In these days of swift economic change, it can be so important to keep on top of expenses... if we're not careful, it doesn't take long for things to get out of hand, especially this time of year!

But while we are keeping tight control of the expenses in our lives, it is wise to also spend a little time thinking about the things we do spend our money on, and what kind of value we get for our dollars.

To my mind, there are very few resources available to any bird owner, whether they keep only one pet, or breed hundreds of birds a year, as valuable as...

by Sharon Kleuber
copyright © 2001.

I just lost my old-timer Kermit, a canary, after taking him to the vet's on Monday. I am waiting for the results of a necropsy, so I can learn what he died of.

After a thorough examination on Monday, they kept him at the vet's office to take x-rays in an attempt to determine what was wrong with him, take what small amount of blood they could for blood work to be targeted hopefully by what the x-rays showed, and medicate him once they were able to determine what might be wrong.

This is a vast improvement over when I took my first canary to a vet just two years ago. While the vet at that time did physically examine him, the diagnosis was basically a shrug and sending me home with an antibiotic. So obviously some progress is being made!

While there is a bit more information available for treating parrots, there is by and large not a lot of experience or knowledge out there regarding the smaller birds such as budgies, lovebirds, finches and canaries. I suspect a large part of that is due to the fact that these birds cost so much less than some of the parrots that the economics for many folks say it is less expensive to replace a sick bird than to spend the amount it could end up costing you if you have it treated at the vet's.

I can't help but think that there is something missing from that picture... and my guess is, it's not quite what you're thinking!

The fact is that until we as small pet bird owners start indicating that we want to be able to have knowledgeable and affordable treatment available for our birds and taking them to our vets for treatment so that our avian vets can have hands on experience working with them, I imagine that this situation will not improve.

After all, it is basically a world of supply and demand out there - and if we don't demand the care, the veterinary hospitals and clinics won't supply it.

In a small community like the one I live in, a vet who has an interest in treating birds and other exotics (yes, our birds are considered exotic pets along with ferrets, hedgehogs, rabbits, reptiles, amphibians, and the like) also has to treat dogs and cats. In fact dogs and cats most likely make up the largest number of his or her patients.

In light of that, it is important if we ever want to have the same level of care available for our birds that is available for our selves, our dogs and our cats, that we bite the bullet and spend the money to take our birds to see the vet when they get sick.

It hasn't always been easy to get good treatment even for our dogs and cats, as some of us will recall. When I was a child the family dog and cat were only taken into the vet for a rabies shot or in the event of an emergency. Far fewer folks spayed or neutered in those days and the diagnostic skills were nowhere near the level they are today for dogs and cats.

We as pet owners demonstrated a need for better routine, maintenance care, and diagnostics for our beloved pets. As more and more people brought their dogs and cats in for routine care our vets got more hands-on experience, more data became available, and better, more affordable care was the result. We as pet owners are in a large part responsible for this because we demanded these services.

Will it cost as much or possibly more to take your bird to the vet's than it would to buy a new bird? Yes, probably. Will you still stand the chance of losing your bird even if you take it to the vets? Yes, but you will obviously improve his odds of survival by getting him the attention and expert care sick birds so often need.

My pets are family to me - I am close to them, and losing their company is like losing any other family member - it hurts. At least for me, I find that I can more easily deal with the loss by knowing I have done everything I could for my pet.

I also like to think that even if my bird does die, that the vet will have learned from the experience and may be able to help the next sad little pet finch, canary, lovebird or budgie that someone brings him to be treated, because of what he learned by treating my bird.

I find it frustrating, and I imagine many others do as well, to not have the same level of diagnostic care and treatments available for my birds that I have come to expect and even take for granted for my dogs and cats.

Our veterinary clinics and hospitals are there to provide services to our pets. Dogs and cats have always been popular, and support for their care is well-established. But birds are now the third most popular pet, world-wide, and many of those birds are inexpensive to buy.

Price aside, does each life not have as much intrinsic value as any other? I feel very strongly that no life should ever be thrown away lightly, no matter its supposed value.

As for Kermit? The necropsy showed that he had bled out into his stomach. According to my vet, normally that alone would lead to a diagnosis of metal toxicity. Adding in the neurological signs he was exhibiting, which included twitching, disorientation, and balance problems, along with the x-ray which showed very clearly a piece of metal in the lower end of his crop, makes the diagnosis of metal toxicity definite in my vet's opinion.

Interestingly, Kermit's lungs were clear and all of his other organs looked fine. There was no indication of any type of infectious disease. They never did find the piece of metal. It was described to me as being about a third the size of a canary seed. This would make finding it rather like looking for a needle in a haystack, so I can not say that I am surprised that they didn't find it.

While I did get a reason for what happened to Kermit I also got more questions from the test results. Questions that will most likely go unanswered. For example: How long was that metal in his system? Where on earth did it come from? It was small enough I am guessing it could have come in with something I gave him to eat - but I will never know for sure.

While I will definitely miss Kermit, gentle old man that he was, I have some satisfaction in knowing what it was that killed him and in being able to provide my vet with the opportunity to perform a necropsy on a small bird like a canary. In this case I wasn't charged for the necropsy and I did get a definitive answer.

When my canary 'Blue' died earlier this year and a necropsy was done by a different vet, which I did pay for, I did not get a conclusive answer. It is always a possibility that a necropsy will not be able to show exactly what went wrong, but if we don't try, we will never find out anything - positive or not.

If we don't take our small birds into our vets to be treated, if we don't request necropsies when we lose them, if we don't indicate by doing this that there is in fact a need out here for these types of services and diagnostic skills for our small pet birds, then we will never have them available.

So, the ball is in our court. An easy decision for me.

How about you?

by Sharon Klueber
Copyright © 2001.
All rights reserved.

Cockatiel Fact

Often their new pet will not have been home very long before the questions start - "I talk to my 'tiel all the time, why isn't he trying to talk back? How can I make my 'tiel want to talk?"

The fact is, that while many 'tiels are excellent mimics and more than capable of being great little talkers, they have specific criteria when it comes to choosing sounds to imitate.

The first thing to understand is that a whistle is far more natural for a bird to reproduce than a word. If you teach your 'tiel to whistle right off the bat, there is a good chance than he will never advance to the more difficult and complex techniques of mimicing the sounds of human speech.

This means that it's a good idea to hold off on teaching a young 'tiel how to whistle - wait til he has already learned to talk, before trying to add whistling to his list of accomplishments.

Another important point to understand is just what makes a 'tiel want to imitate any given sound. The key here, and it can't be emphasized too often, is "drama".

Sounds emitted with high emotion will always grab a bird's attention. Higher-pitched sounds tend to get their notice a little more swiftly, too - but be careful with these, because if he chooses to imitate a high-pitched sound, your 'tiel will likely increase the pitch even more, sometimes rendering the sound too loudly for human ears to be comfortable with.

Finally, remember that your 'tiel will tend to speed up what he has heard while he is repeating it - so make a point, when you speak to your bird, of speaking a little more slowly and clearly than you usually would, and be sure to put as much emotional emphasis into your words as possible. You will almost be able to see those little ears prick up when you do this, and it likely won't be long at all before you have a wonderful little talker.

In fact, chances are quite good that once you get him started, the only times he will stop talking will be when he is asleep!

Robirda