Total Crackers: Beak Trim

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Every 4 months or so we have to take Classy to the vet for a beak trim. The right side of his lower beak grows up and over the upper beak so he can’t close it properly. It grows slowly at first, but when it gets to a certain point it grows like crazy. Apparently that’s actually how fast the beak grows, it just isn’t apparent because it’s kept at the proper size by the friction created during use.
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Linda, the bird shop owner that used to trim wings and nails, would also do beaks. Rani’s upper beak will grow to a wicked point, so she showed us how to grind it down. It’s not easy (you can’t trim too close to the blood supply) and always makes me nervous, so I have no intention of attempting to trim the lower beak. It’s such an ordeal to get Classy toweled that I’d rather let someone else do it. Besides, the vet does such a great job – Classy looks like a new bird after his trim. This time he was due for a nail and wing trim, so we had the vet do it rather that fighting with him ourselves. Dr. J is much better at getting him into a towel than we are and that’s most of the battle.
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Our avian vet is wonderful. We’ve gone to a few others but I prefer the one we see now – she’s very calm and laid back and the birds can feel it. The only drawback is that she’s about a half an hour from the house, which prevents us from taking Alex there for his nail trim because he won’t ride that far. Don’t get me wrong, Alex’s vet is good too, but I really like the way Dr. J handles the birds. I took Spike to one vet that was so nervous handling the bird that it scared the living crap out of her. Every time he went near her she acted like he was a predator and would go into panic mode. It was so bad she was actually shedding feathers and panting with fear. He may have been a good doctor, but creating that kind of terror because he didn’t know how to properly handle a bird was inexcusable. Needless to say, we decided that a long drive was a better option.