NCS - The Cost of Death vs. The Cost of Veterinary Care

The Cost of Death vs. The Cost of Veterinary Care

by Raven

I would never presume to place a dollar value on life, most especially the life of animals. Nor would I attempt to place a monetary assessment on veterinary care. I have paid much for poor care and little for quality care. But it would be naive to think that finances do not play a part in our decision making when it comes to the care of our pets and breeding stock.

For the sake of novice breeders, I would like to examine a realistic scenario of what can and often does happen to all breeders. Certain aspects may vary but I have tried to take that into consideration and will point them out along the way.

Let us say that I have a pair of Cockatiels in the nest feeding four new babies. Clutch size varies, but four hatchlings is a reasonable expectation. And let us say that Cockatiels cost about $50 each. Prices vary, but this is also a reasonable expectation for a healthy, well-bred and well maintained bird.

I check the nest one morning and find one of the babies dead. If I bring that dead baby into the vet immediately for a necropsy, I am likely to spend about $100-$150 to find out what the cause of death was and effectively treat the remaining family. Prices here may vary also, but this is a reasonable estimate in many cases. Let's assume I have to wait for lab results and/or culture sensitivities and another baby dies in the meantime. Timing and results may vary, but from my experience, I do believe this is also a reasonable expectation. At this point I have two live babies and two live parents. Remember that it is likely that the problem either originated with the parents or if it was an environmental factor, the parents were also exposed to it. That's four birds times $50, equal to $200 which puts me $50 ahead.

Now let's say I did not follow this scenario. Any number of variations can occur here. Maybe one baby survives and I figure I'm still $50 ahead, right? Wrong. Who knows what the condition of these parents and this baby are?

Perhaps all the babies die and the parents appear to be fine so in a few months I decide to breed them again. The same thing starts happening. Now I have lost four more babies. That's eight times $50. Now I'm behind by $400 and I still have sick parents, although they look fine to me.

Perhaps I decide to split these parents and breed them to other mates. Now I've got four babies in one nestbox, four in another and two pairs exposed. You can see how this grows exponentially. I think you can also see that in an effort to save money, it can cost you dearly.

In my mind, this transposes the statement, "I cannot afford to see a vet." into a more accurate statement, "I cannot afford NOT to see a vet." I hope this gives some perspective to those who face this decision.

What To Do When A Baby Dies

With clean hands, remove the baby from the nest and remove any clinging nesting material. Enclose the bird in a clean paper towel and put it in a clean plastic zip bag. Put it in the refrigerator, NOT THE FREEZER, until you can get it to the vet for necropsy. Time is your biggest enemy here. The sooner you can bring it in, the better. I make it a practice to have it in the vet's hands in less than an hour.

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