My experience wasn't a nice one at all. I took my parakeet in today to have his beak trimmed, He was playful with his little buddy Tequela, every day, chirping and singing, but having difficulty eatin... Read More
My experience wasn't a nice one at all. I took my parakeet in today to have his beak trimmed, He was playful with his little buddy Tequela, every day, chirping and singing, but having difficulty eating due to his overgrown beak. He played and chirped all the way to the vet. I was very nervous about possibly losing him to stress as he wouldn't let us handle him. Very skittish. The assistant got him out of the cage and held him in the cloth while Dr. Stenborg got out the dremmal or however you spell i,t and said that there was a chance he could go into shock and die from the procedure from stress which I had heard could happen, but due to the long beak decided we had to take the risk. She assured us that it had never happened during her practice. I was not impressed when she went at him with a dremmel on a tiny little point the size of a needle. He wasn't a parrot with a huge beak. I expected little scissors of some sort to snip off the point. She kept at him with the dremmel and I knew he was frightened to death.. Literally..., The assistant said uh oh..we need to get him on oxygen. I was dying when they took my little Tico out of the room. I said a praye,r but to no avail. She brought him back in quite a few minutes later dead in the little cloth and apologized, but with absolutely no feeling. I understand she is used to death of pets. but a little more feeling would have been nice. My heart was broke as she passed him in the little cloth to me and asked me if I wanted to take him home to bury. She began to show me some skin under his feathers on his neck and said he was jaundiced which she said could be a liver condition. Maybe so but he played, ate like a little horse and sang all the time and all the way to the veterinary, so I'm not so sure he was sick, but I know she had to blame it on something to make me feel a little better which didn't help a bit. My little chirping bird went in and I felt so guilty that I took him there and blamed myself all day and tonight that I killed him. My heart is broke tonight and the only thing I regret is that I didn't wait til and take him to a bird veterinarian in Sebastian who may have handled the procedure a lot different, but couldn't get in until Thursday, and felt so bad for the poor little guy struggling to eat with that long beak. I asked Dr. Stenborg if she had done this procedure before and was assured that she does it everyday, but I notice there are no reviews about anyone taking their birds to her. Just accupuncture with dogs and cats, so I have no way of knowing if she is experienced with birds, but I do know my little Tico is gone and he was playing and chirping this morning. They just left the room and I didn't see her or the assistant after that. Not a lot of caring in my opinion. He may be a parakeet, but he still was my pet. I did ask what I owed them and they said oh my goodness nothing. I believe it would have been a lot less stress had she just got out snippers and snipped off the long point instead of a freaking drummel at him. The noise in his face was not a good way to leave this world if you ask me. Sorry for the grim review, but not all of us are happy with our outcome. Debbie & Scott Calhoun..sad owners of our little Tico Parakeet of 3 yrs.Read Less