What do you get done at annual checkup/screening?

Blue_Seas

Regular Member
Hi all,

Have been able to sort insurance for my boy and he’s long LONG overdue for a checkup. I know the insurer won’t cover standard checkups but this is all about getting piece of mind!

Was wondering what others get done? Have asked my vet if they do additional bloodwork or screening, as I’m worried about hidden illnesses basically. Also if you had an average cost?

He did actually get a PFBD test a few years ago when he lost a lot of feathers/was plucking which came back negative (thankfully resolved itself, was stress because I couldn’t bring him with me when I moved to UK [Brexit issues… couldn’t get his health cert in time]). But for my own reassurance I’d love to know there was no nasties lurking in his bloodwork or poop.

He’s about 10 years old now, my cockatiel was 12, and both just came from aviary breeding and not hand raised so their parentage and genetics could be playing against them. Rosella lifespan seems to be all over the place, from 10-20 years to 15-30 years. So I also am now wanting to keep a closer eye on him, just in case he does start to enter “old age”.

Am also certain the vet will say he’s getting a bit chunky and to lay off the seeds in his foraging box 😂
 
I have my big bird flock checked every year they have a general once over by the avian vet... in which he usually gets bitten. :risas3: they=re fine with me but don't like strangers handling them. He takes blood and does a full blood check if there's anything underlying then it will show up as something off in the results and then he'd advise what he thinks to do next. Exercise is the way to work the weight off ... a bit of too and fro flying each day usually as part of training is what happens over here and upping the energy expended to get to their treats ... harder working other words oh and something that is loved but not as high content in calories they recently had rowan berries as a favourite treat

I also have a little dude flock but they only go to the vets if they look or sound or act different to normal as they are wild aviary birds not handleable and so get stressed very very easily.
 
He doesn’t get one every year but as he’s now my only bird and a bit older I would love some reassurance and piece of mind that there’s nothing hidden that’s not symptomatic. Previously he just got visits as-needed, as did my cockatiel, and obviously part of me thinks “if cockatiel had annual checkups maybe this could’ve been prevented” but a growth was seen, and really I still probably wouldn’t have done anything about it as surgery is risky.

He is an angry bird so the vets will NOT like handling him 😂 I can’t even handle him! We have worked up trust to SOME step up, and hanging out on my shoulder occasionally.

And exactly as you described I’d like a full blood check to see for anything underlying, similar with poop tests. Do you mind sharing an estimate with how much that costs you? Or even what’s covered under a “full blood panel”
 
All vets are a business so prices do vary always bear that in mind they aren't like going to your GP.
Initially there is the cost of the actual appointment my vet covers a standard weight check visual check up and asks what he/she has been up to in the last year and what they are or aren't eating. He checks claws beak (that one is usually graded on how hard he gets chomped lol) standardly listens to the heart and breathing if they need a beak grind or a claw clipped then that's at extra cost. He usually peers at any poop that has hit the travel cage floor on their journey there and usually comments on it - that's a nice split or a bit watery etc last time it was chuffing heck what has she been eating (it was beetroot so you can imagine the colouration!) I usually don't feed them for an hour before going to the vets and if I know they are having something done then its two hours before - nothing in the crop means nothing to throw up and inhale if they have to be knocked out.
He standardly checks nares and eyes and ears (or rather the holes I should say)
I always have my birds given a whiff of gas before they have bloods taken just enough to make them woozy but not knock them out as its easier for the vets to get bloods and less stressful for the bird. My vet always allows a little lea way on the blood results as I have to travel and hour and 40 minutes to get to him he's my nearest avian vet.

Mine usually hits the £150 mark for the visit plus bloods but then again only two of my birds are "perfect" the others I have all have health problems they came to me with so my bills are always a lot higher than £150 a time. Even the ruddy cat has cost me almost £2k in the last year but that's because he's a grumpy old git who loves to get into fights :noidea:

Chaos is usually a lot higher she's brain damaged and is a star gazer 2 year old so she usually has to have other stuff done, Alfie has liver damage is blind in one eye he's 21, MrP has liver problems and a temper like a pitbull chewing a wasp he's 18, Henni has SCUD is blind in one eye and has missing toes plus is a self mutilator she's 44 will be 45 next year her bills are always highest, Tuppy and Denarii are perfect no issues what so ever and 12 and 11 respectively.

Plan for the worst and pray for a lower figure is my experience. Also you can ring up and ask before booking a visit and if its routine then there's no urgency so you can save up for it :) I have mine staggered across the year so it doesn't give the bank manager a heart attack :copas:
 
Oh lea way on the bloods I mean that some birds travel better than others so stress can cause the bloods to elevate a little on release of stress hormones etc but he accounts for that when he rings me to tell me the results
 
Thank you! I have asked for an estimate from my vets as standard visit is about £90, and unsure if it’s overkill to get a full blood panel + swabs + gram stain on poop. I’d just like a good baseline for him but probably am trying to do a bit of future predicting when it comes to “preventative” care. Rosellas are bigger than cockatiels but probably only about sun conure size so there isn’t a lot of blood there to take 😅

It’s tough, trying to search for possibly hidden illnesses before they become symptomatic, but being unable to do too much testing.

My vets did ask what sort of tests I’d be looking at and I just got info online and said “full blood count”?
 
I wouldn't bother with the gram stain poop and swabs the full bloods would tell you if there is something else that needs looking for. Full bloods will also tell you if you have the proper balance of food.
 
Maybe also check calcium levels? I was looking for at least one vet invoice to have a look what we paid for what and can’t find any, but I have vague memory that our vet has some kind of package for full blood panel, calcium level and chlamydia which cost around 270£ with general check up included, but you would not need chlamydia, I might be totally wrong but I think at my vet calcium level is not covered under full blood panel and they charge separately
 
Ha other human here has slightly better memory than me, probably because he did mistake of promising covering one of the vet bills when Blu plucked ( luckily she stopped, she’s done it once then her feathers grew back and she never tried again ) they did full blood panel, calcium, X-rays and checked her poop that cost him nearly 600£ couldn’t claim it on insurance because all test came back normal and it was deemed behavioural, last year check up and this year check up vet only had a look at girls, trimmed their nails and that was 180£ for both, last year Blu had bit of trouble because she had some dirt in her nostrils and she had sinus flush done during check up but he didn’t charge us extra for this
 
Why did you check calcium? My cockatiel had chlamydia but never tested my rosella. I’m assuming since it’s been a few years he would be symptomatic but could it be dormant? But as Dizzy said a blood test would pick up if there’s an infection right?

£600 not covered!! What’s the point of insurance 😭 I’ll need to check my policy, who are you with? I know it says behavioural issues are not covered but surely the diagnostics to confirm it IS just a behavioural issue should be!!
 
We are with exotic direct but with other provider it would be same story, to be honest we didn’t have to do X-rays necessarily, vet gave us choice but I was worried that if she needs X-rays later it’s again going under anaesthetic, so we said test as much as possible while she is under, they didn’t cover it because there was no definitive reason found to why she plucks, all her results were perfect or even better than her first results from her initial checkup, vet said it could be hormonal but not necessarily it can be bigger behavioural issue, too, it was complicated because we could place implant to control her hormonal behaviour and we probably would stand chance for insurance to cover some cost but vet said she is so young, he highly recommended to go with changes in her environment, diet, routine and use of Pluck no more solution before we do more invasive treatment, luckily for us she stopped, we would place implant if necessary but at that point it would be lazy approach from us which could easily backfire on us later
 
That’s understandable! When my cockatiel went under I also opted for more testing. And even though small swelling was found around his liver I didn’t want to investigate further, he was about 10 at that point and with being poorly at the time I thought it too risky, and even when he was better I didn’t want to risk it. Maybe if we’d done further testing we would have seen it was the tumour that eventually caused him breathing problems and had to make choice to put to sleep, but even if we did know there’s no guarantee he’d have survived surgery.

It’s always a balancing act, right?

@DizzyBlue (and anyone else who might know) do you think heavy metal toxicity would show up in a blood test or is there a separate test for that? I mentioned before but this bugger loves chewing his cage bars, wall paint and door paint 🙄
 
Heavy metal toxicity shows up in x-rays as little sparkles. However the cages these days aren't going to cause him an issue 20 years ago they would have. These days its rarely seen unless they have swallowed part of a toy like those stupid little fiddly twisty parts of a clip. I really don't think he would have heavy metal poisoning there would be other signs ... wobbly, neurological signs like fitting or weird twitching (sounds like I better get tested LMAO) weird colouration to their droppings and doing some regurgitation at the same time as all of the aforementioned. If that's a bit of a concern you have then buy a canister of activated charcoal and offer it in a little bowl

www.petsathome.com

The Bird House Crushed Charcoal | Pets

Buy The Bird House Crushed Charcoal| Available to order today & Free Delivery on orders over £35
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You can usually buy the above instore or ask them to get a jar in for you to collect that way no delivery costings

Always a balancing act and something we are forever beating ourselves up about be it human or pet related the old saying of "could have would have should have" but thing is sometimes its best to just let them have a good quality of what is left all birds and humans come to that matter of fact are different. :noidea: All we have to remember is we loved them we did our best with the information we had / have and try our best to not have the guilt trips and ruin other things in our current life as we can't alter what is past no matter how much we wish we could.
 
You’re right… I’ve put more seeds in his foraging box, no point literally restricting him when he does want to eat, just not healthy things. He is 10, and my cockatiel went sooner than expected (obviously what is kicking off my anxiety), so even if I get 10 or 20 or 5 or 2 years with my rosella he should be happy too, even if it means some extra seeds sometimes.

I might consider the charcoal, I think it’s pretty harmless even if it’s unnecessary, and I read something about peanut butter for toxicity too? Overkill?

When vets get back to me I will just request checkup and blood panel!
 
Peanut butter used to be good now it's so refined with added all sorts of stuff easier to offer the charcoal they are pretty smart at self medicating if they have things available
 
Flipping heck. Been quoted for sedation £118, then blood test £185. £303 JUST for blood test, not including checkup! I understand requiring sedation but insurance doesn’t cover routine testing so it’s just £300 out of pocket (£390 for checkup and tests, and they can’t be done same day either, so two trips!)
 
None that I know of. These ones are a 45 minute drive as is and I do really like them. If anyone uses any North West, close to Manchester/Sheffield/Leeds, do let me know, but I’m also hesitant to get procedures done outside of my usual vet.

I saw some people say they got the test kits privately and sent them off, but I asked and they understandably won’t do that 😅
 
My avian vet is over in Stamford Bridge Nr York long drive for you about an hour and 40 minutes for me but my original vet was over in Liverpool could do that run in about 3 hours .... in an emergency I could do it in a lot less not that I would ever admit to doing it in less though :halo:
There are no longer any avian vets in East Yorkshire :noidea:
There was one called .... Kim Barrow who was very good but she was an exotics and moved over to Holly House Vets in Leeds I think there is an avian over there though but couldn't swear to it you'd have to ring and enquire
 
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