#AfricanGrey – Page 2

Updates and a Vet Visit

The house is quiet. I was trying hard to fight the grief, but realized it was a losing battle. I’m giving it its time and place. Cali will always be missed.

My cats had their yearly checkups today and I almost cancelled. I wasn’t sure I was ready to go back to the vet’s office, but I did and it was hard but fine. The staff is so wonderful and caring.

Bean didn’t want to stay on the scale for the vet, but he did like hiding out behind it. Poor little Puck was very shy. He stayed in his carrier until we had to take him out for his exam and then he scurried right back in.

Both cats got clean bills of health, Yay! Their vaccines were updated, and they were checked over. Puck may need his teeth cleaned at some point in the near future, but he is good for now.

Puck’s recovering from his traumatic car ride and vet visit in his cozy crate!

The Dragon enjoyed a sink bath yesterday. Usually she swims around for a bit and then tries to get out of the sink, but she spent a good 20 minutes in there yesterday, and still didn’t want to come out, so I had to just take her out and go do something else. I’ll give her a chance for another bath in a couple of days.

Hector is doing well. She’s such a great comfort. She’s always there to whistle and keep me company.

I’m starting to think about another dog. Part of me was thinking that maybe I wouldn’t get another dog ever, that I’d free myself up to travel, but the truth is I hate not having a dog. I had to walk to the neighbor’s to return a piece of mail that was accidentally delivered to us the other day, and it was so awful to me to go for a walk without a dog. I miss all of it, yes the snuggles, but I even miss taking care of a dog, playing with a dog, the feeding, grooming, putting her out, all of it. I’m not in a rush. I want to make sure I find the right new friend, but I think with some patience, the right rescue will find its way to me. For now, I’ve got kitty, parrot, and dragon friends to keep me busy!

Happy 32nd Hector D. Byrd!

Having this bird in my life is so special. She’s my bestie. We chat all day while I’m working or doing things around the house. She may not be cuddly, but she’s such a good girl. Happy 32nd Birthday Hector!

We are not only celebrating her birthday today, but also the fact that results came back from the test the vet did last week and everything looks good! We are going to continue her “new” diet, and she doesn’t have to go back to the vet for 60 days, and that’s just a quick weight check to make sure she is continuing to do well.

I’m so thankful I found this great Avian vet that is super easy to work with and close to home!

We will be celebrating today with MUSIC – currently playing a bunch of random kids songs, happy birthday songs, the Beatles, and any songs that have whistling, all Hector’s favorites!

She’s having a special breakfast with her normal diet, but some extras of her favorites like sweet potatoes, blueberries, and an extra almond to really celebrate!

Hector Goes to the Vet

Well, I honestly can’t remember if I’ve written about Hector’s vet trips recently, so a brief recap. A couple of months ago, I realized that Hector was drinking more water than usual for her. Hector’s vet was about an hour drive away, so to be honest, she hadn’t been in a long time. It was such a traumatic thing to put her in the car for an hour, deal with the vet, and then have another hour drive back home. Have I mentioned that Hector gets carsick?

The people that adopted one of my foster parrots, recently told me about an avian vet they used that was close to me. Between the excess drinking, and the long time without a check up, I decided to try out the new vet, and he’s awesome!

So Hector went to the vet about 2 months ago. We did an extensive (and expensive) blood work up to get some base lines and figure out what was going on. Overall the blood work looked pretty good for an older lady, but the vet was concerned about her drinking too much.

We started a new diet, low carb, high veggie, low fruit, no seeds, very limited nuts, and plenty of healthy pellets. Hector likes Fruit Zupreem pellets. She went back about a month ago for a weight check, and the vet was happy where she was at.

Today we went back again. Let me tell you that Hector knew what was coming as soon as she saw the cat carrier. I don’t know why, because the cat carrier comes out all the time and doesn’t usually affect her, but she knew.

I had to towel her to get her in the cage. Not the best way to start the journey, but she had to go. She threw up in the carrier on the way. This is the second time this happened and I even made a point of not feeding her breakfast this morning, but apparently it didn’t matter.

The vet said her weight was good and remained stable which is great. I was worried she hasn’t been eating enough, but apparently she is doing just fine. We talked about taking her to a specialist in Boston, but that would be expensive and stressful. The other option was another poop test which he would send out to a bird specialist he knew with better lab equipment. We just needed a sample.

Hector was sitting on a perch on a scale in the vet office clearly listening to everything we were saying. When we were done chatting and she still hadn’t pooped, the vet suggested I bring home a tube and pipette to collect a sample myself. I told the vet I wasn’t in a huge rush and I was happy to wait in the office a little longer to see if she would poop and just make it easy.

Well, as soon as I mentioned waiting around in the vet office, Hector made us a giant poop! The vet was able to collect enough of it to test, and we could head home. I swear she knew she had to poop to get out of there!

Post poop, wondering why we haven’t left the vet yet!

For now, she stays on her special diet. I have a feeling this is her new diet for life, but we are managing. We’ll see what the test results are when they come back in the next week to ten days.

The vet thinks she may have renal issues, hence the special diet. Hoping the test results don’t show anything too serious! Anyone have any experience with birds with renal issues? Let me know!

Hector Goes to the Vet

It’s been too long since Hector has had a check up. I’ve known this for a while, but have hesitated for various reasons, my Avian vet is an hour away, the mobile vet I found is super expensive, she seems fine and healthy, I don’t want to put her through the stress of a vet visit, etc.

With having two foster birds in the last few months, it made me think about the fact that Hector isn’t getting any younger. In fact, she’ll be 32 in January.

When I met the adoptive parents for the last cockatoo I had, they mentioned an Avian vet that is only 20 minutes from me. I decided it was time Hector had a check up. After having that thought, I also started realizing that Hector was drinking a bit more than usual.

I called the new vet earlier this week, and they were able to get me in this morning. The vet was awesome! I am shocked at how well behaved Hector was for him. Hector steps up for me, when she feels like it. She lets me scratch her head, when she feels like it. Today she just did whatever that vet asked of her like it was nothing. It was almost like she realized there was no point in fighting this guy. He was going to do what he wanted, and she should just cooperate. I half expected the poor vet to end up with bloody fingers, but no, Hector was an angel.

The vet said she looked great from the visual exam, but birds are good at hiding things. Considering how long it had been since she had a check up (about 10 years) we decided to do blood work, and a urinalysis. The vet said they usually have to do a mild tranquilizer to do the blood draw, but Hector was perfect for that as well and didn’t have to be sedated!

It turns out the Bird Street Bistro food that I’ve been feeding might not be the best base food for Hector now that she is getting older. The vet wants to wait until we get all the test results back, and then he will give me more specific diet feedback. As she is getting older, less grains and pastas is probably going to be a healthier choice for Hector. She’s not going to be happy about that!

Books say captive grays average life expectancy is about 50 years, but I’ve always found that a bit hard to believe in my personal experience. I asked this vet what he thought about average life expectancy for greys. The first thing he asked me was if I knew about Dr. Pepperberg and Alex the parrot and if I had read her book, which I have. He reminded me that Alex had the very best of care all his life, and he lived to be 34. He said in his experience anything beyond the 30s is rare. He said a 40 year old African Grey is like a 90 year old man. It happens, but it’s not the most common thing. I’m having a really hard time processing that thought.

I’ll update when I get test results.

Volunteering Update

Puck says TGIF! He’s bit tired today, who knows why. Our son got a new kitten and he is home for the weekend with his cat and the new kitten. Strangely, my two cats are so excited to see their friend Martin, that they haven’t really paid any attention to the new kitten. It’s been a nice and uneventful introduction.

Here’s Martin and the yet-unnamed girl kitten. She’s tiny and sweet.

Cali is doing so much better! She’s still eating the Dr. Harvey’s food that I mentioned in a previous post. I think we have found a winner! I’ve cut her pain meds down to once a day, and I’m slowly backing off of them all together. We took her hiking last weekend and she did great! I was a little nervous about her over doing it, so I did pick her up and carry her a couple of times, but that was more me than her. We hiked about 2 miles, and she came home and slept well, but it didn’t seem to bother her leg any more than usual.

I enjoyed pulling out my old baby sling for her, and it worked great!

My foster friend Kanga the cockatoo, now hates me. I’ve volunteered at the shelter to take care of the parrots a few times since I had to bring him back, and he just ignores me. He won’t dance or interact with me at all. This week, he just went to the back of his cage and wouldn’t even take a treat when I offered it. I think it’s really me that he is upset with. Parrots are so smart. I see videos of him dancing and playing with our volunteers and staff members. Sorry I had to bring you back Kanga, you were just too loud for our house!

I have been making progress with some of the other birds at the shelter. There is one macaw left and he is huge! No denying that I’m a bit intimidated by him. He has tried to step up on to my arm a few times in past visits and I just wasn’t comfortable with it. That beak is huge!

This week I got brave and let him step up. He was great! We walked across the room and got a treat which I gave him as soon as he stepped back on to his cage. I picked him up again a little while later and we went and sat in a chair. I talked to him and scratched his head for a bit. He’s heavy! I had to rest my arm on my knee so that I could hold him up after a while. He got another treat when he stepped back on his cage. It was all very uneventful, in a good way. It’s such a cool opportunity to be able to spend quality time with these big birds!

I also made friends with an Amazon parrot. He won’t step up for me, but he is taking treats from my hand now, definite progress.

I’m really going to miss these birds when they all get adopted! Of course, I’ll be very happy when they all have permanent homes, but I have really enjoyed the experience of working with them and having a foster parrot.

New for me, I started training as a Lobby Greeter at the shelter this week. I think I’m going to love this position. I meet people as they come in to the shelter and help point them in the right direction for whatever animal they are looking for. While I was there this week, I saw two dogs, a cat, and a bunny get adopted! So rewarding to see excited people and happy animals leaving the shelter!

The dragon realized there is sunshine on the cat bed next to her cage, so I let her come out and hang there while I worked the other day, she loved it! She spent some time in the actual cat bed, then wandered over to stare at me for a bit. The cats aren’t sure they like sharing their bed, but they can share for a short time in the afternoon once in a while. Once it warms up outside, I’ll bring the dragon outside for some real sunshine. She even has a little harness and leash!

Have a great weekend. I’m hoping to get Cali out for another short hike, and also hoping the cat introductions continue to go peacefully. Comment and let me know what you are up to this weekend.

Foster Return & Cali Update

Sadly, I had to return the foster bird on Monday. When I was home alone, he was lovely. He was sweet and fun. We danced together, he loved his toys and his treats. He called to me in his sweet little voice when I was out of sight, “hey, hi, hey baby.”

Sadly, Monster bird showed up whenever anyone else dared to come in the house. The screaming was horrific whenever my husband or niece were around. He even flew at my niece and landed on her, scary! Having my husband feed him treats didn’t seem to help at all. He would take the treats, some times he would try to bite the hand that fed him, and he still screamed.

I miss the morning dance parties, and that sweet little voice, but the screaming was making our house a very stressful place to be!

Hector D. Byrd was not the least bit interested in her foster friend. They barely looked at each other in the weeks K was here. Hector is very happy to once again rule the roost!

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Cali is doing OK. I tried to wean her off the pain meds, but it was clear that she still needs them. Another laser treatment today, hopefully it continues to help.

It has been a real challenge to find a kidney-friendly food that Cali will eat. I’ve probably gone through half a dozen of them. She eats for a couple of days, I order more of the expensive prescription food, and then she stops eating it.

Thankfully, she has been eating Dr. Harvey’s food pretty well for a couple of weeks now. I’m working with them to customize some kidney friendly food for her. They make an easy to use dry mix that just requires fresh protein, water and oil. Dr. Harvey’s even offers an amazing, free service to help customize their diets. They have a nutritionist on staff who called me to help me work out the healthiest diet for Cali. She even had me send in a copy of Cali’s blood test results so she could see everything that was going on with her.

Cali is eating the Canine Health formula and they are sending me a trial of their Paradigm food as well. The plan is to very slowly add some of the Paradigm to the Canine Health formula to see if we can get my picky eater to accept it. The food is super easy to use. Cali’s recipe is 2.5 oz of protein per day. I froze a bunch of different types of protein, chicken, ground turkey, ground pork, in 2.5 oz portions so I can just grab a protein from the freezer, steam it while the dry mix sits with warm water in it, add the protein and feed half to Cali for each of her meals.

Dr. Harvey’s also makes a Kidney supplement that I’m adding to Cali’s meals on the recommendation of their dietician.

From Cali’s blood work the dietician also noticed her blood sugar was a bit high, so she suggested I stop feeding Cali carrots as treats, and adding the vegetable-heavy Paradigm food to the Canine Health formula should help as well. I thought with her kidney issues I was doing a good thing with carrots, but they are too starchy. I even got advice on the best ways to give Cali her pills since commercial pill pockets I had been using also have a bunch of protein. Now I’m trying little bread balls to hide her pills, and baby food green beans and broccoli that don’t have protein or high starch. With a little luck all this healthy food will help, and it may even help the allergies Cali has always had!

Settling In

Our son and his cat were home for the weekend. I love the way he sits on the stairs!

Bean absolutely can’t resist a box!

Foster bird is settling in. He is so different than Hector! Interesting to get used to! K is a toothpick making machine! He had a short wood perch on his door that he literally destroyed down to nothing in about 10 minutes. Hector loves to destroy cardboard, this guy is a wood destroyer.

Hector has had a rope perch in her cage for years. I take it out and wash it every so often, but she doesn’t bite or chew it. Today K decided to “work” on his rope perch, and managed to completely chew through it so that it doesn’t attach to the side of the cage anymore. I got two new perches for his door today. He’s already working his way through the first one. Thankfully they are pretty thick, so it is taking him a little time.

If you look at K’s foot, you’ll see he is holding one of his wood chips. He likes to shred wood and then use the bits to scratch himself, so cute!

Thankfully we only got woken up at 5AM to a screaming parrot the first morning that we had him. Since then I’ve been covering him at night, and he doesn’t scream or even talk until I uncover him the next day.

I’d been told he doesn’t prefer men, and that is so true. He seems petrified. He doesn’t want my husband or son anywhere near him and often darts back into his cage if they come over to say Hello. I’ve got my husband feeding him his favorite Nutriberi treats, and that seems to be helping. He’s trying new foods, and enjoying all his toys!

He and Hector still don’t seem all that interested in each other. I did watch Hector climb to the end of her cage today and check out K, but there still wasn’t much interest. I picked Hector up so she could get a better view, but she was more curious about what treats I might have for her, than she was about the other bird.

K likes to dance! I turned on some music the other day and he started flapping his wings and bobbing his head. Dance Party! So far Levitating by Dua Lipa seems to be his favorite, major head bobs!

“Hi Baby” is his favorite phrase. He has also started Meowing, and I’m pretty sure I heard him say “Pucky” over the weekend. He says “Hi” and “Hey.” He’s a super busy guy. Can’t wait to see what games he comes up with next!

Happy Hatch Day Hector D. Byrd!

Busy day today! Picked up Skye the foster dog to bring her to an adoption event this morning. She was such a good girl! Lots of people really seemed to like her. Hoping she met her forever family today!

Hector D. Byrd is celebrating her 31st birthday today! She’s happily whistling away. She enjoyed making lots of fire alarm noises earlier today when my husband was checking batteries in the fire detectors! Tonight she will celebrate with a nice, fresh, birdie omelette!

http://Www.TreatPlanet.com sent me a lovely sample bag of treats to check out. Looking forward to sharing more info on their products soon! Cali is already going crazy just smelling the bag. I wonder what her favorite will be! Does anyone have a favorite Treat Planet treat, let me know!

Happy New Year!

Lots of updates coming in later this week!

Cali got a new treat. It’s from Treat Planet. I hadn’t heard of this brand before, and the treat was literally an impulse purchase at my local pet store yesterday. I had no idea it would be such a huge hit! I got the Etta Says Crunchy Chicken and Chia chew bar. I’ll write up more about it later this week.

Today is a big day for Logan the cat. I start navigating her diabetes journey. She was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago and we’ve been waiting for test results to confirm and then making a treatment plan. We’ve decided to try a new Medicine called Bexacat. It’s an insulin-free treatment option. I picked up the medicine yesterday and will start the first dose today. Logan will need to have blood work done on Tuesday to make sure things are going OK. I’m finding it’s an interesting an involved path dealing with a diabetic cat. I’ll be sharing it all here and would love comments, questions and feedback from anyone else dealing with a diabetic cat. More on that later this week as well.

Bean and Puck

Bean and Puck enjoyed the holidays, and now they have been taste-testing a new creamy cat treat for me from Catit. This is another treat that seems to be a big hit in our house right now. More on that soon!

Wena the bearded dragon LOVES our new kitchen sink. Not sure if it is the color, size, material, whatever, but she is so happy bathing in it. She’s been pretty picky about her food lately, but I found a trick online that suggested baby food veggies for picky dragons, and it is working well. She had some purple carrot baby food with her breakfast today.

Cali isn’t a big fan of the cold. She’s spending as much time as she can snuggled up in blankets.

She also really likes the new candy cane pajamas she got for Christmas! Because I seem to have more than my share of pet issues these days, have I shared about Cali’s bump? She has a growth on her neck that the vet says is benign and nothing more than an annoyance, but it’s growing. It’s about the size of a dime and raised off her skin. She tends to scratch at it at times, and there is concern that eventually she will end up with an infection. We have tried to freeze it off twice, but it didn’t help. Surgery is the only removal option now, and I’m not sure I want to put my 14 year old dog with a heart murmur and kidney issues through surgery even if it is minor. For now, I’m keeping an eye on the lump and hoping it doesn’t get worse.

Thankfully Hector D. Byrd is thriving. She’s really my buddy. Someone would think I’m crazy listening to my house all day. Working at home, I find myself constantly chatting with her. She’s such great company!

Check back for all kinds of updates soon, and have a great weekend!

Hector Love

I know, Hector “Love?” Not sure what is going on with this bird in her older age, she’s 30 now, but she has really been seeking out attention lately. It’s so nice! Hector is definitely most comfortable on her cage. Ideally she likes her door open so she can climb around on top and watch the world from up high. She gets nervous away from her cage. A couple of times a week, I’ll pick her up and bring her upstairs with me while I fold some laundry, or I’ll bring her on a walk to get something in another part of the house. I’ve been trying to acclimate her to other areas for years, but for the most part she’s happiest on her cage.

I should say that her cage is in our office which opens to the kitchen, so she keeps me company while I work from home during the day, and she also has the benefit of seeing the kitchen, and all that goes on in there. She likes to observe everything going on.

This morning, Hector was looking for attention, I was trying to work. I went over to her cage to give her a treat, and she put up her foot like she wanted to step up, so I let her. I brought her over to my desk chair, and she happily climbed up on the back. She spent a good half hour on the back of my chair making cute little burping noises in my ear! She doesn’t usually last away from her cage that long without getting upset, so I brought her back and gave her a treat before she had the chance to get upset. Maybe the old girl is mellowing out a bit?

Other than all the bird poop that needed cleaning up after her visit, it was really nice having a Hector on my chair!

If you want another Hector story, you can check out my latest Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=petmomma.co to read about the watermelon incident.