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Health Care Logistics

Posted in Uncategorized | August 27th, 2011

health care logistics
Moving across the US with parrots …?

I may be moving across the US (from Seattle, WA to Wash, DC), and will be taking my 5 parrots with me (3 conures and 2 macaws). I’m looking for ways to safely move them without trauma.

We will not consider shipping them, or checking them.

Does anyone who’s accomplished such a feat have any lessons learned they’d like to share?

Anyone else have any ideas?

We’ve discussed renting/purchasing a motorhome … has anyone tried this, and care to comment on how well it worked out? (are KOA sites tolerant of noisy pets?)

PS We’re aware of issues of legal status of the birds in various states (e.g. some consider some of them agricultural pests), CITES issues, and END quarantine areas, health certificates, etc., and everyone is banded and/or chipped. The issue is simply the logistics of moving them safely and with minimal stress.

A friend of mine travels frequently with her Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, McCloud. He has a travel cage that fits into the back seat of her car and can be seat-belted in, and that has fixed perches that allow him to look out the windows or not as he chooses. She has him accustomed to his travel cage by putting him in it periodically at home, so he’ll recognize it as normal. You can try this out by loading everyone up and going for trips around town to see how they react.

On long trips she will also carry his large cage in the trailer (a home-built trailer designed to serve double duty as a way to haul stuff and as an air-conditioned sleeping trailer) so he can get some relief in the evenings from the small size of the travel cage. When she had two birds, she devised a barrier between the cages so they couldn’t see each other because McCloud would get jealous and start to holler.

She always carries plenty of bottled water to resupply his dish, in case local water isn’t good for him, and a good supply of his normal foods and medicines (he has a liver disorder that requires daily medication). She also has gotten her vet to recommend other bird vets along her route in case McCloud gets ill.

Her husband has devised a carrier for McCloud to ride along on the motorcycles with them, but she prefers to carry him in the car. As long as he is where he can see her he has always travelled well.

As far as I know, there are no problems with KOA campgrounds. She prefers them when she travels as a way to keep costs down. You might consider calling prospective campsites for reservations and discussing this with them in advance in case they have some more isolated campsites. I know that La Quinta accepts dogs – wonder if they would allow parrots in cages? Especially once the birds have settled down for the night there shouldn’t be too much noise.

You also might think about your particular birds and whether they might inflict damage on a rented RV and then take steps to keep them from doing any. McCloud loves to chew on windowsills and wall corners and so she has to make sure his cage is secured well away from either.

The main things to worry about will be temperature, since vehicles can get hot rapidly in the summer sun, movement of the cages within whatever vehicle you use, and possibly exhaust fumes. However, usually if the interior of the vehicle is comfortable for humans it is probably comfortable for birds. They will certainly prefer traveling with you than with strangers.