Birds

We offer full veterinary, boarding (AZ locations only), and grooming (beak, wing, and nail trims) services for pet birds. Veterinary services include thorough examinations specific for avian patients. We provide diet and nutritional counseling specific to your pet.  Testing of blood, feces, and other samples can be performed to look for diseases and other causes of illness. We can perform many tests on patients as small as parakeets. We can perform endoscopy to look inside birds to look for certain problems that do not show up on X-rays, ultrasound, or other testing. If your bet needs surgery, we have special tools and equipment specific for avian patients. We have deslorelin implants available to manage chronic egg laying and other reproductive problems. We have climate controlled incubators with oxygen for critically ill patients.

Below are resources we've gathered that relate to birds and bird ownership. Drill down into specific breeds for more detailed information.

Enrichment for Exotic Companion Pets

Enrichment is a continuously growing and evolving concept in animal care which centers around the idea of keeping captive animals stimulated in their environments by allowing them to engage in as many natural behaviors as possible and giving options on how to interact with their environment (essentially giving them choices). Enrichment is widely utilized in zoos and most commonly with large mammals; however, many other species including birds, reptiles, and small mammals are often overlooked.

Tips for Keeping Your Pet Bird Active

Parrots and other birds are intelligent, curious and naturally active in the wild.  The typical wild bird spends most of its day searching for food and being alert for predators.  When it is not looking for food, it may be searching for a mate or helping take care of a nest, protecting its home from rivals, socializing with other birds, or preening its feathers, among other activities.  As pets, birds no longer have to search for food, worry about predators, defend their home from rivals, or do many of the other things necessary to survive in the wild.  Without these things to do, some parrots and other birds begin to engage in abnormal behaviors such as feather-plucking and chewing at their skin, pacing around their cages, back-flipping, eating their own stool, prolonged abnormal screaming, etc. 

Converting Your Bird to A Better Diet

Converting a bird to a better diet can be one of the best things an owner can do to provide a healthy life for their pet bird. The act of converting a bird though can sometimes be challenging. Birds that have been eating one type of diet for years may be reluctant to switch over to a healthier one. Especially if they have been eating a high fat diet like seeds. There are many tips and tricks for diet conversion. What worked well for one bird may not work well for another. Some birds will transition rapidly within a few days, while others can take months. Some owners become frustrated with diet conversion if they aren’t seeing results quickly and end up allowing the bird to just eat whatever it wants. This would be like allowing a child to eat pizza for dinner all the time instead of a more balanced meal. Birds may be stubborn, but being persistent and patient will eventually get you the results you are looking for. One of the most important things an owner needs to know about diet conversion is to not give up! 

Bird Diet Recommendations

Everyone knows that eating a good diet is one of the best things we can do to stay healthy and the same is true for our pet birds. The question that we must then ask is “What is the best diet for our birds?” Of course this will vary for the species in question but there is an unfortunate misconception out there that seeds are all a pet bird needs to stay healthy. This has led to many pet birds developing nutritional disorders and therefore, seed alone diets have been implicated as a problem. It is true that in the wild, seeds are consumed by many species of birds but that is not all they eat. Parrots in the wild will eat various types of seeds, nuts, fruits, beans, flowers, and even foliage from plants. The varieties of seeds that are foraged for in the wild are numerous and different studies have shown birds to consume greater than 20 different seed types. In captivity many of our seeds mixes only have 5-7 different types of seeds.

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