$2550 vet bill

[LaFleche]

No, here in the US one can very quickly get a $2500 get bill. Xrays alone are at least $200.

Exam fee
Emergency fee
Xrays
Fluids
Lab tests
Overnight hospitalization
Medications
Tube feeding

All these add up very quickly.

Here in Germany most vets will apply the farm animal fee schedule for veterinarians when treating poultry.

 

[Parront]

No, here in the US one can very quickly get a $2500 get bill. Xrays alone are at least $200.

Exam fee
Emergency fee
Xrays
Fluids
Lab tests
Overnight hospitalization
Medications
Tube feeding

All these add up very quickly.

Sad but true. I felt that I paid a fair price to save my parrot, and knew it could have been higher if the vet had to do surgery to get the blockage removed. Luckily the anesthetic relaxed the muscles enough to manually manipulate the egg out.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Those vet bill amounts aren't sustainable unless you're a millionaire. I raise one of the rarest breeds in the world and losing a single bird is a problem. Every time I lose a bird for unknown reason, I send it to our vet university for a $100 necropsy so I can nip any potential problem in the bud.
However, I have incubators and eggs to replace birds. I did spend a little over 100 on a vet visit and x-ray for one bird. But that is my limit. Maybe it is because my birds are livestock and not pets. I butcher and eat extra roosters. There is no way in H E double hockey sticks that I would spend that kind of money to save a chicken. I don't have that kind of money but even if I did, that would be insane.

I have a friend who is an animal behavior consultant and has worked in the rescue world. That was mostly for exotic birds, waterfowl, poultry, dogs and cats. One year her vet bills were over $34,000. She still has a couple parrots and other exotics as well as a dog and other animals she continues to take to the vet. That being said, she is now flat broke, 2 months behind on her rent and utilities and doesn't have money to repair her car or feed herself.
I believe that is the definition of insanity.
If caring for animals isn't sustainable, it doesn't work. You can't care for animals if you don't have a home for yourself.

I know people become attached to their pets but there are so many rescue parrots in need of homes and euthanasia is not very expensive but essentially free with a necropsy. That would be a way to go if one must have those animals.
It depends on the species but for long lived birds, I don't believe people should keep them. They will outlive you - and then what? They go into the pool of rescues.

 

[Parront]

Here in Germany most vets will apply the farm animal fee schedule for veterinarians when treating poultry.

I doubt that a vet our member in Florida could get to would be a farm vet. Most city vets treat dogs and cats and would not even touch a chicken or bird of any kind, like my African Grey. I asked my local rural vet to see my parrot, they referred me to the AZ Exotic Animal hospital in Phoenix, I drove 2 hours to see the vet, Dr. Lamb. She definately saved my bird's life. They see all kinds of animals there, one in the waiting area was a pot belly pig.

 

[Parront]

Those vet bill amounts aren't sustainable unless you're a millionaire. I raise one of the rarest breeds in the world and losing a single bird is a problem. Every time I lose a bird for unknown reason, I send it to our vet university for a $100 necropsy so I can nip any potential problem in the bud.
However, I have incubators and eggs to replace birds. I did spend a little over 100 on a vet visit and x-ray for one bird. But that is my limit. Maybe it is because my birds are livestock and not pets. I butcher and eat extra roosters. There is no way in H E double hockey sticks that I would spend that kind of money to save a chicken. I don't have that kind of money but even if I did, that would be insane.

I have a friend who is an animal behavior consultant and has worked in the rescue world. That was mostly for exotic birds, waterfowl, poultry, dogs and cats. One year her vet bills were over $34,000. She still has a couple parrots and other exotics as well as a dog and other animals she continues to take to the vet. That being said, she is flat broke, 2 months behind on her rent and utilities and doesn't have money to repair her car or feed herself.
I believe that is the definition of insanity.
If caring for animals isn't sustainable, it doesn't work. You can't care for animals if you don't have a home for yourself.

I absolutely agree, all of our medical fees are bordering on extortion, human and vet! And I probably would self-treat my own chickens. I place my parrot in the category of house-pet, not livestock, as you so rightly note. I believe the OP's chicken is a house pet from her photos.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I doubt that a vet our member in Florida could get to would be a farm vet. Most city vets treat dogs and cats and would not even touch a chicken or bird of any kind, like my African Grey. I asked my local rural vet to see my parrot, they referred me to the AZ Exotic Animal hospital in Phoenix, I drove 2 hours to see the vet, Dr. Lamb. She definately saved my bird's life. They see all kinds of animals there, one in the waiting area was a pot belly pig.

I agree. So many vets in our area are primarily seeing dogs and cats. I can't even get a chicken fecal sample read at them (aren't parasitic worms the same regardless of the species that produced the feces). The closest vet that would read one is over 45 minutes away and I would drive past 30 or 40 vets to get there.
Good avian vets are extremely rare and those with poultry experience are rare as hen's teeth.

 

[LaFleche]

To my knowledge there is no real reason to charge these horrendous amounts as the actual costs and time spent on patients are mostly quite low.

Of course the equipment for setting up an animal clinic will be costly at first, but over the first years running the clinic they will have amortised just by the sheer amount of patients coming in.

Makes me think that some animal clinics seem to just be put into operation to rip off the owners.

 

[LaFleche]

Good avian vets are extremely rare and those with poultry experience are rare as hen's teeth.

Sadly, that applies to Germany too.

 

[LaFleche]

This is her after three weeks/1 month and she's laying eggs!!!!! And has regained over a pound, during recovery!!!

I am happy for you and your chicken and hope she stays healthy for a long time!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

To my knowledge there is no real reason to charge these horrendous amounts as the actual costs and time spent on patients are mostly quite low.

Of course the equipment for setting up an animal clinic will be costly at first, but over the first years running the clinic they will have amortised just by the sheer amount of patients coming in.

Makes me think that some animal clinics seem to just be put into operation to rip off the owners.

It is a long term escalating trend for Americans to spend exorbitant amounts of money on their animals.

https://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp

https://www.avma.org/javma-news/201...predicts a 4.8,billion, according to the APPA.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rel...ts-than-ever-before-72-billion-300816835.html

Again, I find that insane. Apparently people have more money than sense.