Vet Needed !

[NewBird]

Can anyone recommend a good avian/raptor vet - bird is not OK and I think I need to get help. I am in West Devon.
Regards
NewBird

[Harris]

Whats the problem with her m8?

[Renton]

Try these:

CORNWALL
The Veterinary Surgery
Higher Trenant
Wadebridge
PL27 6HB
Tel: 01208 813258

DEVON
Coombefield Veterinary Hospital
Coobe Lane
Axminster
EX13 5AX
Tel: 01297 32156

[Sprout]

PM or e-mail me if you need any help

[Tim Laycock]

Whats the problem with her m8?

The guy needs a vet not a chat! :yawinkle:




Devon Area


Vet Clinic
108 High Street
Crediton Tel: 01363 772539...
also at: 4 Bridge Street, Tiverton. Tel: 01884 257864
H M Thresher BVSc, MRCVS


Coombefield Vet Hospital
Coombe Lane
Axminster
Devon
Tel: 01297 32156
Tim Lawrence

Hair, Beaumont & Partners
Hill House,
74 Fore Street
Totnes. Devon
Tel: 01803 862142
Colin Hair

(Branch Surgeries) At:
Paignton Tel: 01803 550491
Brixham Tel: 01803 854051
Dartmouth Tel: 01803 832422
Ashburton Tel: 01364 652376

North Park vet Group
64 Fore Street
North Tawton
Devon
Tel: 01837 82382
P Martin


Okeford Veterinary Centre
School Way
Okehampton
Mr P.T Davies

[Tim Laycock]

PM or e-mail me if you need any help

An avian vet on the case already :supz:

[NewBird]

Whats the problem with her m8?

I suspect I know the answer but keep hoping I am wrong.

About 5 days ago she went from very quick to the fist to 'after a long think about it'. Usually she is a guzzler with her food and horrifies me at the size of piece she attempts to swallow. Increasingly she is rejecting larger pieces and even has brought a couple of chick legs back up after swallowing and had to break them up smaller. Most worrying is the weight loss. A week ago she was at 2lb 6 1/4, now she is 2lb 5 1/4 (lost 1/2 oz overnight ie I think the loss is speeding up). She is bright, interested, preening etc but ....Although she isn't fit I think she is a little too short of breathe when she bates. Mutes - seem a bit more watery than usual and there was a brown coloured one in her mews this morning.
(She's a female superior Harris - first year)

Really, I'm just holding my breathe until Monday when I can get her to see someone.
Regards
NewBird

[NewBird]

PM or e-mail me if you need any help
Any advice gratefully received.
Regards
NewBird

[Dave G]

hope the birds ok m8 and get to the vets in time ?? please tell us the prob when you have time and what the vet said as this is stuff we need to keep an eye out for and if it could be prevented or spotted earlier, hope all goes well at the vets cheers dave

[Sprout]

I personally would get her seen ASAP - birds are very good at hiding whats wrong with them - Neil Forbes has a saying that when you relaise a bird is ill it is 90% dead - falconers are better than parrot keepers etc at recognising ill health so raptors do fair better than cage birds etc but only becasue we recognsie the signs of illness earlier. Time is the essense - find a local avian vet today, take some mute samples and get her checked over asap.

[NewBird]

Blackbird - thanks for your reply - following Sprout's advice I am going to try to talk to a vet today. You gave me a list of Vets - do any of them have a specific avian vet or whatever that you know of ? If not I'll try North Park , as that is my nearest.
Thanks
NewBird

[Tim Laycock]

They are all avian vets, I would not have posted them otherwise :yawinkle:

Would have been a waste of your time :rolleyes: ;) ;)

[Kevin Massey]

spot on tim....any news yet n/b?

[GregMik]

Maybe we should talk to Sparrow about setting up a "Vet Google map". When ppl have a good Vet that they use we could add it to the map.

Greg

[Sprout]

How did you get on?

[Dave Johnson]

The guy needs a vet not a chat! :yawinkle:




Devon Area


Vet Clinic
108 High Street
Crediton Tel: 01363 772539...
also at: 4 Bridge Street, Tiverton. Tel: 01884 257864
H M Thresher BVSc, MRCVS


Coombefield Vet Hospital
Coombe Lane
Axminster
Devon
Tel: 01297 32156
Tim Lawrence

Hair, Beaumont & Partners
Hill House,
74 Fore Street
Totnes. Devon
Tel: 01803 862142
Colin Hair

(Branch Surgeries) At:
Paignton Tel: 01803 550491
Brixham Tel: 01803 854051
Dartmouth Tel: 01803 832422
Ashburton Tel: 01364 652376

North Park vet Group
64 Fore Street
North Tawton
Devon
Tel: 01837 82382
P Martin


Okeford Veterinary Centre
School Way
Okehampton
Mr P.T Davies

Hi Blackbird
Have you any Avian vets address's in the London area at all please.Cheers Dave

[Kennelre]

Hello NewBird....how is she?

[NewBird]

Well, she is still with me but still losing weight - She's lost about 2oz now.
I have had a real problem finding a vet with raptor experience around me - lots of very kind people with avian experience and a couple who would be 'interested' to see her - but I really wanted someone who knew BOPs ( Ok, I know I'm a soft girlie when it comes to these things but all my animals get the very best I can give them).
Hit lucky at last, at the other side of the county, and have an appointment tomorrow afternoon at Axminster.
Fingers (and everything else too!)crossed.
Thanks for your interest.
Regards
NewBird

[Kennelre]

It seems like a long time to have to wait....I agree with you on the subject of getting the best input for your animals, but I have a tendency to kick up a stink if I know one of my animals need to be seen NOW and I,m asked to wait. Perhaps it hasn't made me best popular at the vets sometimes, especially at weekends, but I know for a fact that its an attitude that has saved more than one of my animals lives over the years. Very good luck to you for tomorrow.....

[Fawkes]

Good luck with the vet - I hope you get her problem sorted

[Kennelre]

Hello NewBird......how did it go at the Vet?

[Zam]

I think,when it comes to a bird of prey - or any other "exotic" animal - you really have to accept the fact that you will have to drive an often considerable distance to see a specialist vet.

My vet is now is Swindon. I live in Wales. It takes me around 2.5 - 3 hours to get there, which is not too far at all. However, if I moved to, say, Yorkshire, I would still drive to Swindon. Obviously, in the case of a severe emergency, a 3, 4 or 5 hour drive is out of the question. In which case I would go to the nearest vet, get him to phone my vet to get treatment advice and try to get the bird stabilised before driving her to Swindon.

Good raptors vets are like good bank managers - when you find one, don't ever change, as you probably won't find another!!

My advice would be to get your bird to Neil Forbes ASAP. They don't come any better!

Good luck. I hope your bird will be OK

[NewBird]

Dear All
Thanks for all your kind concern.
Took bird to the vet yesterday (Really good place .. even got a cup of tea coz I was kept waiting a bit! - in so many practices you get treated like you should be grateful just to be allowed to see the vet.)
He couldn't find anything immediately wrong to explain the weight loss . I was worried about crop inflamation as she is fiddling with larger pieces of food and mutes are sludgy brown but no obvious problems found.
So we are sending mute samples away for analysis - first catch your mute !!!
Also she was wormed - so we will wait and see.
Regards
NewBird

P.S. I, in the past, have always wormed before you put a bird down to moult (she dropped her first feather on Saturday) -if this does turn out to be a worm infestation I will feel very bad but until now would not have considered worming her until the moult. This bird was born in July 05 - would others among you have wormed her routinely sooner than this?

[Skeld]

I usually take mute samples to the vet to be checked on a regular basis and then worm as needed.
I hope your bird makes a quick recovery!!

[Kennelre]

Hello NewBird...good news so far, keeping my fingers crossed for her.

[NewBird]

I usually take mute samples to the vet to be checked on a regular basis and then worm as needed.
I hope your bird makes a quick recovery!!
If you have a minute, what do you regard as regular?
Thanks for your kind sentiments
Regards
NewBird

[Sprout]

I would NEVER recommend worming unless a faecal test has been performed first. Did they swab the crop and choana as well?? I would normally swab both and look immediately under the microscope for obvious problems - if nothing then send it away for culture. In cases like this it can be a case of doing different tests to get all the parts of the puzzle, unfortunately you don;t always get the time to do it bit by bit like you would a cat or dog as birds go downhill so quick which is why I do a lot of the tests in house - if nothing obvious on crop swabs/faecal tests in hosue, send away for further analysis but in the meantime xray etc.

[Sean]

sprout, do you do mute samples? if so, do u do them by post. my vet takes them, but then posts them off themselves, 24 quid, but would be handy to cut the middle man lol

[Sprout]

I do do routine faecal tests per post but not at the moment - no time and building work means no space to do it in. Once up and running will let people know when this service will be offered again.

[Kitana]

I would NEVER recommend worming unless a faecal test has been performed first. Did they swab the crop and choana as well?? I would normally swab both and look immediately under the microscope for obvious problems - if nothing then send it away for culture. In cases like this it can be a case of doing different tests to get all the parts of the puzzle, unfortunately you don;t always get the time to do it bit by bit like you would a cat or dog as birds go downhill so quick which is why I do a lot of the tests in house - if nothing obvious on crop swabs/faecal tests in hosue, send away for further analysis but in the meantime xray etc.

100% agreeing with you, birds do get badly sick so quickly I don't wait for external results, except for bacterial cultures, I do everything in-house. As a crop and choana swab been taken?
The board-certified avian vets I know are equiped to do bacterial cultures and identification and ATBgrams in-house...

[Sean]

sprout could you recommend anyone else untill then?

[Sprout]

Neil Forbes - Great Western Referrals

[Sprout]

Been speaking via PM but one thing that came across which others may not know about is if you suspect your bird is ill, losing weight etc etc it is best not to feed any casting, and feed small to moderate crops often rather than one large crop. An ill bird is far more likely to develop sour crop if suddenly fed a large amount

[Sean]

thanks sprout