birdStuff is the brainchild of Larry Nemetz, DVM, (view www.TheBIRDClinic.com for a biography) and Ms. Donna Garrou.

Since 1987, Dr Nemetz  has recommended healthy food products and safe toys to give his patients a better quality of life. He also recommended foraging toys to keep birds occupied when their owners are away at work.

Meantime, Donna was having difficulty finding Harrison's bird food, toys with safe metals,  and healthy treats for her own birds.

Dr. Nemetz wanted a place where clients could actually find the products he was recommending, along with an educated staff that could demonstrate their use, explain diet conversion, and other concerns related to the health and welfare of pet birds.

Donna wanted a place where customers like herself could find toys made by bird lovers instead of the same old mass-marketed products. She also wanted to make sure they were safe enough that she would be happy to use them for her own birds.

Slowly they began to realize that the only way this could exist is if they created it themselves!

A plan was "hatched" to do just that.

First they had to find a location. Dr. Nemetz had been looking for three years for a location where he could build a modern,  free standing bird veterinary clinic. The search ended in 2004 with a property in the City of Orange. There was a piece of land to build a new clinic and an old house that started the development of birdStuff. However, the house was in such poor shape that it practically had to be torn down and rebuilt. Donna and Dr. Nemetz liked the feel of the original house so they decided to rebuild it to look like the original 1955 home but with all modern materials and current technology such as whole-house water filtration.

Once it was rebuilt, it was decided Donna's personal birds would serve as "living displays" at birdStuff with the very important job of "demonstrating" the  stainless steel cages and the "testing" of toys. (Exhausting work, but someone had to do it!)

There was no way these guys were going to live in a typical dusty, buggy pet store. Therefore, for the store's seed line, a nitrogen-flushed product housed in barrier bags was developed. No moths would hatch at the store, or customer's homes. Next, the birds needed to be safe from disease, so special air circulation HVAC and HEPA filtration systems were installed and birdStuff requires that all birds that enter must be tested for the primary avian diseases (Chlamydophila, PBFD, Polyoma, Psittacine Herpes).

Toy providers had to certify that they do not have birds on their premises or manufacturing areas. And, birdStuff would not sell birds or provide grooming services because of the potential for disease from the feather dust, feces, and nail residue of latent carriers.

Of course, all of these precautions also mean that YOUR bird will be as safe as possible when boarding as will  the products you purchase and take home.

If all of this makes it sound like birdStuff is different..... IT IS!  We believe birdStuff is the only bird facility of its kind in the United States or the world and we can't wait to show you why.