Bird Vet Melbourne

13/11/2025

The Bird Lover's BIRD EXPO is on again!!!! Sat-Sun on the 22-23rd November. It has a new location this year! Gloria Pyke, Netball Complex, Dandenong, Victoria. Our staff will be there in force. There are some amazing educational classes that include topics like flight training your bird, solving problem behaviours and general training. We can't wait to see you there.

Calling everyone who loves birds! Join us for our 5th annual expo. Come meet bird rescues, avian vet staff, vendors selling bird food, toys,...

22/10/2025

🐔 Follow-up from our Chicken Quiz Post!
Remember that mystery case we posted recently? 👀
Meet Midnight, a 5-year-old backyard chicken who came to us with a serious comb laceration — her “crown” or Comb was badly torn, bleeding, and partially hanging off.
💉 One of our avian vets, Dr Phil, performed delicate microsurgery under general anaesthetic, using magnification to clean, suture, and reconstruct the highly vascular comb tissue. The photos show the intricate repair and Midnight resting comfortably after surgery ❤️
Comb injuries are actually quite common in both roosters and hens — they can occur from frostbite, pecking, fencing mishaps, sharp objects, or even predator attacks. Midnight’s extra-large, floppy comb made her especially prone to trauma.
⛑️ Prompt veterinary care to control bleeding and close the wound was life-saving. We also supplemented iron, folic acid, and vitamin B12 to help her body recover from blood loss anaemia — birds can regenerate blood cells much faster than mammals!
We’re so proud of how bravely Midnight recovered — proof that with expert avian veterinary care and an experienced Bird-Vet nursing team, even the smallest patients can make a full comeback 🐓✨
📍Bird Vet Melbourne — Melbourne’s dedicated avian and chicken Vet hospital.
💛 Because birds deserve specialist treatments too- veterinarians who are specially trained and experienced in avian medicine.

21/10/2025

🦜 We get all kinds of animals and species at Bird Vet Melbourne…

…and every so often, a case comes through that makes even the vets pause and say, "wait—what exactly is that?" 👀

Any guesses what this might be?
(Extra points if you can name the species and type of injury!)

Gosh we love treating birds !

💬Write your best guesses below — we'll reveal the answer soon!

17/10/2025

CT Scan on a chicken!

Yesterday we had the pleasure of performing a CT scan on one of our fantastic patients with the help of Insight Mobile Veterinary Diagnostics mobile CT machine.

Once upon a time these fancy machines were only available for humans, these days these specialist style of services are more readily available and every vet clinic and hospital has access.

CT scans are becoming more and more common place. They are helping us get a much more in-depth picture for our patients allowing us to provide the best care possible.

Of course a bird CT scan has that extra special need of a qualified avian vet and nurse supervising a somewhat complex avian anaesthetic working with the CT team.

16/10/2025

SPRING HAS SPRUNG! We're getting a lot of egg & hormonal behaviour related questions on the phone this week. Check out this article, it covers most of the questions we've been asked!

My bird laid an egg! Am I going to have babies? Female birds lay eggs and they don't need a male around for that to happen. This frequently leaves pet bird owners shocked. Many ring the clinic in a panic, particularly if they don't want babies. So for those of you who aren't acquainted with

19/09/2025

We will be CLOSED this SUNDAY 21/9/25 due to the main road to our clinic (Highbury Rd) being closed for roadworks. There is also a planned power outage for the day. The closures are due to the railway substation being built opposite the clinic. They assure us that all will be normal again on Monday. We're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

16/09/2025

🐔 A Sad Silkie Surprise ✨
Meet Polly, a little Silkie hen who came to us with a severe crop impaction.
👉 The crop is an enlargement of the oesophagus – a storage pouch at the start of the digestive tract. In Polly’s case, it was hugely distended, swollen with long matted grass she simply couldn’t pass.
She needed delicate surgery under general anaesthetic to carefully remove the blockage. The sheer volume of material was astonishing – as was the stretched size of poor Polly’s crop.
Despite her struggle to digest food, Polly’s body was still preparing to lay an egg. Sadly, in modern hens the natural “switch-off” mechanism to pause egg production has largely been bred out.
💛 And then, during her recovery from anaesthesia, Polly gave us the most unexpected surprise… she laid a perfect egg! 🥚
Even under stressful conditions, hens are genetically programmed to lay. It’s a bittersweet reminder of how much we ask of these delicate feathered beings.
👏 Polly’s caring owner recognised her intrinsic value and chose to go ahead with surgery. The consultation fee was $90, and the hospitalisation and surgery were $710 – a total of $800 AUD. Many people don’t realise how much care chickens may need, or how rewarding it can be to treat them with the same kindness and compassion as any other pet. 🩺❤️🐥
Today Polly is recovering beautifully here at Bird Vet Melbourne. She’s resting in a warm incubator, on pain relief, antibiotics, and anti-yeast medications – with a healthy, functioning crop and a little extra sparkle. Though still eager to eat (and already preparing her next egg!), she is well on the road to recovery.
✨ The sad reality of egg production – and the joy of seeing a much-loved pet cared for with compassion recover well from Surgery.

14/09/2025

Come say hi to some of the staff at the Great Sourhern Bird Show and Expo. Held at The Gloria Pyke Netball Facility, Bennet St, Dandenong until 2pm today!!!

02/09/2025

Nurses are always making fun of what the vets draw on their whiteboards in the consult rooms. Does anyone want to join the fun game of trying to guess what this vet has been drawing?

26/08/2025

✨🐦 Another Rescue Story at Bird Vet Melbourne

Today we welcomed our 4th lost or surrendered bird for the day. At Bird Vet Melbourne, our team is dedicated to giving every feathered friend the very best chance, whether that means resuscitation, recovery, or reuniting them with their families. 💙

In this video, Dr Phil is treating a little budgerigar that we named "tzippy" (See the attached video for why )found in very poor condition:
• Overgrown nails
• Severe Cnemidocoptes mites (scaly face and leg)
• Weak and struggling from exposure

Sadly, budgerigars don’t survive long in Melbourne’s wild. With cold weather, cars, magpies and currawongs, their chances are slim without immediate care.
We work tirelessly to provide a safe haven for these little helpless souls. Every bird rescue is a reminder of why avian medicine and compassion matter.
We all really care!

20/08/2025

Find the bird. Bonus points if you know what type it is...

16/08/2025

The staff are out at the Cenvet Ball tonight. Cenvet put together this amazing annual event to support the mental health of those working in the veterinary industry.