How often should a healthy parrot see an avian vet?

My macaw seems perfectly healthy. Do I really need annual vet visits, or is that overkill for a bird that isn't showing any problems? Avian vet visits aren't cheap.

Annual well-bird exams for healthy adults, more often for very young, very old, or chronically ill birds. The yearly gram-stain and weight tracking alone have caught issues in two of my birds before symptoms showed.

Annual is the standard, and it's worth it precisely BECAUSE birds hide illness. By the time a parrot 'looks sick' it's often quite far along. A baseline well-bird exam catches things early and gives you bloodwork to compare against later.

Not overkill at all — annual well-bird exams are the standard recommendation for healthy adult parrots, and they matter more for birds than for cats/dogs precisely because birds are masters at masking illness until they're critically unwell.

A good annual exam typically includes a physical, weight tracking, and often baseline bloodwork/gram stain — establishing what 'normal' looks like for your bird so subtle changes get caught early. Young, geriatric, or chronically ill birds may need twice-yearly visits.

We explain what a visit involves in avian vet visits — what to expect and how to pick a good one in choosing an avian veterinarian. For GTA recommendations, see our /vets page (BST uses Britannia Animal Hospital in Mississauga).