My best Birdy Friend

[Princess Susi]

Our bird, Whistle, a Lilac Crowned Crown Amazon passed away last night. :( He had a respiratory infection and birds are so delicate. They have air sacs instead of lungs as we know them and an infection can easily be the end for a bird. Whistle was tough. He was the bird with no Pancreas! He had a great 11 years with us and lived longer than the docs expected. We knew he would not live a long life and were grateful for everyday we had with him. He is with our Orion now and not in pain or sick. I feel sad because he was MY bird mostly and we had such a great relationship.

I feel good though about the fact that he lived so long with no Pancreas and had a great life. We will miss him and his chatter, he was a great talker and always told me "I love you" at night when we went to put the covers over their cages. What a sweetiebird.

We have only one bird now, Carmen the Crazy! He is about 10 yrs old and his breed has a life expectancy of around 25 years, so we have a fair amount of time with him. Hopefully he stays healthy. He is a very robust bird and very healthy. He is a crazy lunatic bird too. He is Ralph's bird. He adores Ralph so much so that if I am hugging Ralph in front of the cage he goes berserk trying to get at me and screaming with his shrill Lory screech. He even once flew at my head when I was hugging Ralph after he got home from a trip and Carmen's cage door was open. Carmen flew at me to get at me to bite. That was the first time and we never leave his cage door open when we hug anymore.
Birds are cool and strange pets. We won't get anymore birds now. They are alot of work and I think we will just stick to cats and maybe a doggy someday.
Anyway, Fare thee well, my fine feathered friend! You were the best birdy friend I ever had.
Sweet Bird, I will miss you.
Susi

This is Whistle...



And THIS is Carmen, a Dusky Lory:

[Mayonnaise]

Condolences on your loss Susi.

8^(

[Syndrome]

{HUGS}
I know how that feels as I lost my cockatiel of 15 years last year. Now we have Truman (as in "The Truman Show"), a very opinionated quaker parrot. I'm glad you still have another feathered kid.

Those pictures are gorgeous!

[hobie16]

My wife had a blue front Amazon she picked up in Brazil. Pretty cool bird. They become very attached to people and act like they are their mates. I'd take Zieno for walks around the block on my shoulder and feed her raw spaghetti. When her flight feathers grew long enough she loved to dive bomb the dog.

[Princess Susi]

Oh yes, they do become very attached to one person usually and Whistle adored me. He was a funny bird. We got him because he was a boarder at the Pet Store I worked at and no one ever came back to get him. :( He got sick 6 months later and the best Bird vet in the country, Dr. Brian Speers looked at him and opened him up and could find NO Pancreas. They were baffled as to how this bird was alive. So they brought him back to the store and we put him on Pancreazyme for digesting his food and he got better. The docs said he must have had islet cells somewhere to utilize the sugar, because he was never diabetic, like Orion was. The store owner could not sell him, so she gave him to me, because he had always taken a shine to me and really bonded with me at the store when I was working around him. He glommed onto me from the first day I started there, he was already boarding when I started to work there. He lived 11 yrs after that diagnosis.

WOW! That is a miracle and we were really grateful for the time. We knew he did not have the usual 100 years these birds have. I called him my biker bird. He was tough. Whoever had him before taught him to talk alot. He used to say, "I like Beer!", "I like cheap wine!", "Let me put my feet up!". He used to say "room service" everytime he saw you eating something. That was hilarious. But the best was when I would say "I love you, Whistle!" and he would say to me, "I love you!"

He was quite a bird and we celebrate his life. This has not devastated me as much as Orion, because we always knew we were living on borrowed time with him. I am amazed he made it as long as he did. He was such a beautiful bird and quite a character. I smile because my life was enriched by him and I celebrate because I know he is not suffering and his time had come and he is with Orion. He is truly flying with angel wings now!

It is hard to lose pets and we have lost two in the last 6 months. We got most of them right around the same time and they were rescues and had issues. Leave it to a Vet Tech to take in the ones who need speacial care and won't be around as long...It hurts everytime we lose a petfriend, but they have enriched our lives so much and taught us unconditional love so it is a joy to have them in our lives.

I am so sorry about your cockatiel, Syndrome. They are truly sweetie pie birds.

We lost my Cockatiel, Chirp, several yrs ago to cancer, I had handfed her as a baby and she was a prolific egg layer and was egg bound and had a prolapsed uterus from her egglaying. She was a cutie pie, but in the end cancer got her, even after the tiny little hysterectomy the Vet did. Can you imagine a hysterectomy on a bird? Amazing!

We also lost two canaries in the past. They were beautiful. I am considering a canary, because they really help calm down the Parrots. But I am not sure I want the responsibility of another bird again. I do have a tape of canaries singing and can always just play that to calm Carmen down. And the tape does not have to have it's cage cleaned and be fed! LOL! He is a feisty loud screechy bird and needs to be calmed down alot...sugar diet! That is our Carmen. When the printer is up again, I will post more pics of Whilstle and Carmen the Crazy!
sues

[Princess Susi]

My wife had a blue front Amazon she picked up in Brazil. Pretty cool bird. They become very attached to people and act like they are their mates. I'd take Zieno for walks around the block on my shoulder and feed her raw spaghetti. When her flight feathers grew long enough she loved to dive bomb the dog.

That is funny! Our cats are afraid of the birds, because they are so loud and have big beaks!

Divebombing the dog, that is rich!

Whistle loved cheese and pancakes, even with his Pancreas issues we gave him bits every once in a while. He loved it so much he would scream "Room Service!" when he smelled the pancakes. I kid you not. :D: What a funny bird. Birds are funny in a strange way and do really crazy things. They are a blast and wonderful to have around.
susi

[DisneyMom]

I am very sorry for the loss of your beautiful bird, Susi :( I do think that this was another well-loved pet who had it made living with you! It was wonderful that your pets had such a good life for so many years ). I wonder if Carmen will miss his buddy.

I love birds and wish I could devote the time and money, but some do live to be a 100 years old...even 25 is a very long time! We do have a tiny fire-bellied toad that is about 8 years old now. He is easy, we just throw him crickets and keep the tank warm and wet.

I used to see a patient who argued a lot with her husband....She and the bird would yell for him all the time Fred!Fred! he said he couldn't tell if it was her or the bird yelling :p: The bird used to yell "Go to hell!" too!

[Syndrome]

Dive bombing the dog reminded me of what our old tiel would do to the cats. We had a very ancient cat, and one day we caught him waiting for her to drink, then flying down, driving her away from the water bowl, and bathing in it! He was a brat.

Our quaker doesn't do that (he can't because his wings are clipped), but he likes to throw things at the cats. Their food bowls are near his cage, so he waits until they are in range and then tosses his foot toys at them.

[Zazu]

I am considering a canary, because they really help calm down the Parrots. But I am not sure I want the responsibility of another bird again. I do have a tape of canaries singing and can always just play that to calm Carmen down. And the tape does not have to have it's cage cleaned and be fed! LOL! He is a feisty loud screechy bird and needs to be calmed down alot...sugar diet! That is our Carmen.

For some reason this makes me think of the "anti-barking" device sold for yappy dogs. Whenever it senses them barking, it starts up a bigger bark, then slowly quiets. Seems to work for some dogs.

You might try the same thing for Carmen. Set up a recorder with your canary tape that's triggered by loud noises. Whenever Carmen goes into a screaming fit, the canaries sing him back to calmness.

Hey, at least you don't have to clean up the Ipod if it doesn't work!

[Zazu]

I used to see a patient who argued a lot with her husband....She and the bird would yell for him all the time Fred!Fred! he said he couldn't tell if it was her or the bird yelling :p: The bird used to yell "Go to hell!" too!

The tiny little zoo in Chattanooga had a parrot they got from animal rescue. He had apparently been kept between the kitchen and the bathroom, as his two favorite vocalizations were the sound of the pop-top being pulled on a beer and the sound of a toilet flushing.