For The Birds

If you own ANY feathered pet, no matter the variety, THIS is the BEST Bird-VET in the northern California area. I live oon Pasadena, but my little, noisy, 5-ounce Conure parrot makes periodic trips to Cupertino to "his VET," Dr. VanSant. J-J is worth it, and this VET knows my bird and treats him like it is her own. Read Less

Dr. Van Sant is the only one I have experience with, so I can't say much about other doctors there. She seems knowledgeable, but if your personality doesn't mesh with hers, she can be rude and judgemental. It seems like maybe she's not that way with everyone, but I left feeling like garbage every single time I went there. Her services are extraordinarily expensive. My average checkup was about $600. She recommended weekly treatments for my bird at $20-50 per visit. I did what she said for awhile, but eventually realized that they were not helping him at all. She insisted I keep doing them. I took him to a different avian vet. I went against her recommendations, started him back on pellets instead of the expensive pellet/seed cakes she insisted on, and stopped his weekly visits with her. Only then did I see an improvement with his health. I gotta say that going to a different vet was the best choice I could have made for my little guy. Four years later with a different vet and he's happy and healthy, which she claimed he wouldn't be. If you visit here and it goes well and you have good feelings about it, maybe your luck will be better. However, if you feel like you're being scammed, listen to that feeling and go elsewhere. Read Less

She was the worst. We took our injured bird to her but all she did was charge us $600 for nothing (we had to take our bird to another vet who actually took care of her and charged us only a fraction of the price) and told us we are bad parents. Stay far away and take your pet somewhere else. Read Less

For the Birds has been around for decades and Dr. Van Sant's advice comes from years of experience treating exotic birds. Her success rate in mending sick birds to health is very good and her advice in bird care gives you the knowledge on how to keep your bird healthy and live a long happy life with you. I would go no where else to get health care for my birds.Read Less

A parakeet flew into my yard & i found it & took care of it .  Tried to find the owner.  The bird was not well & I tried to take care if it but it wasn't improving . They wanted to charge me a lot if money even though I told them it wasn't my bird & i was trying to help. They said they even would charge to euthanize the bird if it was suffering! I found another practice that assisted and the bird is ok. Read Less

Dr. Van Sant, you are a genius, and I need to thank you for letting me know what a terrible human being I was for owning a bird. You see, I never knew what a vile person I was until you brought that to my attention. Who knew purchasing a parrot and taking it to a veterinarian was a bad thing? I had to learn, like most people... the hard way. So I brought my bird to you, changed his diet, purchased all new toys, cage, and accessories to give him the best life possible, and then brought him in to you for a sudden random illness. I thought I had a slight bit of intellect, and thought if my bird was not doing well, that the most humane thing would be to euthanize him. But you insisted that I should keep him alive, and do whatever was necessary, so I kept him incubated for 2 weeks with a little bird oxygen mask at your insistence. So $2000 later, I had a dead bird, and begged to have my bird back, since you wanted to keep him for a necropsy. I reluctantly let you take the contents of his chest, even though I believe you did it prior to asking.So I would like to thank you, since I am no longer an evil, horrible human being. I learned from my past and never owned a bird again, because of you. Thank you, you're the best! Read Less

Dr. Fern Van Sant has been a lifesaver for my cocktail. She offered treatments and meds that other bird vets did not even suggest. She goes much beyond being your typical bird veterinarian as she's involved in depth with the research of avian health and disease to a greater level than any I've seen. She's got a very scientific mind and is well studied in her field. Brilliant. Read Less

Dr.  Fern Van Sant has been a lifesaver for my cocktail.  She offered treatments and meds that other bird vets did not even suggest.  She goes much beyond being your typical bird veterinarian as she's involved in depth with the  research of avian health and disease to a greater level than any I've seen.   She's  got a very scientific mind and is well studied in her field.  Brilliant. Read Less

This place is the worst. I've been to a lot of different veterinarians and this place really is the worst I've seen. The doctor had no idea what she was talking about, she was rude, they charged me for things I didn't get and they gave me the wrong amount of medicine for my bird. She was so uneducated that she couldn't tell the age of my very common bird when it was obvious to tell by the juvenile feathers, high voice and the eye color. It seemed she didn't care about the well being of my bird at all. Maybe this place discriminates against common inexpensive birds or something because she was completely nonchalant about wanting to put my bird down. I took him to another veterinarian and he's completely healthy and happy. I would not recommend this place to anyone. I've already told my friends who run bird sanctuaries and shelters about this experience. Not only was the experience terrible but the prices are more than the veterinarians voted best in the country. I find it funny the worst I've been to is also the most expensive. The other people working here at for the birds seemed nice.Read Less

Have you seen Turner and Hooch with Tom Hanks? The scene with the vet was our first day. I had no idea what to expect so Dr. Van Sant gave us the new bird talk. Nearly a decade later my little Mogwai is rarely a Gremlin and every day he charms my heart. We are so happy together and we owe it all to Dr. Van Sant and her incredible team. Thank you.Read Less

Took our budgee there for an unknown illness. The doctor was asking us questions and giving us options instead of offering suggestions. Ended up spending $600 and having our budgee die at home three days later. Not a pleasant experience. At least the staff was nice enough to follow-up with a condolence card a couple weeks later. Read Less

This place is horrible.  Bad customer service.  The vet swears that society should not domesticate birds yet she makes money by our domesticated birds and makes you feel bad for owning one.  The rudest heartless vet I have ever met and I'm upset that we gave her a chance and our business.  I told her how our bird was kind and sweet and she said it was only because the bird was sick.  That can't be true because my sick bird attacked my daughter but chose to be kind with me.  Just shocked how a professional office could be so cold and tactless. Definitely seems to know about birds but her bird jargon cannot be understood by your average person.  Please find someone else to give your money to.  You deserve better and so do your birds. I wish I could give this place no stars. Read Less

Great option for chickens, and Fern (doc) is the best.I came to them with an adult lavender orpington in respiratory distress, and the care they gave was top notch.  I did have to pay an extra after-hours fee because I arrived just before closing, but they did an excellent job of both caring for the bird, and in giving me the information I needed to smartly take care of the rest of my flock.It's a long drive for me to get to their office, but I feel Fern and all her staff are worth it. Read Less

Dr. Van Sant knows her birds and is passionate about educating about proper bird care. If you want to gain knowledge and receive top bird care in the South Bay, she is the best I have found so far. She checked things other avian vets in the area have never checked. She noticed things other avian vets have completely overlooked. She asked the right questions without my having to continually offer to volunteer information. Read Less

I've come here 3 times total to care for my parakeet in the past 2 years anytime he seemed sick. My experience for his care (for the first 2 times) was not too bad but the vet was condescending about the lack of knowledge that only specialists would know. I mean you have to figure that most people probably buy their pets at the petstore and educate themselves with some basic knowledge on how to care for the pet and that's it. It's ridiculous to make people feel so bad and guilty when they didn't even know in the first place not to buy bird toys from places like walmart or petco... I felt like she was scolding me for the simplest things. I'm glad she educated me on what not to do, but I don't need the heat for things everyone does. (buying only seeds that local petstores provide, buying toys from those places as well). The business was too far for me to drive all the time to replenish my 'keets food supply based off what she wanted me to feed them, which it seemed like she only had. Kinda scammy. Even when I bought the same brand but different color packaging, she still had the nerve to tell my husband "are you just putting this here for my own entertainment?" And commenced on telling him that its no good, buy the kind we have, that's the only good food for them... Thanks lady.. We decided to look into another vet bc we couldn't deal with her sarcasm and criticism. I appreciate vets since they do look out for animals more than others. I appreciate the time she "scolded" me and freaked me out so I can care for my parakeet better. It could be done in a better manner though. Much better. Since all us pet owners do want to do the best for our little friendly animal members. Read Less

I have been taking my parrots to For the Birds for over 10 years now. One of the reasons I continue to drive from Palo Alto to San Jose is that Dr. Van Sant knows her sh*t! She is there to offer advanced avian vet care as well as common sense advice-like take your birds outside!!Parrots are wild animals and as such have special needs that MUST be followed when bringing them into your family. Dr Van Sant realizes this and is up front about the realities of bird care and guardianship. Parrots are not pets. Dr Van Sant is an incredible avian vet and I will continue to bring my boys to her for years to come! Please don't retire!As far as patrons with billing issues...I always discuss what tests need to be done & the pricing with Dr Van Sant prior to starting the tests so I never have any surprises/problems with my bill. Read Less

Our experience with Dr Van Sant has been the highest of 5 stars. Her staff is excellent and are all genuinely caring people. Having said that, I understand some of the criticism. Dr Van Sant is essentially a researcher who is also a vet. The large poster containing research on Vitamin D in the lobby in her paper. She has written or co-written a number of books and research papers and is mentioned in many others. She is very clinical and very direct. She will throw out terminology that I suspect many people don't know. But I know she cares very deeply.Our cockatiel was diagnosed with Spironucleosis, an essentially unknown parasitic infection. If you Google it, all you'll find is research papers, one of which mentions a mortality rate of 85% even among treated birds. Yikes.But it turns out we were extremely lucky to find a vet that had treated a flock of cockatiels last year with Spironucleosis. The existing medication for this disease had very serious side affects including potential neurological damage. The vet developed her own formulation to medicate the birds she diagnosed and is even going to present a research paper on the disease. Any other vet and we'd probably have a dead bird on our hands.She or her staff called frequently to check up on her and the vet spent a LOT of time on the phone and in person with us. This place is definitely not like your typical vets office. She asked us early on: "How commited are you to this bird?" when we brought her in to get evaluated. Which basically means that we could put her to sleep or make a large time commitment to see if we could help her survive. We chose the latter and it was a huge commitment of time to essentially hand feed her for almost a week.She always told us what she thought she would do if she were in our situation. She was reluctant to use medication, but also was fairly convinced of the infection, which was confirmed with DNA analysis a week later.I've had a lot of birds in my life and she is by far the best vet I've ever encountered. I wouldn't even bother trying to find a different one. Read Less

Cute I love these cute birds these are very very very very very lovely I feel in love with them because they are so cute and they were very very very tiny I just want to hug one I just say hi I used to be scared I know you still have a good one day and it so I want to get a bird Read Less

Let me first start out by saying if you don't give your all in your profession, why do it at all? For the Birds didn't do all they could for my pet bird, instead they did unnecessary procedures and did everything to increase my bird's medical bill. The doctor worsened my birds condition and performed superfluous procedures therefore leading to the death of my bird. If she honored my request for surgery all of this could of been avoided because my bird was healthy. After all of this, Dr. Van Sant couldn't even face my little sister because she knew she was responsible for my pet's death. This place does not have the staffing for the best care for any bird. I would not recommend and am very disappointed in their services. Read Less

I've boarded my bird at many places in many cities over the many years that I've owned him, and this was the worst experience I've ever had.First, the vet insisted they do their own tests to verify his health condition, even though I had paperwork from another vet showing that he was in great health (no diseases, etc.). I was in a bind, about to go on vacation soon, so I agreed to the tests. They performed the services without giving me a price ahead of time - big mistake!! I was left with an OUTRAGEOUS bill that I had no choice but to pay since the work was already done. Like I said, I've been through this before and I've never paid even close to as much as I had for these same tests. The total for the pre-boarding tests was around $580!! At first I thought that was including the week-long boarding (which would have been a reasonable total), but it wasn't.Like I said, I was in a bind, so even though I was furious at having to pay such an expensive tab, I continued to board the bird with this vet. That brings me to issue number two. The vet decided that my food wasn't good enough (even though it's kept him alive and healthy for 20 years), so they decided to transition him over to their own special food during the boarding. So now I either have to continue feeding him their undoubtedly-expensive food, or transition him back to his regular food. Oh, and I wasn't given any of their food to bring home, so that "transition" is basically going to happen overnight - not good for the bird, but what choice do I have? Whether or not their food is truly better, their decision to change his food without asking me is completely out of line and irresponsible.It almost feels like a scam business - I really wanted to report them to the BBB after that no-estimate lab bill. I might still do it. The food switch isn't a reportable offense, but I feel it's even worse as it actually does harm to my bird.I'm not even going to start on the bedside manner of the vet - that's been covered in plenty of other reviews.It wasn't 100% bad, as they did perform a rush job on the lab tests and got us booked on short notice for the vacation. However, the price we paid (monetary and otherwise) was too high and we will never go back there again. After I post this review, I'm going to forget that this vet exists. Read Less

Dr Van Sandt, is extremely knowledgeable in her field. I brought my bird to her and she spent the extra time to make sure I understood all about this particular species. I was shown my birds sinuses and what to look for to ensure proper misting to moisten the sinuses. The people that offer negative reviews are angry because they feel she is too harsh in her opinion. I previously lost a bird to PDD. I wish I had known about Dr van Sandt and maybe things would have turned out differently as when I first got the bird I was not very knowledgeable on a good diet and habitat . Read Less

It's a toss-up between giving no stars or 5. Dr Fern and her assistant Tree laughed and waggled eyebrows at each other and accused me of lying during a visit. They said I wasn't buying enough pellets from them, so I must be giving my parrots seeds. That was really odd. My Eclectus and Grey ate only Harrison's High Potency pellets and fresh fruit and veggies. That was also a long time ago. I give the clinic a negative 14 on treatment of human customers. But that doc surely does know lots about treating birds. And she's always learning more. If I had a parrot problem other avian vets had not solved, I'd go back to For the Birds. Otherwise? No way in Hades. Read Less

My most recent visit with my pet bird was a rude awakening.I was reminded that just because a person can talk does not mean that they can communicate. Any person that deals directly with clients needs to know how to appropriately communicate with the pet owners. I brought my bird in for a special consultation.The doctor I met was blunt and factual. Great. But they were cold and seemed to scold me for owning a bird, oddly enough. I understand that birds are not dogs, but this doctor seemed to scoff at me for asking questions about training, how to deal with unfamiliar people, normal things. Instead of answering me, I was lectured about how my bird doesn't love me. It just "plays nice". That's not what I asked, but thanks for the judgement.Apparently, there is another doctor at this clinic with a better bedside manner.I'll be sure to request the other doctor, and hopefully steer clear of this one. Read Less

There are two clinics for the birds wihin a mile or so from each other. And we all had good or bad experience with either one of them. Mine was bad with West Valley clinic and great with For the birds. To be fair, receptionist could've been nicer and more customer oriented.  Maybe because my bird died (not their fault, they actually did everthing they could) they were a bit softer with me. However, Dr. Van Sant is a great doctor, offered various ways of treatment, called me all the time. I felt to be taken care of as well as my poor bird. I lost my little girl and it's devastating. For the Birds clinic did everyting above and beyond to treat her and to comfort me during this tough time. I do regret of taking my bird to West Valley first and not to Dr. Van Sant. Read Less

Dr Fern is str8 to the point. Dr Siri is very kind. Both Dr's r very knowlegable and have birds themselves. Same with the staff, very kind and gave me great tips n tools to use with my baby ringneck. Carina even  went out of her way to squeeze me in last min when my baby hurt her leg. NEVER felt rushed, always made me feel comfortable and important. Read Less

I have been going to For the Birds for years with my Budgies and Cockatiels. I get the very best care, advice and service. They specialize in bird care so why take your birdies to anyone else? They carry the best healthy food for your birds and will mail it to you so you (you pay shipping) can be sure not to run out. They are serious about keeping your pet birdies alive and well. I'm very happy to have bird vets I can count on. I've been going to Dr. Van Sant for probably over 20 years and plan to go whenever I get a new bird, when a bird is ill, or somebody needs a checkup. Read Less

When I got my Blue Throated Macaw Mulligan, I could not accept my mother's recommendation that I take her here, where my mom had always taken her parrots.  "No, Mom ... I need to find a bigger expert." blah blah blah.I was wrong.  Mom was right.  I hate when that happens.They are AMAZING.  Completely wonderful staff, knowledgable about my bird and don't talk down to me.  They also will let Mully board there when we go out of town, and do a great job at that, keeping her in nice cages surrounded by people and other birds.They are awesome.  I am so thankful they are close to me, but I'd be willing to drive to them if they weren't.Highest recommendation. Read Less

I have depended on Drs. Laura Bellinghausen & Fern Van Sant of For the Birds for two years and have always had an extremely positive experience. They have saved my pionus life twice [aspergillosis & injury] as well as cared for my conure. They have helped me through several scary nights and always treat my birds and me with respect & sensitvity. I have had other avian vets but none that I trust as much. Read Less