I clip the claws of a Macaw

I just had the word ‘parrot’ marked on the computer as my next client to call through. I expected to see a large covered cage with an African Grey parrot in it and was startled to call through a couple with a huge pet carrier on wheels and a beautiful Macaw hanging onto the door of the cage.

They had called her Tess and she needed her nails clipped. I had a lovely young human physiotherpaist watching my consultations with me as she wants to become a pet physiotherapist. We both marvelled at the beauty of Tess (I had never dealt with a Macaw before) but then I had to work out a way of safely clipping her very sharp claws without stressing her to much or getting bitten.

The owner held her on his arm and she let out an almighty squawk and shed all the morning’s breakfast down his leg. I went to fetch my satsuma that I had for my lunch to bribe her to stay still.

When I started the procedure (trying to avoid her extra long hooked beak), she took fright and flew to the furthest spot of my room; her huge wings flapping in the small space and all I could see was Anya the physiotherapist hiding her head in her hands as the huge Macaw tried to land on her head but then realised it would have no hold and landed on my computer instead.

After all the excitement, I realised that Tess was actually quite tame and I just got on with the job and quickly popped her back into her large pet carrier. Anya was relieved. My satsuma remained uneaten!

This entry was posted on 20/10/2008 at 01:08 pm and is filed under A veterinary day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.