Acappella

Dorian only stops talking to eat or sleep! He's not big into toys. His main form of entertainment seems to be chattering away. There's always a new sound to obsess about:laugh:

Ajilon, karma for you for making me expel tea from my nose. (it was the magnet comment that did it) He really has you trained. Trust me, he can hang from his beak. Dorian's taken to swinging from the bottom of his boing hanging on only with his beak! :ohmy: Even if Zazu loses his grip he'll be fine. Enjoy the clinging while it lasts, I'm jealous.

I've worked at getting Dorian used to me playing with his toes. Every once in a while one of his talons gets needle sharp and while I play with his toes I take a pair of trimmers that I use on my cat and trim off the very tip, but take off less than a milemetre so I'm never close to the quick. This plus a concrete perch keeps the flesh puncturing to a minimum!

Dan, I wondered about a toy as well, since that happened to Dorian years ago when he was in the store. I hate to think what might have happened if I hadn't been there to free him. If there's no evidence he hurt himself on a toy, then I'd get another cage and separate them. Just like kids who get along for years and then do nothing but fight as they mature, these birds are always changing, hormones and personality change, they get more defensive of their space. I'd also make a vet visit just to be sure he heals well. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, right? Hope both your birds are ok.

My little grey monkey picked up a loon call from a Montana's commercial and it took me awhile to figure out where it came from. Don't you love that 'so that's where he got it' moment when it all comes together:P

If you do decide on another bird, make sure you really like the sounds it makes. Dorian came from a pet store, and every once in a while when he's feeling very bossy, he pulls out his budgie or canary sounds. Problem is, his version is several times louder than the originals.:blink:

It could take a few days for him to feel safe again. Last time Dorian saw a vet it took almost a week for him to get totally back to his chatty goofy self, and that was with the vet coming here to see him!

Well my baby is home. They had to pull two teeth and cleaned the rest, and I have to do one more week of antibiotics, so that won't be fun. The total cost ended up being $220cdn. When I went to pick him up there were two women behind the counter. I said who I was there to pick up and the woman who was seated asked the other if she wanted to get him, and she said "not really"! I asked if he'd been bad and she said "not bad exactly, but very mad". I said how he was really a lovely cat, just not when he was there and I hear the vet, whom I've known for years, yell from the back room "I'd agree with both those things." Apparently he'd made quite an impression! So early bedtime for everyone here tonight! Jac's still a little doped up and I have a huge headache. Thanks for all the good wishes guys, it means a lot. We all love all our animals so much, don't we?

Hi. I was wondering if you had found a new cage and how it went introducing it to your grey. Let us know what's happening.

Dorian is Not good with change. That may be the understatement of the year. When he came to me I set up his cage exactly as it had been in the store and let him have it that way for months. Then last summer I put him in his small travel cage and took apart the cage completly and power washed it. I took out the dowel perch he was used to and totally re-did his cage with new perches of different sizes and materials and the food and water dishes in new places. Of course, even though I had let him see all these things for months, he still wanted no part of them, so I set the small cage on it's stand and joined the two cages with his old dowel perch, leaving the doors on both cages open during the day. He slept in the small cage for two more nights before he started to inch over and inspect the new layout. As he moved around the cage I saw what was not working and made some small adjustments. Now I change out his toys, or put in a different swing, but the basic layout stays the same. The key with him seems to be letting him decide when he's ready to explore a new object. He's only just realized that his boing is not a parrot killing device, and I bought that for him in November.:laugh:

Yet another case of 'be careful what you wish for'

I've noticed Dorian chews when he is frightened, like with a vet visit. If he's wrapped in a towel he'll chew it, or if there's a lot of activity around him, like when my brother and a friend moved our HUGE broken freezer out of the basement, he'll chew on the supreme rope on his swing. It seems to be a way of self-soothing for him. I'll bet we all have grey friendly clothes. I hope the day Publishers Clearing House shows up on my door with a huge cheque I'm wearing my 'be seen in public' clothes:silly:

Well guys, Jac goes in tomorrow morning. I have to force his last antibiotic into him first thing tomorrow, shove him into his carrier and drive him to the torture chamber:( I've had to empty his food dishes and he's looking at me like he hasn't eaten for days. I feel like a very quilty mommy knowing what he's in store for. Don't you wish we could get a few minutes in every pet's life where we could tell them why we seem to be mean, and they could understand? Wish me luck. I'll post when I know how things went.

Knock on wood, Dorian's never done this, but lots of people here have birds that do. I suggest doing a search here on plucking. You'll find lots of information. Good luck with Molly.

Hi Kook. I was just wondering how you are doing.

Sorry, image too large to post. I'll photobucket it and post it later.

I like the idea of putting up something around the playstand, expecially since it sounds like you're handy. If you can anchor something to a wall it would be sturdy enough to climb on. Of course then you're into questions about damaging the walls, do you rent or own your home. . . Nothing's ever simple y'know:( Another option might be a small cage, the size used as a sleep cage by some. Too small to spend his days in, but big enough for stretching and a favourite toy. Here's the one I used over the summer to have him outside. You can't train out instinctual behaviour in your dogs. Do a search for a thread by Dan and Dayo's 'near death experience' and you'll see that even the most well trained dogs that are very used to a bird's presence will act out of instinct.<br><br>Post edited by: Acappella, at: 2009/01/31 18:39

Sorry. It's in off-topic now. Thanks for checking, it means a lot.

Well, Jac has to go in for surgery next friday. The abcessed teeth have started to come through his cheek, but the antibiotics have started to work. His poor little face isn't as swollen, and he seems to be feeling better, less lethargic than a few days ago, so I think his fever has probably gone down. He's eating ok. I've substituted a soft food and then mash some of his kibble into it. I thought I was going to have to fight with dad over the surgery. We're in a rural community and he was a farmer, where attitudes about animals are often very harsh. However, he hasn't said a word about it, so that's proof that he is just as attached to Jac as I am. Now, if he'd offer to pay for part of the bill . . After all Jac is only 8 years old. I'll do whatever I can for him as long as his quality of life is good even if that means mashing up his food for the rest of his life! Wish us luck. <br><br>Post edited by: Acappella, at: 2009/01/31 18:19

Hey. Guess I'll start a new thread in the off-topic forum. I'll just say, I'm about to have the most expensive former-barn cat in the world. It's never good news when you ask for an estimate and they tell you they won't know until they do the surgery.

Well, a friend told me I shouldn't buy this cage because something, she calls it my guardian angel, was telling me I might need the $ for something else. So last night my cat jumps into bed with me and one side of his face is all swelled up, like a chipmunk with his cheek full of nuts. We're off to the vet this afternoon, where I'm sure they'll find a place for me to put the money I was going to use on the cage. Wish me luck.

I'm sure she'll come around, for all the reasons Dan listed above. Spend lots of time by the cage talking, even reading, to her. Offer to share parts of your meals. Don't try to make her step-up right now, just let her decide to come to you. I wouldn't even try to touch her right now. They're such flock animals, with a strong need for community, she'll come around. Animals can sense when there is a kind, loving, consistent presence around them. It may take awhile, but what's a few days or even weeks in the life of a pet that will be with you for years. It'll be ok.

I'm glad coming here is helping you deal with the loss of Zeus. Glad, also, that you found a breeder who seems to take better care of his animals. Regarding love birds, I have one caution born of experience with a pair we had in the store. Their cry, in my opinion, is especially loud. Mind, I have a chronic pain condition that makes me particularilly sensitive to loud noise (there are days when, as much as I love Dorian, in go the ear plugs!) I just know that I had to ask the friend who owned the store at that time to take the love birds home because I couldn't be in the store with them. I don't know if this was typical for the breed, I'd just encourage you to see if this is mentioned in any of the research you are doing. Maybe other members here have info on love birds, maybe in the 'other birds' forum here. I'm glad you're finding some comfort feeding the birds that come to your garden. May you feel a little less sadness every day.

Please keep posting and visiting here for as long as it's helping you. No one here will ever diminish the pain we know you're feeling.

Thanks guys. I don't know if it's accompaniment, critcism, or competiton, but he does seem to enjoy himself:laugh: