We got so much more.  Every Grey may be unique, but they're also uniquely Grey.  Something that only someone who falls for them can really understand.

I buried Phenix today.  There's a gaping hole in the world & I'm... idk...  lost. Which is how I found my way back here. Where so many of his antics got chronicled for so long.   Where I can see that my memories aren't exaggerated by sentimentality.  

He really was a force of nature that for better or worse I served as faithfully as I was able for 36 years.  Now it somehow feels right to leave his epitaph here at the end of his journey.

He came so far.  From the Congo to the US. He came so far from the sick, scared , vicious, nameless bird to Phenix(!); a parrot who could pass for a normal (-ly neurotic) Grey all day long.  From my heart wrenching mission, to my companion of 3 decades.

He was my first big parrot.  He will remain my only ever Grey.  No one & nothing could possibly have prepared me for the challenge, the highs & the lows or the truly amazing privilege.  Nor the vast empty place he has left behind.

I had been waiting to join this forum for a while, just got added......thanks...🙏

I am based in Dubai UAE and very hard getting info on birds here.

I am new with birds and had got a juvenile African grey less than 6 months old on 17th Aug. Her name was Grey  Was with me for a month and was extremely pampered and did so much research to do things right to give it the best possible life. with daily shower, sun time, chop, treats, not too much seeds more pellets in diet, sleep routine, taught her how to fly. lots of attention and play time and interaction.

I only put it in cage to sleep...rest of time was free on different stands and a well lit room to itself. I have 2 cats and they after first few days got used to having her around in fact would wait for her to wake up in morning and sit watching her make a mess with the chop and fresh fruits and treats.

One night put her to bed as she would go to her perch in cage and wriggle when was sleep time. next morning was looking unwell and being new I immediately booked appointment with Avian vet and took for checkup. 

they said seemed gastro and gave medication. next day was eating a bit but still looked unwell. 3rd day was not eating so got her admitted on 17th Sept . next 2 days she recovered and used to be so excited when went to meet her at clinic. 4th day when went to meet her she was super excited and seemed back to normal and I was told we will discharge in evening, when I went to pick up in evening she was looking very down. I was informed by vet just force-fed and usually get lethargic and maybe is homesick. I got her home thinking will improve after good night sleep....she was cuddling with me the whole time. When was sunset she went to her perch in cage which was our understanding is sleep time now. so I put on the heat lamp to keep her cozy and covered her cage so has a good sleep and is fresh in morning now is back home.

morning I prepared all her treats and when removed cover she seemed drained with sunken eyes and dropping hanging. I picked her up..that was her last step up.....I tried to give her some water..but wouldn't take it.....just cuddled up with me.....shivered and was gone. I was heartbroken.....I wasn't prepared to loose her. I wasn't mentally prepared that this could happen....I was devastated. on 22nd Sept. 7am she passed away in my arms....😢

I got her blood test reports 2 days later and was circovirus PBFD positive. 

I got upset with the avian why discharged when wasn't looking well, could we have done something different, I have a million questions did I do something wrong. What signs to look for? 

With all the members knowledge and experience would really help if can get some answers on how fatal is circovirus on a healthy active juvenile parrot. How did she get virus? can it be from some food or toys I got her? or was she already infected and it showed up? How soon can I get another? What all precautions to take? Biggest mistake I made I didnt get tested when got her seemed healthy so I have this huge guilt that could I have done something different to save her? 

Everyone is pressurizing me in family to get another but I am just not ready.......

but when I do get I want to be better prepared so would really appreciate your advice.......🙏

I have attached pic of a day before she fell sick, recovery in clinic and her parting. are there some signs I am missing?? pls help understand them better.

thanks

Do I sterilize the current toys and stands or dispose of them? The food with me do I throw it or anywhere to donate in UAE ? 

.Its still very hard for me to talk about her as we shared a very special bond.

Not every one can get along with a Zon as they are strong minded and are said to the most difficult to get to know and understand.

The one lesson that Cricket taught me was that she had respect for me and people that had self-confidence in them self.

When an Amazon forms a bond it can be so strong that nothing can break it..

A few days ago, I woke up and Buddy was gone. We do not know if it was because he had lost his BFF, Pistachio, but we think that may have been part of it. It was funny, but I had checked on him the night before and he was good...I had a dream early the next morning about Buddy being in an open cage in the middle of a field and he had been so calm when I changed his dishes that he had surprised me. When I jumped awake, I realized there was no sound from him and he had always been better than an alarm clock. I think he was telling us he was now at peace...

(Maggie here)...Pistachio and Buddy have always shared a cage together and often at night when checking on them, tiny Pistachio would sleep with larger Buddy under his wings. I fed both this morning and they were great but when I went to check on them a little later, I found Pistachio on the bottom of the cage (passed on) with Buddy protecting him. At that time he would not let me near Pistachio. When I went back in a few minutes later, Buddy was on his perch and I moved Pistachio. As I left the room, Salsa flew in and landed on their old cage and sat with Buddy for a few minutes (she never goes in their room). Buddy squawked and made a ruckus for about an hour but he seems to have calmed down a little...We have had them since 2010 and they were together before that. We don't know how old they were when we got them. Really concerned about Buddy because he was more psychologically damaged from his previous life and still has much baggage. Pistachio let us touch him and pick him up when he landed on the floor but Buddy has always been like a lion in a cage...Fly free now over the rainbow...

RIP Rhea❤️❤️❤️

At ten till 5: I let her out of her cage so she could eat with us. She climbed up onto the back of the kitchen chair and went into like a seizure and as I held her in my arms she looked at me and than passed away.

I am so sick. It was Cricket that changed the way I felt about Amazons.

She is in my lap as I type this.

I am going to miss her so much.

When I uncovered his cage on Tuesday morning, he was laying dead on the bottom of his cage. It was very sad, but I am glad he didn't suffer. It is winter here, I want to bury him next to his buddy ...I wrapped him in a towel and put him in a birdie tent I had and buried him in the snow outside for now....I'm hoping that as soon as the snow melts, I can dig a place for him.

I thought he had a sinus infection. It turned out to be much more insidious. He was in heart failure.

The more I see of this, the more I am beginning to believe that they do not belong in cages. Peck makes four birds in two weeks that I know of personally that have been diagnosed with heart failure - two that have died of it - and just today I read about another bird being diagnosed with heart failure on Facebook.

It's long been known as established fact that a sedentary lifestyle CAUSES heart and arterial disease in humans. It's my firm believe that this bears out in birds.

They *need* to fly. It's truly the 'cardio' exercise.

I have heard many 'expert' vets blame heart problems on "high fat seed diets" but many of these birds were on pellets for either their whole lives or the majority of their lives. I believe it's not the diet. It's the lack of exercise.

Peck had only started to fly, and it was for very short hops. I noticed more and more over the past few months he'd call me to get him instead of flying to me. And I indulged him. Would it have made a difference if I'd have made him fly to me? I suspect the short little flights were far too little, and far too late.

I would give everything I own to have found a way to save him. My heart is so broken. I loved him with every bit of my heart and soul.

I picked him up tonight and his little carved wooden box now sits next to Marden. I hope they are both flying together in Heaven.

We then thought of having kitties. At that time, we were reading the Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. Where the two key characters were Miles , a clever manipulative guy who happened to be a runt caused by a poison gas attack on his mother when he was a fetus. He had a big handsome cousin called Ivan who was kind of stupid compared to Miles. We went to this guy who rescued 2 kittens from municipal bin. One was a runt who appeared to be intelligent and the other was a handsome tabby. So that was how Miles and Ivan came into our lives. Soon we found that Miles was the idiot and Ivan was the very clever one. They took over our balcony and then our apartment. They would explore by jumping out of the balcony and running about the roof and into places I could not imagine. One day I tossed Ivan over the balcony and told my wife he would jump back. He disappeared and a couple of hours to our shock, there was this meowing outside our door. Ivan somehow went around the apartment block, walked up a few flights of steps , and knew the door of the apartment to meow outside.

Ivan was a killer. He would chirped like a bird hidden behind the balcony and leap 2 meters up to catch birds on the wing. He left presents for me by my bed. The head, with 4 small paws and a tail in the proper position and something ickky between them. Excuse me if I did not describe that exactly as I looked away while cleaning up the mess. He might leave a bird or part of a bird. He would climb up and pretend to be stuck in the roof eaves meowing away pitifully to be rescued. When I got up to rescue him, he crawled backwards. I realised he was never stuck when meal time came and he jumped right out.

One morning, we woke up to hear a strange sound. We then traced that sound to a tiny baby bat which could not fly. We were sure that Ivan must have taken the mother bat. I felt sorry enough to rush out to buy a bird cage so the baby bat be kept safe until it could fly again.

I fed it with bananas.

One morning I woke up to see that the cage door was opened, without Batty inside. I thought that was the end, especially in the apartment with Ivan the killer cat and two feisty kittens that my wife adopted a few weeks ago.

Then I heard the squeaks and saw Batty hanging upside down from the edge of a suitcase. Batty was in between Ivan front paws. Ivan was positioning his body so the 2 kitties could not get to Batty to 'play'. I could hardly believed my eyes as now and then, Ivan turned and spit at the two kitties keeping them away. Ivan saw me playing enough with Batty to decide that Batty was family. And went on to protect her.

Batty was placed back into the cage again. Her flights at the beginning was weak and erratic. Batty seemed to like me and hang about me when I did my thing. Her flight became more controlled and powerful.

In a few weeks time, Batty flew off my balcony. Never to return.

It struck me that Ivan knew who was family even if he was a killer.

That was the incident that prompted me to decide if Tinkerbell could live together with Halftail the Bimbo and Zorro the ferret in Taiwan.

And later decided that Dommie and Katie be introduced slowly to Riamfada.

Ivan was also kind of psychic. I reported that in

http://shanlung.com/ivan1.html

Miles was chased away by a vicious neighbourhood tom cat. I trapped that tom cat and released him in another village 20 km away who complained in the papers rock pythons were eating their dogs and cats. I did not like pythons to be hungry.

So that was why Ivan was with us and taken to Singapore where he lived with my mom in law periodically when we were living in Taiwan and other countries.

When he was with us and I in Singapore, you seen how I would cook and prepare his meals. You have seen the way I prepared the food for him, even better than what I prepared for myself or for my wife.

https://www.facebook.com/shanlung

We both love Ivan very very much.

Above is Ivan on my shoulder. That was during our return to Singapore in Oct 2004 after leaving Tinkerbell and Taiwan and fetching Ivan back from my mom in law. I thought he forgotten me but his leap up to my shoulder to curl himself around my neck showed me how much he love to have me back. That was the first time he did that to me.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife told me that Ivan might be getting blind, banging his way about and not noticing my wife waving her hands in front of him. She told me Ivan did not seem to be in discomfort and able to find his way to the food, his litter box and his favourite sofa chair that he taken over.

A few days ago, my wife told me Ivan seemed to be getting weaker and weaker.

Then two days ago, my wife said Ivan refused to eat even though my wife spooned the wet food to his mouth. And that he wedged himself into a tight space. I told my wife to carry him to the bedroom where he spend so much time with us.

This morning Riyadh time, and about noon Singapore time, Ivan was still alive. My wife did what I asked her to do. Scritch Ivan head and tell him that was from me and I love him very much.

She then went to work. I called her about noon my time when she was just getting back to the apartment. She told me that our Ivan was no more with us.

She told me a bit of her died. I felt a bit of me died too. They had been times I thought of leaving KSA and Ivan was part of the reason.

Even though I felt that was coming over the last few days, the ending was very painful to me. I am happy enough that Ivan was not in pain and was with my wife that he loved very much.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YAqZjI4DYbg/VQomXbd0ejI/AAAAAAAABqc/cR12mp_0Gvs/w326-h579-no/20150318_202850.jpg

His ruptured eye had become infected back in August. We had him treated, and at that time Dr. Johnson explained that the eye was like a chronic wound - it was never going to "heal" and mentioned the possibility of removing the ruptured 'sac' that was formerly his right eyeball. Being a nurse, I knew this could mean chronic infections, and infections very close to and connected to the brain. The eye showed signs of discharge about two months ago and I treated it by lavage with sterile normal saline. It seemed to improve, but a few days ago, it appeared "gunky" (purulent). We decided to go forth with the surgery in hopes of stopping these infections. His surgery was scheduled for 9AM yesterday (12/30/2014).

Unfortunately, Jack's heart wasn't up to the surgery. Just as they were bringing him out of anesthesia, his heart stopped.

I am devastated. As hard as I try to be the "good mom" here and not play favorites, Jack was different. He was my "shoulder bird" - something I'd not had since Mar died. We bonded hard and I am once again left with a huge gaping hole in my heart.

Goodbye my dear boy. At least now you can fly and see again, and you will never be in pain again.

I have copied and pasted it here and added some new things.

Cant seem to edit but I guess roudy bush is not as good as I thought from a few posts on the welcome section.

My bird hated Harrisons

I am happy to have found your forum and I regret to say my joining follows a horrific and sad day this past Sunday April 13th, 2014. I purchased a baby grey from a repuatable breeder from Arizona back in June of 2006 when I lived in Phoenix. He was such a constant in my life and not a friend or family member could have a phone call with me without hearing Rio in the background and laughing at his antics and wit.

He was only 8 years old and was a dna tested male Congo African Grey named Rio.

He died suddenly this past Sunday at 12:57PM

He was fine one moment and then fell off his perch the next. I held him in my arms as he passed.

I held him and petted his head and told him I loved him and was so sorry this was happening to him. I am so blessed to have been home when the attack came and was with him when he passed.

My vet did a necropsy on him and found clean pink lungs, but an irritated pancreas and fluid around his little heart. I am having tissues for a histopathology series of tests sent to an Avian lab in Oregon to hopefully uncover more info. I am absolutely grief stricken.

He began talking at 6 months of age and was such an amazing creature, friend and companion.

The house is so quiet and I find myself getting ready to talk to him out of habit.

I am not ready to take on a new little friend as of right now but I feel getting another little friend is a must when I am ready.

I have read that greys, including the famous "Alex" are prone to heart disease no matter how balanced their diet is and this scares me as I never want to go through this again.

Rio was only 8 and should have outlived me as I am now 49.

I know I can never replace him but I also know I want a grey in my life and Rio would not want me to live without one simply because he was gone. I hope the tests can uncover something that I can use in the future to help avoid another heart issue with my next grey.

I realize nothing is guaranteed but 8 years old is so young in my opinion for a bird to die when he was well cared for and lived in a safe, non toxic environment. I have been through all the stages of grief since Sunday and today I can smile a little when I see pics and videos of him. I know time will make things easier and seeing his cage in the garage is heart wrenching. His little body is wrapped up and in my garage freezer awaiting cremation next week. Has anyone experienced this or have any thoughts on greys passing suddenly when there are no signs up until then?

He is the only parrot I have ever owned and the only bird in the house.

I fed him Roudy Bush Pellets as a staple plus a daily variance of fruits and veggies and very little seed.

The Vet said he was a little underweight when she examined his body, however she did not weigh him.

His beak was fine as were his feathers. He never exhibited any type of narotic behavior either.

I gave him broccoli, apples, bell peppers, grapes, strawberries, leafy green lettuces, baby carrots,...people food such as

salmon, chicken, cooked pasta.

Never gave him anything listed as a no no for birds. Fresh filtered clean water daily.

His cage was against a half wall in the main living room far from drafts and windows.

The vet said his crop and gizzard were fine. Nothing unusual in his digestive track.

When I picked him up he was so listless and he sort of moved his head and tried to open his wings but could barely do so.

I held him in a towel upright and stroked his head and talked to him.

I have one regret...it has been 7 years since his last vet checkup and blood draw. He was on a routine

grooming schedule and his groomer always said he looked great and was at perfect weight. I failed to take

him in for regular checkups not because of money but because I believed he was young and healthy and never

ever showed any signs of anything unusual or I would have in a second. I regret not taking him each year because

perhaps they would have uncovered high cholesterol or something that could have been treated?

I know Alex the parrot was in tip top health and still died of something heart related just as sudden as Rio.

My next baby will go every 6 months to see the vet.

I will never forgive myself for not taking him as I do my dogs.

I tried Harrisons and he didnt talk to me for a week lol so I stuck with Roudy Bush as I had heard it was better than ZooPreem

and considered one of the top pelleted foods

I feed my dogs natural balance salmon and potato so I know the importance of good pet food.

I havent been able to walk near the produce section at the grocery store since he passed on Sunday as that was my first stop each time to pick things out for him

What do you recommend? I didnt think I would be wanting a new baby so soon but the void and the silence (although I know a baby needs time to talk etc.)

is heart wrenching. I know I can never have my Rio back but I can teach a new parrot many of the same things in the same tone so to help me remember my fallen friend

and teach the new bird new and unique things as well. I hope the test results uncover what caused his heart attack, stroke or sudden death.

I have recently paid a butt load on car repairs so I will have to wait a week or two to pay the 175.00 needed up front for the histo test.

The vet says I have plenty of time as the tissues are safe in formulin or something that preserves them etc.

I will pay and have her send the tissues in 2 weeks on May 2nd. From there it takes 7-10 days for my vet to get the results.

has anyone heard of such a young bird dying from heart failure? The day he passed it was a cozy snowy day and he was just relaxing on his sleep perch.

I didnt see him fall but he could only have been in that state (stuck between perch and cage bars - his sleep perch was up in the left corner) for 5 min max.

I am so thankful I was holding him when he passed. he was very listless but I hope he was aware enough to know I was holding him and loving him and crying for him.

They are so smart as you know that I can;t imagine he wasnt listening and knowing I was there with him?

I have cried like a baby and have frequently gone out to the garage to see his cage and toys. His little body is wrapped up and in a box in my garage freezer awaiting the time I take him for cremation. I have taken his bundled body out as well as the box a few times and held it sobbing like a baby. I am a 49 year old guy. I cant believe my little buddy is gone. I have his leg tag and will have my jewler sodder it together for a necklace. I hear his voice in most of my videos of my show pug pup as he was always taking part in my videos even if they were not about him, although there are plenty of those. Today is the first day since the day he passed (4-13-14) that I havent cried. I encourage anyone who has not taken their bird for a complete checkup with bloodwork etc. to do so. I will never forgive myself if the histo results show something that may have been treatable such as high cholesterol etc.

I am sharing my experience so that all can learn from the mistake i made when we bought our baby African Grey a month ago.

We live in UAE and there are no breeders of AG in this country. After a lot of research and advise received from so many people, we opted to purchase an 5 month AG Baby from one of the trusted suppliers. We collected the AG the day it arrived from South Africa to UAE along with its Health certificate mentioning it was free of PBFD Disease. As i had the certificate, i felt it was unnecessary to get him tested.

He was with us for 4 weeks and all our family members became so attached to it. During his stay, i felt he was underweight but let it go thinking that he is very small and must be a lean parrot.

Last week all of a sudden after feeding him in the afternoon, he started trembling and one of his leg was completely not functioning. By evening the other leg also paralyzed. He could not move at all, stopped eating, stopped talking, stopped pooping and puked some of his food.

We rushed him to an avian vet where the doctor did a quick blood test and informed us that the AG has no White blood cells in his body and is neurologically damaged due to which both of his legs were paralyzed. He informed us that the bird was infected with PBFD. He told us that given his situation,he will die in 24 hours. He advised us that its best to let the AG go to ease his pain.

It was the most hardest and a tear felt decision i had to make to euthanize him. He was with us just for a month and i never thought that his loss would affect our family so much. The loss is unbearable.

When getting a bird , always get it fully tested . Tests are expensive but they will spare you the pain of loosing the bird in such a way. DO NOT TRUST PET SHOPS or ANYONE !! When getting the Tests done, make sure the bird is with you so that it does not get infected with other birds until the test results come back.

I know a lot of you don't know dhorje but he was very active here for several years and there are still a lot of pictures and videos of Cocoa on her adventures to the hiking trails and the park/playground and he regularly exercised her on a harness and leash. She will be sadly missed by her family and all those who followed her, she was a much loved companion, may she rest in peace.

http://avianandexoticvets.com/why-did-my-bird-suddenly-die/

I have never posted here before, but feel the need to leave a memorial for Sam, my grey of 10 years, who died unexpectedely this past week. My husband and I are currently living separately due to jobs. We had to move my husband to another place temporarily until we figured out our situation. Both my grey and our green-cheeked amazon were living with him due to my cramped living conditions in the city. I know parrots, particularly greys, stress out with moves, but I have moved with Sam at least a half dozen times and he's always fine. A few days after the move is when he passed with no signs of illness or even stress.

I have lost many people in my life, but I have never felt grief like this. It feels like I can't breathe. I am overwhelmed with guilt- I feel like he died broken-hearted because I, the one he had bonded to, was not there and hadn't been living with him for months. I miss him so much. I miss his continual montage of words, his whistles, and yes, even his smoke alarm sounds. I miss finding his chew marks on everything- every book I own, my purses, my wicker laundry basket. I miss watching Sam, a fully flighted bird, clumsily waddlle across our carpeted floor.

As anyone that has lost a parrot knows, it is difficult to get people to understand why you are so grief-stricken over a silly bird. These birds are a source of such tremendous, joy, love, and amusement. Sam would always be fidgety when sitting on my shoulder- chewing on buttons, trying to see what's in my mouth, etc. But the minute he knew I was sad, or crying, he would stop and just calmly place his head under my chin. You will never have a bond like the one that you acquire with these absolutely wonderful creatures.

At this point, I feel like I'm just rambling but I also just wanted to hear from others- others that have lost their greys to see how you coped. Although I've always known how special he was to me, and how much I love him, I still had no idea that our parting would be so painful. Is this normal? I feel like I could cry for eternity....

Thanks for listening.

Sandra