07/02/2024
Positive R+ story and vet recommendation! A scary event ended in a great experience. Overview: Macaw receives force free cooperative care for a broken beak.
• Force free handling while injured
• Free choice step up onto technician's hand, with no bite attempts!
• Received intravenous and oral medication without fear aggression (yayyyy all our cooperative care med work!)
• Received a catheter in his wing and gas anesthesia with minimal stress (he was irritated, but handled it well per the vet)
• Discharge notes from the doctor said he was a big hit with the team, and bonus they sent pictures of him perching with different technicians rather than in a cage 🥹😏
Story below for those who don't want to read a lengthy post!
Four weeks ago on May 29th after grocery shopping I got home to find my macaw had badly injured his beak. Upon initial examination I knew it was quite serious as there was a break/separation on the exterior and interior of the beak and possibly more I couldn't see. Luckily I could tell that he was not experiencing significant blood loss and not critical, had that been the case I don't know what would have happened.
Being a Wednesday night at 5:50pm his "primary" veterinarian couldn't see us and also had no openings for the remainder of the week. At that point I was stressed and so worried. We live in Maine for reference, where there are very few avian veterinarians, and 1 emergency center in the state that has one veterinarian that can treat birds, and that vet wasn't on staff that week. We were referred to the nearest avian emergency center, The MSPCA Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts and off we went.
Folks, when I tell you this was the best emergency clinic experience I've ever had, I mean the BEST.
Due to the extent of the injury and the need for immediate pain management he was admitted for care.
He's never had to be at a vet for more than an appointment and never out of state without me, I was a wreck and I had to return home and await the next days update. That 1am drive home was the hardest 😭
*Rest of story in comments*
