oblivion

We may have to agree to disagree on this, but I doubt as many birds are "saved" as some would like to believe when the original poster is shouted off the forum. As for best intentions, they are easily lost interrible delivery.

Mine are OK. Posting this mostly as a thread-bump.

Fist of all, congrats on your retirement from the NYPD. A Grey is a great gift to yourself. Being a detective, I do not doubt your spidey sense were tingling regarding the seller. I might have expected you to ask a few more questions at the time, but things are different when you're emotionally involved, right? I hope it all checks out and was nothing more than an odd situation. Lola sounds like a great bird and like katana600, as the owner of a rehome with a more difficult collection of baggage, I'm a little envious of your easy start. It's a shame about your first birds, but life happens despite our best intentions. Lola is your chance to make it up to those first parrots - if you believe in Karma or the like. Welcome, and please keep us updated on Lola.

Yikes! Best wishes. I think Jay gave some good advice, but I can't imagine what vinegar would feel like in a fresh cut! Yikes! If it's any consolation, blood seems to have a way of looking like there's a lot more of it than there actually is - especially when it gets sprayed around. Good luck getting to the vet.

WOW. And now I'm forced to reconsider everything. Another embarrassing outburst like what happened in the "Welcome" room, and I'm going to have to copy all of my posts, make a few Facebook friends, and say good bye. MANY of the responses in the thread wulfie started were disgusting to read. Wow.

Oral meds are much different than hand feeding, but you raise a good point, Wingy. Even med dispensing should be demonstrated by someone who knows how to do it. There's always a chance for aspiration if done wrong.

Also, if a she, just think of her as "Melissa Gilbert" from Little House on the Prairie.

I literally have sweet tears in my eyes. You may be a self-described curmudgeon, but I'm a softy and not afraid to admit it. WAY TO GO, GILBERT (and Dee and Rachel)!!!

No one any more, thanks to the responses to this thread, so it's irrelevant.

Yay Java!!! May any news from the vet be as positive. Your last description of Java 'taking' her meds just gave me an idea, and I don't know why I hadn't though of it through my whole ordeal with Anya. Once every couple days, it might be a good idea to give our healthy birds a 'treat' via syringe just to desensitize them to the process a bit. Just a drop or two of juice or the like. Sure, it would only fool them the first time they got meds, but at least they wouldn't be fearful of the syringe, etc. Does anybody do that already?

Dave, thanks for the title change. Today was MUCH better as far as trust/cage aggression. Hopefully it is just a matter of settling in more. He's still skittish of toys and such, but I can walk around the house with him with little nervousness. It's really quite a sight when I take them down to the kitchen in the morning to prepare their and the bunny's veggies. In one hand, I have Spencer's "gettin' around" cage, with Navroh perched on that wrist. My other hand will have last night's bowls to take downstairs to clean, perhaps with my cell phone, etc. I think it shows a fair amount of trust that he doesn't freak out nor try to work up to my shoulder from there - even Anya was nervous about it from time to time. He stays pretty reliably on a play gym while I do my kitchen stuff, munching on morning treats, etc. He definitely likes me, seems to love my daughter, and for whatever reason, does NOT like my wife. he'll tolerate her most times, but when she simply walks by him on a stand, he'll get defensive and open is beak towards her. I don't know if it's her clothes, jewelry, hair, or just HER, but hopefully that will work out in time with treats, food prep, etc. I'm going to contact the shelter that had him before he got shuffled through his last home and see if they can give me any more information about him, especially toys and play styles he might like. He's still eating well - better than the first day - and he's actually added about 4 grams. I'll make sure he doesn't bulk up too much, but I think he had a rough week last week, so I'm sure he was a little light.

I found out today that "Navaro," is actually "Navroh." I still have NO clue where such a name comes from, but it turned up some interesting google hits. Without speculating too much, the dude's recent past looks really shaky. I'm amazed he's as sweet as he is and think it explains some of his trust issues with the cage, etc. It's always a mystery with these rehomes. Always.

THAT is a great vet visit. I hope the test results are ate least as well-behaved. Those blood draws really seem to take it out of them. Every month when Anya would get hers, she'd be done for the day - just hunker down on her perch and wait it out. Whether it was annual time or not, I think it's a very good idea for you to have taken Gilbert in given Java's mystery illness. Way to be, bird mamma!

Need to check at home, I use these all the time. Thanks for the heads up. Though I freeze the bulk of the food to keep moths at bay (started an infestation long ago with a bag of wild bird food in the garage and they never REALLY go away), so I'm not overly concerned about their potential spoilage. But yes, I will check.

Oh sure, they do lending, but Em made some good money with a lemonade stand on Saturday, so we're going halvsies on the book. She even helped me feed him this morning, and she's NEVER helped with the birds, so that's something. We are going to check out some other parrot books, but this one seemed like a 'buy.' Thanks for the tips. As he's settling in more, Nav is proving to be fairly cage-aggressive. Though he still had pellets from last night, he was FRANTIC for his Nutraberries this morning and wasn't very nice about it. I may try doing his initial morning feeding up on his play-top to get him to 'forage' away from his 'roost' and try to disperse some of that aggression. It's amazing how quickly the fight/flight responses kick in on prey critters that are otherwise so sweet. The good news is that before we had to leave for the day, I was able to easily get him out of the cage and have my daughter hold him a bit - good for both of them. She recognized him getting crabby again, and after he tried marching up to her shoulder, she calmly had him step down on his cage door, gave him a treat, and we closed him in and said good day. I'm really impressed with how she's working with him. So far he's had zero interest in toys/playing, but I know it's early, so I'm not fretting that.