite husky in girth. My grandmother with Alzheimer's had an entire bedroom in HB full of bird cages with damn near every thing from cockatoos to macaws. Although sister is a Veterinary tech, I have chosen the science of capital as a major (it will make sense later, I swear).

The rest of my post may offend but bear in mind what I do or say implies only my thoughts and are NOT intended as suggestions for others.

Once due to a prolonged interval between cleanings unsanitary conditions began to arise in the enclosure of our Nile monitor. He was initially my brothers pet, but with his medical conditions and subsequent death, the burden of caring for the lizard was left for others. Some kind of bacteria ate away the skin on the belly of the critter, and his insides were left venerable for flies to lay their eggs inside. My sister was not yet out of grade school at the time, but my mother was trained as a nurse. We were able to patch him up and I am happy to report that he grew from around three feet at the time to nearly ten feet last time I paid him a visit at the shelter he resides.

We always had spare cages so before that experience, we would bring home birds fallen from nests. One time it was a small possum that we bottle fed despite all the fleas crawling on it. Most disturbing for me was the rat infestation that occurred at the senile grandparent's house due to the abundant food source in the bedroom full of birds. After her death the horror of walls, the attic, crawl spaces stuffed with carcasses and trash that I cleaned out with a rake convinced me that fish are a much easier pet to keep.

Which brings me to the story I wanted to share, recently my sister went off to school to study how to care for animals. In the process she left her dog with my mom, and while back from school on a break it ran in front of the car. Eleven hundred dollars later they still had to dig a hole in the desert, and pile rocks on top to discourage scavengers. People initially did not domesticate animals in order to adore them, instead they were kept for much more practical purposes. Our society today though frees us from the need to kill our meals, so I don't blame anyone for going vegetarian. What makes limited sense to someone with an education in accounting is that a person who owns fire arms spends only cents per shot. Old yeller may not have been put down "Humanely" but at least the suffering was not exacerbated by awkward and possibly uncomfortable transport to a facility to await eventual death. It perplexes me to imagine people go hungry and without medical care in a country where folks spend billions yearly frivolously decorating their pets.

So critics, lambaste if you feel compelled to, but please don't assume I lack experience in what I have chosen to share my thoughts on.

[Pickettt]

The fact that my wife is a vet is almost inconsequential, but here's my two cents. First of all, let's go ahead and concede that people go without food and medical care in a country where people spend billions on bicycles. People are going to spend their money where they deem it important. If it's on a pet, then it's on a pet. What I can tell you is that you have no guarantee that after the money is spent, that the end is going to be rosey. You might, ask why the money is being spent. Is it for your sake, or the animal's? If one of my pets were suffering, I would spend the money if it would prevent suffering. I would not spend the money to make myself feel better about my effort to save him or her. You might also inquire about pet health insurance in the future, especially with avian and exotics. Good luck.

[BrewMaster]

Glad to see Jake is OK. Linda and I were happy to get rid of that bird since he did not fit our lifestyle. Still, I wouldn't want a "cat" to kill him. Good looking out for the lil' bird Ricky.