I’m back from the vet (got there early and was seen early).

The short story is, the doctor can’t find anything obviously wrong with Hao.

In more detail, he was able to see that Hao was sleepy (Hao even fell asleep right there) and didn’t show his usual resistance to being examined. But the doctor checked his heart, forced open his beak and checked the inside of this mouth, checked under his wings, etc., and to the extent he is able to do these checks he said he can’t find anything out of the ordinary.

He also added that Hao’s diet was fine and that adding mealworms is not necessary.

He said the fact that Hao still has an appetite (in fact, Hao hasn’t stopped eating since we got home) is probably the most important sign.

He did say that Hao could just be slowing down because he is older, coupled with the change of seasons. But he cautioned against cooling the room too much because Java Sparrows are tropical birds and don’t do well if the air-conditioner is turned up too high.

He is not equipped there to do blood tests on birds and things like that, and he said if Hao’s condition appears to worsen I could take him to a bird hospital he gave me info about that’s several hours away off in Chiba prefecture. I don’t really have a good way of getting there with Hao’s cage and all though. So since the doctor said he didn’t see any signs of anything actually wrong with him I’m just going to see how it goes. I’m still a bit worried, but I feel I did all I could reasonably do at this point.

I also brought Mon along, in case Hao was sick and there was something catching. And since we were there they both got their nails trimmed. Mon was really hyper and screamed at the vet, making a sound I have only heard there.

Both are relaxing now. Mon left the carry cage immediately and went back to the bigger cage. Hao is still sitting at the entrance of the small carry cage he hates and doesn’t seem inclined to leave. Maybe he’s enjoying a break from Mon, who’s been a bit hyper lately.

doug