katana600

Thank you Susan for the update. I remember how foreign and difficult it seemed when I joined this forum. It was my first Internet group and I didn't know much about forums or African Greys. It's threads like yours that create awareness and hope for the next person who starts googling after walking away from a vet's office in shock. To come back and post such positive results is so helpful, thank you.

When the police officer knocked on your door you must have gone through the gamut of emotions all in the flash of a nanosecond. The couple who found him are your guardian angels. It's not often this happy outcome. Brutus and you have a deeper sense of appreciation than you already enjoyed. You both need a long nap. If you can call your vet and tell them he is found and has a scrape, he may prescribe something to ensure he doesn't get an infection just in case it was a cat. Happy happy joy joy. Brutus is home.

Ray, while its hard to think of the profound loss and grief you are experiencing, there is so much love and good from Cricket being in your life and ours through you. The patience you showed her flowed right out of you and into my heart to teach me how to be with Miss Gilbert. I feel for you in these early days, weeks and months. I may only have cried a handful of times since I was ten years old. When Juno died so suddenly, I cried hard every day for two months. He was something wonderful and special. When I came across a photo of him with me before I brought him home, I remembered the awe and excitement and I cried. When I bought a sleep tent for Gil, I remembered how he would chortle and blush when he peeked out of his tent and saw me every morning. It's been five years and tears roll freely down my cheeks. Cricket is always with you in heart and spirit. She was with you in the garage. Don't stop going there, but do it after work, one day a month and have a quiet commune with Cricket. Her love in your heart will never fade but the pain of her loss will look smaller in comparison and you will laugh again when you think of her antics. On a side note, the thought of reaching my finger in to Gilbert blindly is terrifying. I have never had that trust or gentleness and I rejoice that you have and can describe it to me and Cricket brings me a calm sense of peace today through you.

Priceless. It sure looks like they make use of the time when they are "home alone".

I'm glad you put up this thread. We have this toy and its a good reminder to try it again. The cork idea is excellent. You have been an inspiration. Thanks.

I often think of those unfortunate souls living in parrot-less, tidy, quiet homes. Surely they are the ones sharing a mutual "disorder". Hahaha. Happiness is having a grey in your home.

This is a fine place for your thread, welcome. There are ways to get along with your work schedule. From coming home for lunch to staggering your schedule with your girlfriend's to maximize companionship time. Can part of your ten hour shift be arranged before dawn? A question to ask is if you would be okay if your grey chooses your girlfriend as the favorite and you are 'second fiddle'? Can you commit to forever, no matter what? Can you afford the annual vet visit? You will likely become as entranced and bewitched by your grey as you would to a child. Will that be acceptable if you have a human child and have to manage a safety zone so small fingers are protected and to divide your time? It's tough to look into the future to see where your life journey will take you. Having a dog is a decade or slightly more, a grey is the rest of your life. It's speaks highly for you to be asking yourself if you are ready and to think of the impact you will have o. Your grey. To you he will be a unique, exquisite, fascinating companion. To him, you will be everything.

GA kids are back in school. If you have kids in school, contact the schools with your poster. Ask them not to try to catch him but to call and have you come to them. Kids are highly motivated with more free time than most of us. Best of luck to you.

It seems like only yesterday you were celebrating five glorious years in paradise. What could be better than adding another notch in your favorite perch. You are indeed the lady of the house. Happy birthday little one.

This is a thread to watch and learn from your reunion with Maggie. I am cheering you on from afar. That smile on your face sent sunshine all the way to Georgia. Best of luck for a smooth transition. I am also sending happiness and prayers for her foster family. I am sure they learned a lot and good things will come to them in happy memories of her time in their home.

I took way too much pleasure at David being in the doghouse with her. From what I could see, she was a magician doing her magic trick covering her face with one wing trying diligently to make him disappear. We both got the ole stink eye all the rest of the weekend. It was kind of nice to have company.

All in good time she will have you trained and wrapped around her little talon. Then you will learn how to "do things right" in Sako's mind to be her perfect companion. You have the patience, some grey experience and good judgement. You will learn her subtle signals and how to stop the fun before she gets to the biting stage. You have a great attitude, follow your instincts.

Use a ladder, perch or rope to connect Timmy's cage to the new perch. Then put toys and treats near it, but still on his cage. As he gets more confident, put things where he would have to reach onto the new perch and eventually where he has to stand on the new perch stand. It may take some time or he may suddenly decide fun things happen on his new perch. We just got one that looks just like yours. We have had Gilbert three years. She is still frightened if I move it while she is on it. Another thing that helps is to cover that shiny pan with whatever you use to line his cage. We use newspaper or sometimes paper towels on the floor stand.

You have a very thoughtful and dedicated husband. No wonder you cried, its a beautiful picture of your beloved boy.

Hi Furley and welcome to the forum. Reading this thread what comes to my mind is the honeymoon phase. Even if Sako knew you before, she changed homes only four months ago. In a new home a grey will likely be on observation status, getting to know the habits and expectations. After a time it becomes evident she is not going back to her familiar home. By that time she may have gotten familiar enough with you to test you. You seem good at reading and understanding her. She does need to know biting is not acceptable. It's real hard to know how to help without knowing her but we will all be thinking about it as you go and hopefully come to understand what is distressing her. If it is related to her cage, have you changed anything? Are her perches, food, toys etc. in the cage the same? Sometimes it's the smallest change that she may be reacting to. It will be a challenge to understand her frustration. Also, if this is an issue of going into the cage at night, or when you need to leave the house, making it a predictable routine may help. Such as going to the kitchen to get a treat and giving it to her after she goes in. Sometimes, attaching a perch inside the cage door so you don't reach in the cage as you put her in. Leave the door open, put her on the perch, then close the door. I hope you get it sorted without getting bitten any more.

Thank you for being so sweet. The truth is, Miss Gilbert wouldn't be a pearl unless I am the irritant. Also, I cuss when other drivers make bonehead moves, which is often in Atlanta traffic. I have lots of bad habits but caring for Miss Gilbert makes me want to help her get to a better place. Also, I took a little too much pleasure in seeing David drop from favored status with Gil yesterday. After she got on Java's cage, I moved her cage a few inches. No sooner than he returned from a trip, she came down to the seed catcher and he saw her bite a chunk out of the door frame. He scolded her and pulled the cage out so she couldn't reach. He asked me to come see what she was doing. It was the funniest thing. She was hanging off the side of her cage and quickly pulling her wing high above her head as a cloak of invisibility. Think of the old vampire movies as he shields his eyes from the rising sun with a flourish. She did it about five times and when she would drop her wing and see he was still there she grumbled and tried her disappearing trick again. When that didn't work she we t topside to fling food and toys at him to make him just go away! What kind of no sense is that, he gave her the tone and he told her no, the nerve. And just until bedtime, I was not alone on her nuisance list.

Thank you Inara for all the caring and validation. Specifically from my life with Miss G-bert what I hqve learned is that sometimes the best thing to "do" is to wait for the right time. My Myers-Briggs and other profiles put me in a highly driven, type A or double A, get 'er done sort of gal. I had to completely reinvent myself to accommodate this little grey fluff. She comes off all tough and ready for battle but it is mostly a bluff. She is a gentle and timid spirit with an "I'm going to get you before you get me" kind of attitude. Another thing I have learned about myself is that I was close to being depleted. In five years I lost my first baby grey Juno, then his brother. In that same time I have been a primary caregiver for the hospice phase of three close family members. No amount of "doing" matches being there, being strong and giving up home and everything familiar. I lost one sister suddenly to an aneurysm and another one more recently following her own life of hardship after severe birth defects left her with no moving joints except her jaw. Even with the original request for Gilbert to find a home, my decision was based on her situation and there was nobody else to give her a chance. What I have learned is I have a need to see a different outcome this time. i have a need to watch, listen, regroup, change the approach, back off, push forward and wait. She is going to have her own story, she is going to find her way back to being the soul and spirit she is meant to be. I am going to be the first to see her full-feathered freedom flight when she finds her mojo.

Congratulations, you must be very organized with an angel on each shoulder. I have never heard of a positive outcome that quickly.

I am using an iPad mini. I type with one finger while holding the tablet in the other hand. Then, the spell check changes my chosen words which I had spelled correctly. I often have to backspace/delete and retype. Then I get distracted and walk away. I do a "select all" and copy. If I get that message that I am not allowed to post, it suggests I go back and refresh the screen. When I do that, I get a blank reply box. Then it gives me the option to restore my back up version and I have been finding that most of my message is intact. I was attributing it to my browser timing out rather than the forum. But, to Ray's point, I do make sure the "remember me" is checked off when I log in. I have been having trouble at the home screen trying to log in. What I discovered is when I go to "what's new" and scroll to he top right I can log in there and generally it is still there and logged in when I come back using my "book mark".

It's hard to get mad at the things done. I really believe it was a matter of being pulled in too many directions and less than optimal life experience at the time. Maya Angelou's "we did what we knew, and when we knew better, we did better" comes to mind. What is effective and expedient at the moment will not yield cooperation or trust in the future. I do often think about getting a cute little grey baby to start fresh. A few months ago I came upon a very sweet four year old CAG in a pet store with an asking price four times higher than a baby. I offered the going rate for a baby, he refused and I spent a lot of sleepless nights wanting to go get her. But, we have had PDD in our homes and it took the lives of two sweet babies. It also exposed Java. When we agreed to take Gilbert with her unknown history we knew it was a chance worth taking. The risk to her was about equal to the risk from her. We were meant to be. Java is loving, sweet, hands on and touchy feely with me and only me. I am also exquisitely aware that if Gilbert had the daily comparison of her complex and difficult composition, it would be easy to focus on a more compliant and welcoming newcomer. I have joyously fulfilling memories of Juno with his flushed eager little face rushing to be near me. Maybe that was my training to bring me to be the person Gilbert needs me to be, for now. She may frustrate me, she may shock me, but I have the distinct vision that this is the season for me to learn something and she is the unlikely guru. Your tin foil hat might just be my size, hahahaha. I have the fleeting thought on a daily basis to cut the cable line, turn off the internet and quiet all the external noise coming into my own mind. But then I would have to go to Starbucks to get my daily Grey Forum fix and I don't need the caffeine.

You know, I may have had a tongue-in-cheek response to keep the humor in our interactions, but what is said in jest often has roots in our thoughts. Gil is very complex but even when its quite unpleasant like a hair pulling snit, I marvel at where we have come. When she can have a fit of temper and even while my finger has not yet healed, its an awesome evolution from self harm to self expression. When she throws things in a flurry of fury, I clean it up and remember my fervent wishes that she would be released from the rigid, nearly catatonic state she was in. My wishes came true. When she bites me, I remember praying for her to be released from fear and anxiety, prayers are answered. I made a decision to spend more time in her cage and give her another gradual shakeup of the status quo. She just may need a sparring partner to build up a paper tiger and rip it limb from limb, in her own way. So, today I handed her a birdie bagel through the bars. She snatched it away, flung it forcefully to the floor of the cage. She did her cobra sway. I reached past her, snatched up that little ring of blue with as much flair as she had emphatically applied. We did this back and forth several times. I let her get a little exercise and although I am quite aware she would have bitten me had she caught me, I didn't see angry frustration, just energetic exchange. Then in a moment of feeling devilish, I hung that birdie bagel from a child's plastic ring set so she could grab it and shred it, but she couldn't snatch it or dash it to h floor. Maybe it's time for her to exercise to exorcise. I will not push her to the point of frustration, but she did seem energized with a decent dose of irritation and she was using the name LuLu as an expletive and cussing a little for half the day.

Miss Gilbert doesn't usually poop in her water but she loudly announces "Sh*# on the floor when she stands on the open cage door and drops one. She has been flinging her water so I recently bought heavy ceramic dishes she can't lift. The 5 ounce stainless cup fits perfectly as a liner to make it easy to clean. Well, she sees me stick my thumb in there to pull out the dish. She pooped in her water. When I saw that, the clever trick on her became a trick on me. I said "Aw Gilbert, what did you do that for?" In her best disgusted Southern male voice she drawled "She-it" No matter how determined I was to never reinforce the naughty words, I could not help but laugh. She got me.

You know what Ray? I think these grey friends of ours are so advanced they can read our minds. The trouble is she is sending her messages straight to my mind and they bounce around in the chaos. She forgets I am not as evolved in mind messages and gets thoroughly infuriated at my stubborn refusal to bow to her command. LOL. My husband has a little of that mind reading expectation too. No wonder they are buds.

I paid attention when I saw this on the news last night in Atlanta. They are expanding the recall to affect Kroger, Trader Joes, and many more stores.

That's the plan for Isaac, to give him all the good things that keep Stephen hopping. You will be cooking all this good stuff, eating along with him and both of you will be in fine feathers. In all seriousness though, you and Isaac have always been a bonded pair. Your life together is inspirational. I am in your cheering section. You are doing well. If pin feathers were $1000 bills, I am wishing for you to be a billionaire.