Azzie

My 3 year old CAG Cleo does it too, usually not long after eating. It looks to me like she's licking her "lips"

Cleo believes all feathers must be attacked. Floating downy feathers get screamed and bitten at. If a larger feather comes out when grooming, she holds it in her foot, shakes it all over the place (often so violently she falls off her perch and ends up upside down) and screams at it. She doesn't appear to have the sense to just let go of this menace feather, instead will keep shaking it and screaming at it.

Cleo pins when she is playing with a toy, eating, or when I am talking to her through the cage bars. During the later, she will also quiver her breast and belly feathers. Guess she is just an excitable little girl!

Cleo my almost 3 year old CAG is fine with loud noises. Occasionally she might startle and look a bit panicked, but she responds really well to me talking to her quietly and telling her "it's ok". If the noise is really bad and you can't be at home, can you put your bird at a friend's place during the day when the work is taking place? It be good for socializing your bird as well!

Here in New Zealand hand raised fully weaned babies are expensive. I paid $4500 for mine (and I still haven't confessed to my parents just HOW much I paid for Cleo, 2.5 years on!) I saw a breeder selling macaws, for a cool $20,000 each.

Well it's been a few days since this little episode, and Cleo is as good as gold. She's her usual sweet funny self, with not a hint of aggression at all. She doesn't appear to be ill or in pain, and is playing, eating, pooping and singing as usual. I'm investing in some electric flyswats, as I don't want a repeat experience of this. It was most unnerving and painful! Thank you all for your support and input.

Thank you for your suggestions and support. Thinking back on what was happening, moments before Cleo flew at me, there was a fly buzzing around her, and she was tracking it visually and lunging at it, then carried on playing on the boing. You think this might have upset her? Zoom, after a 15 minute time out spell for both Cleo AND myself, I went over to her cage, and she came running to where I was standing as usual. I was able to give her a little scratch, also as usual. She started beaking my fingers gently, and acted like her usual funny sweet self. I admit initially I was a bit wary and even jerked my hand back a little when she started beaking, but I feel positive and confident this morning. I'll just make sure there aren't any flies around when Cleo is out. (There's been a huge fly invasion in the area, probably because the weather is still quite warm for autumn, and I spend a lot of time swatting the little pests, but the occasional one evades me). Thanks guys!

Cleo was happily playing on her boing several meters away from me, and I was sitting in my chair watching her. All of a sudden, without ANY warning, Cleo flew at me and attacked me. She beat her wings in my face and started scratching at my face. I put my hands up to protect my face, and she landed on my hands and started biting. She was still scratching and beating her wings at me. I managed to get hold of a foot, and she tried to fly off, so I quickly ran to her cage and put her in there. She was still trying to fly off during the run back to her cage. Once I closed the door, she threw herself at the bar, lunging at me, still trying to attack. I have several scratches and welts on my face from the scratches, and a dozen or so bleeding bite marks on my hands. Five minutes after this event, she is sitting in her cage, whistling and chattering away to herself like nothing happened. Cleo and I have a great relationship, and she has never done anything like this before. Her and I play together all the time, and I can touch her anywhere on her body. If I do something she doesn't like, she gently grabs my finger and pushes it away. She likes to chill out on a chair close to me whilst watching tv (alone but still together sort of thing). She goes belly up for me when playing and I can gently tickle her there, so I'd say she does trust me. So why did this happen? I am a little upset, and more than a little confused and perplexed why she suddenly decided to attack me so viciously. Can anyone shed any light on this please?

Melting...

My neighbour goes into her backyard in the hope to see my bird peeking through the window. If she does catch sight of Cleo, she will start whistling at the bird, in the hope to entice her to whistle back. Apparently she also talks to my dog through the window next to the front door when I am out and the dog is guarding.

Cleo has soft pale grey feathers under her belly and around the legs that have a slight red tinge to them. Some of them are so pale they look pink instead of red, and they didn't appear until after she molted.

Whenever I use the vacuum cleaner, this is met by loud barking from Cleo, and her climbing down to floor level and rubbing her beak on the cage bars. I always wondered what this was about, and I think I figured it out today. The dog always barks at the vacuum, so I'd say that's where Cleo gets it from. When that thing comes out, it means it is time to bark! As for the beak rubbing, I think she is copying my back and forth movements with the vacuum when I am near her cage. It's strange that she freaks out if I accidentally put a perch or toy back in the wrong position, but she is totally not afraid of a noisy moving vacuum cleaner. Still, I am not complaining that she's not scared of that, as it makes housekeeping a lot easier if I can just leave her in her cage or out and about.

Occasionally Cleo gets to eat with me off my plate. It doesn't happen often, because she picks out the largest pieces, has a small nibble, and tosses the rest on the ground where the dog is happily waiting. She also picks out the bits she doesn't like and biffs those too. Having her own plate doesn't work, as she seems convinced that whatever is on my plate must be a lot better than what's on hers. Most of the time she is in her cage when we eat, but she knows a small portion has been put aside for her (if it is something she is allowed to have). It goes into her special red treat bowl, and she goes beserk when she sees me handling it, because she knows what's coming. She knows the word "wait", when I put it aside to cool it down. Still, it is a lot of fun to watch her pick over my plate and make a mess of things, and I am sure she is purposely feeding the dog, as those 2 get on very well.

What you did was the hardest, yet the best, bravest and most noble thing you could ever have done for your friend Grey. To end the suffering of a beloved animal is the most awful decision to have to make, but it show just how much you loved Grey and how much you cared, and how big your hearts really are. You did not put yourself and your feelings first. Your first priority was the well being of your Grey, and that takes an immense amount of courage, love, and compassion. Most of us here will know of this emptiness you speak, and the pain these last few days are causing. Take heart though, what you did was the hardest but the best thing you could have done, and it really shows just what sort of people you are.

Judy, I would seriously recommend investing in a water blaster. Cleaning this cage was actually fun, and it was amazing to see how dirty it actually still was, in spite of my best efforts to do manual cleaning on it. And as I said, I used no chemicals what so ever, and the cage looks like new. I used a regular flat spray first to get into all the cracks and bits, then used this humongous brush attachment to properly clean the bars.