07/25/2024
Hello everyone, this may either be a long winded post, or just an update to everything that's been going on.
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So first and foremost, Violet and White Tail went to their vet appointment yesterday together, and they passed their Psychical Exam by the vet. Which is always a good sign. Vet's stated they saw nothing to indicate an illness or disease, so that's great.
However you can never be too safe or sorry with disease carriers. So requested the birds to be tested for 6 diseases, I could only get the 4/5 of the requested disease tests for both of them. The one they couldn't do was Staphylococcus because that test required a Cultural Sampling with usage of Clinical Signs and Symptoms. Neither of which Violet or White Tail experienced whilst in my care or when we were travelling to the vet, so they may not have it. It's been less than 24 hours since the vet so I'll check in on those two again today and see what has happened since then. Violet I dont think will have it, I only requested that test for her because she was in the same room as my flock where this whole show went down. So I did risk her but I had no choice to. So she may not be a carrier of Staphylococcus.
~~~ I told the vet about what happened in May/June in regards to the English Budgie I sold named Stone, who is the reason I'm doing Disease testing of my flock. I told them about her history, her locations she's been to through her life, if she's been exposed to other birds in her life, if when I got her she experienced any symptoms, what were her symptoms and diagnosis when she went to her new home. And they even got in contact with the Vet Stone went to to ask how they tested for the diseases Stone did/didn't have. So my vets at Glenview are now a part of the Stone case so when I go to do more disease testing, they'll at least know the root reason of doing all this. There's so much more info I gave them but at the time of my head ride now I'm drawing a blur. ~~~
So far I am getting both tested for the 4 Major Avian Disease:
Avian Polyomavirus
Chlamydia psittaci
PBFD viris
Pacheco's Disease virus
I know Stone originally was suspected to have Chlamydia, but she was later diagnosed to not have it. However I still wouldn't take my chances because Chlamydia is a part of the 4 Major diseases and usually they come in a package with the other 3. So may as well do all 4 even if 1 has been ruled out.
The other one my vet didn't outright state they wouldn't do but I suspect are doing it is Bordetella Hinzii. I get my results within the week so I can look at the diagnosis receipts and see if Bordetella was a part of it.
There was a bunch of info my vet told me about in regards to both Staphylococcus and Bordetella Hinzii, most that I remember is that both these diseases are opportunistic diseases that spread via humans and poultry. I do recall about my vet saying about the risks of Bordetella being found in birds if they were exposed to chickens. I luckily do not live very close to any chicken farms, and I haven't touched or been exposed to live poultry in years. So that may be a buffer but not an absolute preventative. There was much more discussed mostly through questions and speculations, but a lot of what I was concerned about was covered thanks to the knowledge of my vets.
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Now this next part is gonna absolutely floor me even typing out because I do not want to do anything that would put people who shouldn't be helping me to want to help me. I try to be as independent as humanly possible, but if I am to proceed with doing the necessary tests to make sure I am a disease-free operation, and to ensure my budgies are not carriers who will pass on harm to others. I may have to ask for some help.
When I went to the vet, they gave me a price for doing the disease testing, I saw how much it would be. At the time, my stupid brain thought, "Oh, this is gonna be my total for the psychical exam + disease testing per bird. That's actually pretty good.", but then when it actually came to paying the full bill, having done the math in my head. You can imagine my shock when I heard the total.
I attached the full vet bill + some of my math in the images below so you can read the full reports. I censored out my sensitive info and my vet's name because honestly, protection and privacy.
You would think I would know better than to assume the price my vet showed me for disease testing would be separate for the psychical exam. I do not claim to be the brightest tool in the shed so... egh...
But yeah, the gist of it is is that per bird, for exams and disease testing, every bird costs 500$ CAD. I would say this isn't a problem for me, but even my hourly wage and final pay amount only covers 6% of my population on a monthly basis.
Here's the math:
Female Population: 20
Male Population: 24
Chicks in Nest: 4
Total: 48 Budgies
48 X $500 = $24 000
$24 000 x 5% = $1 200 + $24 000 = $25 200.
There's an additional 65$ because the total per bird was not an even 500$, and honestly it's pennies compared to the total amount, so I'm ok paying that out of pocket.
I'm honestly, for absolute transparency sake, really uncertain and upset about this. It's not because of the costs it takes to make sure every individual bird is healthy and not a carrier for preventable diseases, it's not because the costs to make sure the birds are healthy far outweighs my usual rehoming fees I set for my birds. For my birds, I would rather be homeless than give them up or go back to what I was originally doing, it's not because the total amount to disease test my flock is not possible in the timeframe I'm currently in right now.
It's *how* I'm gonna raise those funds that's the problem.
I already went through a ton of logical routes to try see how I can tackle disease testing my entire flock, and all of them realistically cut corners that circle back around to the main problem: It's inevitable that this flock gets their test.
I host very few talents and skills in terms of my hobbies and interest, and since I am also an extremely independent-driven individual, I like to use my major skills to benefit me in times of need.
I've figured out a couple ways to raise my own funds outside of work using my Artistic and Baking Skills, and other means:
~ Digital Art Commissions
~ Paintings and Drawings
~ Specialty Baked Good
~ Jewelry Crafts
~ Selling off my sterilized avian supplies I am not using and no longer need
There is another alternative way to gain some funds just to help soften the total costs, and I hate to say this:
Setting up a GoFundMe and opening up Paypal Donations
The thought of these two ways to help me with my birds make me sick, personally. It's nothing malice or ill-will about these ways, rescues and normal pet owners do it all the time and I fully support them for it. They have reasons to ask for help with their intakes. I have 0 reasons to ask for such help via these tools. And I don't want people to feel like they should help out with my bills because this is what I signed up for, and I should deal with this. Even if people did help out.
If people did support me I'd repay them back in full when this is all cleared up. It would take me time, but I'd do it. I don't think it's right for me to ask for aid without repaying my dues to those who helped me.
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Another struggle I thought about was increasing the prices of my birds if they got vet checked and disease testing by a 25% increase from the set price I put.
Say for example, I have a bred-for budgie who inherited uncommon mutations, is tamed and trained, and of a certain s*x that influence mutation inheritance. Say I mark it at 50$, 25% of 50 is 12.5, making the new price for the bird after vet checks and disease testing $62.50
That's only 8% of $500 for vet fees. the 62.5 would be a buffer and reduces the total costs so the rest can be paid out of pocket.
So now that I know that disease testing is the most expensive testing I can get, I'll work with % numbers that's fair for future fee pricing. 25% will be the minimal, but I will not do 50% or above. That's unreasonable for anyone.
I'm also helping my grandma clean out her backyard on her property so that we can get a shed installed for the birds (Do not let the shed scare you, I saw the shed I was interested in, it's huge: 8' x 8', and I can even get the shed insulated for an extra charge. it's short-term anyways until I can get my own property to build an aviary. If I get the shed I can always build onto it whenever I move... whenever that may be.) So I got to consider the funds needed to pay for the shed, the insulation, and the delivery and service fees. That will probably take up a crap ton of my saved up funds.
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I'm gonna wait for those test results this week and upcoming, I'm going to work on a ton of stuff, and by the beginning of August I will post about anything I'm doing to raise funds for my flock.
If I am to resort to needing group fundings if I find anything out or things go super wrong, I will open up a GoFundMe with an accurate goal for the current time, and I'll open up my PayPal to donations.
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I just got a call about an appointment for 6 birds on August 22nd at 3:30pm. This time frame is fine for me to save up the funds necessary to cover all 6 birds for the 1 day. I'll still raise some funds to be a buffer but 1 month of saving should be all good.
