Hello All,
Our 23 year old cockatiel, Serena, has been dealing with some health issues recently including vomiting up undigested seeds, getting watery feces as well as experiencing intermittent dry sneezing fits. Unfortunately we live in a small town and the closest avian vet is a 6 hour round-trip away, but we were able to get an appointment for this upcoming Tuesday (the avian vet isn't in the office on Sundays or Mondays).
I'm glad we were able to get this appointment on short notice, but I'm worried about the weather the day of the appointment. It is forecasted to be in the mid 40s F & almost 20 MPH wind, so the actual temps may feel closer to freezing. This is probably the "warmest" day in the next 10 days as well : /. We are planning to wrap a travel cage (lots of bars and openings), with multiple layers of blankets and then take him into a preheated car, where we would then keep the blankets, but pull back some of the blankets for ventilation. Serena would only be outside of the house & car for a couple of minutes total including going to/coming from the Vet clinic.
Based on people's prior experience, do these elements seem too risky for an old bird that is sick? Could it end up being so stressful that his symptoms get even worse, making the visit counterproductive in a way? We would rather not delay this appointment at all as he has been dealing with various health concerns over the past year (for which we previously went to this same avian vet and he was prescribed antibiotics - luckily that was during a warmer season and Serena handled it well), but we are conflicted because of the weather forecast.
Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated. Although this is my first post here, I've been lurking here for a while to gather cockatiel advice and I'm a big fan of this forum! Thank you!
Our 23 year old cockatiel, Serena, has been dealing with some health issues recently including vomiting up undigested seeds, getting watery feces as well as experiencing intermittent dry sneezing fits. Unfortunately we live in a small town and the closest avian vet is a 6 hour round-trip away, but we were able to get an appointment for this upcoming Tuesday (the avian vet isn't in the office on Sundays or Mondays).
I'm glad we were able to get this appointment on short notice, but I'm worried about the weather the day of the appointment. It is forecasted to be in the mid 40s F & almost 20 MPH wind, so the actual temps may feel closer to freezing. This is probably the "warmest" day in the next 10 days as well : /. We are planning to wrap a travel cage (lots of bars and openings), with multiple layers of blankets and then take him into a preheated car, where we would then keep the blankets, but pull back some of the blankets for ventilation. Serena would only be outside of the house & car for a couple of minutes total including going to/coming from the Vet clinic.
Based on people's prior experience, do these elements seem too risky for an old bird that is sick? Could it end up being so stressful that his symptoms get even worse, making the visit counterproductive in a way? We would rather not delay this appointment at all as he has been dealing with various health concerns over the past year (for which we previously went to this same avian vet and he was prescribed antibiotics - luckily that was during a warmer season and Serena handled it well), but we are conflicted because of the weather forecast.
Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated. Although this is my first post here, I've been lurking here for a while to gather cockatiel advice and I'm a big fan of this forum! Thank you!
