Giannine

This morning as my 8-year-old was preparing the birds' food as she does every morning, she forgot to latch Olive's food dish door shut and our sliding glass door was open and Olive flew outside. So far, we have not seen or heard her. She has the neck cone on still and only just recently began flying so she doesn't fly all that well. Her wings have been clipped since we got her 13 months ago. I just had fliers made and the kids are posting them around the neighborhood right now. Obviously I am very worried about her...will the crows kill her? We have owls around here and I am just worried she will be killed. I put her cage outside on the deck where she flew away...any other tips and things I should be aware of? Thank you

Does anyone happen to have a medium Pak-o-bird hanging around collecting dust? We do you quite a bit of birdwatching and exploring outside and I would love to start taking Poppy instead of leaving her at home. Please message me if you have one for sale. Thank you

He is doing fine but has been hospitalized once more since he was released. He has a long road ahead of him and unfortunately, he does not seem to grasp the seriousness of what happened to him and the life that was given back to him. If hospital staff is in tears and talking about him in the following days and calling him a "miracle", that should tell him just how blessed he is to be here but I don't think he realizes it. His life will be short if he doesn't make the necessary changes to his lfestyle.

Olive had another follow up with the vet about two weeks ago and her collar was taken off to give her the opportunity to preen and also to see if she would pull her feathers out, given the chance to. She started plucking out her little feathers as soon as the vet went out of the room so it went straight back on. She did shorten the collar a bit, though, because it was rubbing on her neck and making her bleed. Since the collar was shortened, she has become much more like her old self. She is jabbering and saying a lot more and is pretty much back to her old self. We really missed her a lot. The house just wasn't the same without her funny interjections and timely greetings when the kids get home from school, etc. I just realized she calls me by my 18-year-old's name, "Anthony":rolleyes: You would think the one name in the house (Mommy) that is used more than any other name would be picked up on after a year but no...she says, "Giovanna", "Anthony", "Mercedez", and "Mia" (dog). Oh well. I am still a bit irritated that the vet and the avian vet both upheld the decision to suggest euthanization to me before even giving her a chance at treatment. Their reasoning was, if she has to wear the collar for the rest of her life, her quality of life isn't going to be as good. I understand that, but she can and does still have a good life. I am aware that some vets' own birds have to wear collars long term due to plucking—some even in that office (the certified avian vet) so that reasoning doesn't make sense to me since she didn't euthanize hers. It just shouldn't have been presented as an option, in my opinion. She deserves more of a chance at life than that. The vet does want to give her scarring a chance to thicken up and then we will see how she does without the collar on. She is still on pain meds twice a day and will be for several months, I believe, until this happens.

Olive started speaking again yesterday!!! First time in...I don't know...a couple of months? Maybe it hasn't been that long but it sure is glad to have her back!!! She said "Ollie Ollie", "Anthony" and "'night night" when we were covering her cage just as she used to:D

I am happy to report that Olive is doing so much better. She has had to get used to the foam around her neck but is now getting around nearly as well as she used to. She has even reverted back to some of her old behaviors such as trying to get to my 12-year-old when she is by her cage so she can bite her:D and she climbed down off of her cage to walk around the living room floor just like she used to before her injury. She is far less needy and doesn't need to sleep wrapped up in a blanket anymore, nor does she sleep all day as she was doing before. Her limp is also gone. I believe she was in pain from her skin injury on that side and that is why she was limping. Now that she can't reach her skin to bite it and pull out her feathers, she is healing very well and her scabs are falling off. She will be on 3 of her meds until the 26th and one until the 20th. She still has not resumed talking but I am hoping that will happen soon. I have decided to take her to another vet for her follow up appointment after seeing some scary reviews for the vet I was taking her to. They have a board certified avian vet, yes, and to their credit, several of the reviews of animals dying in their care were about a vet who is no longer there, but the vet we saw telling me to consider euthanization before even presenting me with treatment options really upset me and rubbed me the wrong way. I found another avian and exotic animals vet who has excellent reviews. I feel bad for Poppy...after this happened with Olive and me having to devote so much of my time and energy to her, my oldest child's father went into cardiac arrest at only 42-years-old and was dead for 15 minutes until they brought him back...I have been at the hospital with him every day for the past 8 days. I am looking forward to my life getting back to normal!

Sorry I didn't get around to updating the other night. We didn't even have dinner until 10:30 that night. This thing they put around her neck really was a learning curve for her. She had to learn to stand and balance and then move around without falling on her face. That took about 24 hours. She has been sleeping wrapped up in a blanket in a box next to my bed and spends little time in her cage. Really just enough time to eat and drink several times a day and then I take pity on her when she's finished and has her head down and against the bars of her cage. I ordered a cozy sling-style small dog carrier to hopefully use for her so I am not holding her all day bundled up in a blanket. She will hopefully be content bundled in the sling and I can have my hands free. She is now on two antibiotics and two pain killer/anti-inflammatory medications. At least she isn't able to pull anymore feathers out or further self mutilate. I assume all the bacterias on her skin they found were the cause of her behavior. I feel a bit better knowing an avian vet is on staff at the clinic I took Olive to. It is a birds and exotic animals clinic and Dr. Strunk came into the room to introduce herself to me even though she wasn't the Dr. seeing Olive. She still seems to oversee all the birds brought in. Olive seems to be doing fine overall. I'll be taking her back in in two weeks. I truly hope she doesn't have to wear this thing around her neck for the rest of her life:( The second photo shows the self mutilation she did just in the day and night I was gone. Have any of you ever dealt with anything at all like this? [ATTACH=CONFIG]26865[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]26866[/ATTACH]

We are at the vet's office now. Olive has self-mutilated and the vet said it's one of the worst cases she's seen. She advised me to consider euthanasia which I am not willing to do at this point. They tested for fungal and bacterial infections and found bacterial but no fungal. They will be growing a culture to determine resistance to antibiotics to better determine which course of meds will be most effective. She was fitted with a cone and I was told she may need to wear one for the rest of her life. Not feeling super optimistic at this point and would really appreciate prayers for a full recovery. Olive has become very attached to me and I to her during this process and just typing this, I am fighting back tears. She will be started on an additional antibiotic in the meantime and be put back on the Metacam. I will update again after I get Olive home. They have to wait for her to calm down from having the cone put on her before they release her to me.

Thank you all for your concern...I need to drive to Eastern Washington tomorrow for one day and night and decided to take Olive rather than leave her here with my older boys. She has become so attached to me that she gets stressed out when I am not holding her wrapped up in a blanket. If I left her, I would worry about her constantly and feel really bad. I am now concerned the Metacam has possibly caused kidney damage as I see her drink water far more frequently than ever before. I read about several accounts of this occurring with other people's birds but am not sure. I just figure I'd rather be safe than sorry. I hope to get her back in to the vet within the next week or so and have blood tests and whatever other tests they recommend done because there is something definitely going on more than the puncture wound. All she wants to do is sleep in the blanket with me all day and she hangs on the side or from the top of her cage when she is in it which is not normal. Starting yesterday, she began shaking her head vigorously from side-to-side very frequently...sometimes just a couple of seconds apart. Going through this with her has made me realize how significant a part of our family she really is. Poppy is the sweet quiet one and Olive was the life of the house with her constant talking and calling the kids by their names and greeting my 18-year-old with "Hey Buddy! Whatcha doin'?" when he walked in the door from school. She hasn't spoken a word in over two weeks now. I have been praying every night that she will pull through whatever it is she is going through. Thank you again for checking in to see how our little Ollie is doing. Have a wonderful weekend and God bless~Giannine

Yes:D This is why I would like to see if I can give it to her for her leg (pain). The vet called back this morning and said to give it to her again for 3-5 days. I'm just looking forward to being able to take her back in if she doesn't stop limping on her own.

I will definitely be taking her back in for another checkup as soon as possible. She was prescribed Metacam for 5 days which she is now done with...I think last Saturday was her last day taking that. I wonder if I should ask the vet if I can continue giving it to her...

Wow...I am still new here but from the time I joined, I could see clearly that Dave was one of the staples of this forum. I was shocked to see the title for this thread and read the news. I will pray for peace and comfort for his family and flock.

Picture taken just now^ I've been pretty concerned about Olive these past few days because she has been limping pretty bad and likes to sleep pretty much all day wrapped in a blanket. I am feeling a bit better today because, though she hasn't begun talking again, she did become pretty vocal last night for the first time in a couple of weeks. Up until then, she has been quiet. She was doing her call that she does when we go out of the room or she wants something. The only thing I can think of as to why she is limping is that she pulled out all of her feathers on her back under her wing and almost all the way down that leg and there is scabbing from that. Overall, I have a lot more hope about her survival now:D

Olive's feathers loss from under her wing has now extended down to the top of her leg. She is still pulling out her soft gray feathers and messing with her feathers quite a bit. I put her in her big cage for a bit earlier a few times to get her out of the carrier and for some reason, she keeps hanging onto the side of the cage so she can keep her head under the strings hanging down from her sleeping boing. She was sleeping like that and has never done that before. That is where she stayed each time she was in her cage. Being in the small carrier seems to be stressing her out and she gets agitated. She paces and will hang on the door or bite at it, trying to find a way out. She doesn't rest much. I'm not sure how much good it is doing her. She likes her medicine and takes it readily. I have given her peanut butter and coconut milk a couple of times today.

Ahhh got it (coconut milk+syringe). Makes sense. Well, I definitely know Quakers quake, it's just strange behavior for her since she really hasn't since she was a baby. I took her out for a bit this morning and she seems to have pulled her scab off again. She is tired and weak again and uses her beak just to move around on my arm which isn't normal for her. She normally hops good distances and gets around quite well. Much better than Poppy. I put her back in the small carrier and she is trying to find a way out. She seemed to be doing that when I got her out this morning. I'm worried she is spending all her energy in there doing that. She was acting extremely sleepy before I put her in and couldn't keep her eyes open. For some reason she keeps chewing on the little hand towel I have at the bottom of the carrier, too. She was doing that last night and even falling asleep while chewing on it. I will be able to take her in to the vet again if a payment I am expecting comes through...just need to play the waiting game. I have to travel across state on April 2nd and back the same day so that I can administer her meds...going to see my grandparents possibly for the last time as my grandfather was recently diagnosed with Leukemia and is supposed to turn 90 this year so because of his advanced age, he decided to forego chemotherapy. I am trying to decide whether to leave her here or take her with us. My 20 and 15-year-old will be here but all of Olive's favorite people will be on the trip. Thoughts?

We went and got a can of coconut milk and heating pad and she is now in her "hospital cage" with a tiny little condiment bowl of coconut milk. She likes it a lot so I don't have to feed that to her with a syringe. I am glad I was advised to do this...it makes most sense to me that she would recover quicker in a confined area where she doesn't have the freedom of roaming around her cage from top to bottom and side-to-side, using up all of her energy. I will keep her in the carrier until I see moderate improvement. Another thing I forgot to mention is she is quaking again like she did when she was a baby...any Quaker owners have any input on this? Again, I appreciate the advice and input.

I didn't see this part of your message when responding. I did speak to my 20-year-old again and he seemed genuine when he told me he wasn't aware of our dog getting ahold of her. He has become very concerned about her since learning of her injury when he normally doesn't pay too much attention to her. I am now wondering if something else caused this. Especially since the day before we noticed her injury (and I believe it happened several days prior), Olive was waltzing around on the floor right in front of our Boxer's nose as he lie on the floor and showed no fear of him whatsoever. I was right next to both of them. I never allow her to be close to him for too long simply out of caution since he likes to play so much. I will look around her cage to see if I can find any clues.

Thank you so much. I was an absolute wreck yesterday fighting off tears constantly and sick to my stomach. I was afraid she wouldn't make it through the night. She seems to do better then not-so-much. Right now she seems quite lethargic and weak. She sleeps a lot and spends a lot of time at the bottom of her cage which she never did before. She also keeps staring down as if she sees something that isn't there. I noticed that when she is on my arm or shoulder. Between Olive and one of my kids having surgery this morning, I am a bit overwhelmed. She keeps pulling her soft down gray feathers out, also. Right now she is on her favorite boing in her cage where she sleeps. I do have a small cat carrier that Poppy came in that has a perch in it very low to the floor. I think I will go ahead and put her in there. She seems to want to be with/on us far more than in her cage so we have been holding her a lot more so she has company and comfort. I will take your advise and go get some coconut milk and a heating pad. I did feed her some warm oatmeal with a bit of peanut butter mixed in earlier which she enjoyed. Thank you again. I will keep you updated.

Hi everyone, I noticed mid last week that Olive's behavior changed. She was quieter and was sleeping more. Yesterday we found an injury under her wing. Lots of blood. I took her to the vet after hours and a puncture wound was found. I have never left the birds alone with the dogs and always have someone watch them if and when I leave but clearly, someone did not watch them close enough. Nobody is fessing up but I suspect Olive was bit by our Boxer when I left last Wednesday and had my 20-year-old son (who is high functioning Autistic) watch the dogs and birds. The vet said the wound was scabbed over and cleaned it and gave Olive meds. She sent us home with antibiotics for Olive to take for 20 days. This morning, Olive seemed to have pulled her scab off and started bleeding a lot. I had a mandatory hearing to attend in Seattle and left her in her cage and had the kids stay in the living room with her to keep watch over her, keep her company, and text me updates. Olive has been staying at the bottom of her cage and keeps going under the newspaper I laid down on top of a towel and will put her head under the towel sometimes, too. She is definitely sleeping more, hardly making any noise, and I have no money to take her back in to the vet. My stomach is literally sick right now from stress. I had some unexpected bills come up this month that required a good chunk of this month's income and had to borrow the $300 for last night's visit from my daughter which was all she had in her account. This experience has taught me to put the birds in their cages if at any time I cannot be here to watch them myself. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am afraid we will wake up in the morning and she will be gone. Not only will that devastate me, but my 8-year-old who is most bonded to Olive. I did try to apply for Care Credit and was not approved.

Ha! That's great LOL I love it! I had the cable turned off several years ago so unfortunately, Poppy and Olive are stuck listening to Qubo (the only all children's programming) all day. I actually kind of miss the Dora days. That was my 12-year-old's favorite show.

Ha! This gave me a good laugh!!! Inara is comedy:D

Just out of curiosity since Poppy doesn't talk much or let her preferences be known in any way (other than trying to stay on me when I need to put her down), how does Kya choose the channel he wants to watch? That's funny he mimics Spongebob's voice!

Mornings are always our one-one-one time so after she eats her breakfast, I always open the door that has her rope perch on it. She rushes to it when she knows she is about to be let out and then she steps onto my hand and I'll spend 10-15 minutes with her before placing her on top of her cage with her food. I learned early on to turn lights on before entering dim hallways or the kitchen during the day if it is gloomy outside because she is especially jumpy when we go into parts of the house she doesn't spend a lot of time in. She does seem like she is more timid by nature. I do hope to kind of desensitize her to new surroundings to help her overcome it and be less jumpy. Thank you for your input you guys!

Despite my household being one of 7, it is surprisingly quiet and calm. The most activity comes from our dumb Boxer, Solo:rolleyes: We have a tri-level house so the kids generally are in each of their little corners much of the time. The kids are not allowed to run around in the house or yell, etc. During the day it is just me here with the birds so I keep the kids channel on the TV all day to provide some noise for the birds since I spend most of the time the kids are at school in the dining room editing but am just a few feet away from Poppy and in clear view. I would say the more quiet it is, the more jumpy Poppy is because then any tiny little noise makes her jump. Sterling, that is funny. Your Conure sounds a bit like Olive. She imitates us very well. Poppy got me kind of good earlier and Olive heard me say "Ouch!" from downstairs and I heard her say, "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" She also says that when she is nibbling on us LOL . She will say "Naughty chicken" too. She says "Step up" when she knows we want her to but she has her own agenda. She says, "Good girl" and "Good bird" when she knows she has done something good. Very smart little birds they are.

The Andy Griffith Show has become a favorite around here and I have been whistling the theme song to Poppy for months. Over the last few days, she has been whistling the first three notes—just enough for me to recognize what she is whistling:D She just did it and I whistled the first part of the song and she whistled her few notes right back LOL She did just start talking recently, as well. Her first word was "Peekaboo" and she says "Poppy" all the time. She has a small and higher pitched voice which is cute. Mine is deeper but I do speak to her in a higher voice. Our Quaker Parrot Olive is such a jabber box, it's exciting to have another bird just learning to say things. Olive started talking at just 13 weeks and hasn't stopped saying new things since (she is 11-months). When did your Grey's say their first words?