Morana

I forgot to mention. While examining him they tested the squeeze of both feet. They were the same-strong and normal. If he broke something the grip wouldn't be even close to the normal as this one was. His pupils were reacting normally. He didn't have any other signs of neurological distress or anything out of the ordinary.

Well he heard me coughing over a longer period of time but this isn't it! I'm sure.

We were yesterday and the day before at the vets. Did x-rays again. Everything looks ok. He had a yearly check up in about a month ago.. We (vet and me) were talking about this coughing on Friday but we agreed it looked like he was hurrying with eating and chocked-because he was always eating while that happened. I sent her e-mails yesterday and today but she obviously haven't seen them or she would have replied. I'll call her tomorrow (on Monday) but till then, I really need any experience from all you guys you can offer. The coughing is not the only problem. The reason we went to the vet in the first place is because Zak stop singing/talking one day (on Wednesday) and he cuddled a lot. He cuddles a lot when something is wrong. Then he wants somebody (me) to be near him. That day I noticed he ate a bit less. The next day he ate a bit less than usual too, but then I noticed he started to limp. I packed him and we were at our vets at the same morning. She looked at him; technician couldn't do x-rays because he was totally freaking out (and she couldn't be with him. Actually, she wasn't even supposed to be working at all that morning but she came because I cried on the phone to her colleague). she gave him metacam and lactose and said if he won't be acting better tomorrow that we should come again. We came the very next morning again. Now she went with him and they did x-rays from the front and on the side. His right leg/muscle seems a bit bigger like it is inflamed and the bones are all ok. On the x ray you can see that all the organs are just great, so she said to take the same "medications" during the weekend and that about the leg we can just wait and see. Advised to administer calcium lux twice a week instead of once a week like I did till now. She said to call her on Monday if anything wouldn't be ok. I'll be calling for sure. Zak is flying very little-like he is preserving his strength. Resting a lot. He plays a bit. He eats really good. He even started to nib on Tinkmash. But he is very quiet. He cuddles a lot. Yesterday he clenched (like he usually does when he rests his feet) his sick foot for the first time in this couple of days. He stands on that foot too. Not with the full body weight and from time to time he lifts it. This state with the foot happened over night, and the coughing started as I said before. He never coughed before and it seems like it is progressing. I am very scared and don't know what to think!

Zakica had another "episode" today!!!! It is becoming more frequent! I am very worried! After the coughing/sneezing episode he remains standing in one position for 5 minutes at least as though he is recuperating from something.

The first time Zak coughed I wrote a post here by the name: Zak give us quite a scare.. Long story short..-he was eating at the time and I thought something went down his windpipe as he got scared.. It happened two times since then in a period of approx 40 days. He was always eating. This is another reason I decided to cook a Tinkmash!-I didn't want Zak to choke on solid food... I know it sounds strange.. But today he wasn't eating or drinking and he did it again. He was coughing really bad and I caught some of it on my camera. Not the worst part but still.. Could you please listen to it/watch it and give your opinions? I wrote the same mail to my vet today but as it is Saturday, I'll have to wait a bit longer for her reply, and I am scared. Here is the link: http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd240/evilzlo/?action=view&current=MOV01474.mp4

Congratulation!! :-D

Well, I did read the reviews but among so many products and good reviews for almost all it is hard to decide;-)

Well, both purifier and humidifier are not instead or regular cleaning. The idea of both is that ones helps the parrot not to have so much dander- with that preens a bit less. So now you have a bit less "dust" and the purifier would have to help with that. But cleaning stays.. Unless you wanna mold in your house..;-) At least, I think of it that way..

You kinda have your answer right in the first sentence: Sunny did not want me to pick him up or even play with him. As Judy already said, you have to respect their wishes or you'll get hurt. IMO, when they are unable to communicate their wishes there is nothing else then to give you a bite as a sign of their disapproval. Pay attention to the body language.

I tried both- didn't work.. Tomorrow I'll try again:-) However we had a breakthrough today!-Zak ate a carrot,and a big part of it at that! :-D He ate a bit of oat meal as well but not so much.. We'll try that tomorrow too:-)

Congratulation on your baby's homecoming!!! :-) ...and yes, we are going to bug you till we get the pictures!;-)

Bahahehiheha! Nice one! Tnx for sharing:-)

I like the last sentence best. It is so true. Our feathered friends try to communicate and tech us so many things and our awareness about world around us will let us listen to them and participate, or not. Guess the problem is that sometimes people don't even realize they are being spoken to.. Tnx guys for that reminder:-)

Well, the mash is done. Now I just have to get Zakica to eat it! ;-P Lol Soon I'll be posting ingredients I put in my batch No1 and some pictures:-)

I too agree that he might reached sexual maturity, although I don't know anything about ekkies. Have you asked your avian vet what could it be? checked him out?

Love the video! :-)

Btw, his favorite fingers are thumb and forefinger. He prefers right hand but he'll settle for left one if other is not available;-)

Looooool! It is brilliant! Thanks for sharing!! :-)

Hahahaha! I was thinking a long time to mention that on the forum but somehow I always forget. The minute I saw the title of this thread I knew we are dealing with the same thing! My Zak does that all the time. He would do it for 2 hours if I would let him. Now it is almost like a reflex-I sit to watch something and he comes for his portion of licking fingers. I often wondered what the heck is it all about. Still don't know but I wash my hands more as I know he might come for his playtime;-) And to answer other peoples questions-no, there is nothing on the hands. They are not sweaty, don't have anything on them,..it seems like a pure fun.. He is doing it right now.. Weird bird.. ;-P

Wow! What a cuddly little thing! :-D Absolutely adorable! :-D Tnx for sharing:-)

Tnx Judy:-) I know uncle is the problem and I'm not apologizing for that, but if there were someone else reading this, someone a bit less understanding, my post, to be precise, the blunt way in it was written could be interpreted like a plain insult to members of immediate family which I wanted to avoid but couldn't/wouldn't restrain myself when I first wrote my comment. I don't want to go around forum insulting people-that was my point...no matter whether they deserve it;-)

Uh, now, when I saw MarcusCAGs post i realized how harsh and impolite my post was. I do apologize for steeping out of the appropriate boundaries of conversation but I won't erase the post because the situation makes me soooo mad. It presents a real problem. I do stand by my words.

Hi you all!:-) I just wanna say, there are a few issues here to be considered but for now I'll just wanna say something about one. "To make matters worse, the uncle likes to stand outside our door and whistle to the bird OR yell at him for making so much noise, which only spurs the Grey to make MORE noise. .....he likes to remark that "Birds are stupid, he doesn't have enough brains to be attached to anyone, he's not a dog...He can't think." Well, according to your uncle maybe birds don't have much brain to think with, but someone should try to explain to him that, as a specie that is able to think, he shouldn't stand in front of your door. More so, he shouldn't taunt the bird-at all, let a lone standing in front of someone else s (bed?)room. Why the hell is he whistling to the bird!? And if this is encouraging yelling from the bird why is he shouting at the bird to be quiet as it is his fault in the first place!? I don't think the bird is the one who should be covered and get the time out here! Sorry but something like this is pi.... me off!

Hi Ellen and Joei! :-) Don't be scared of new things as your Grey,as most Greys, probably will;-) She needs to bathe! That is a necessity and should not be ignored. Have you tried training a bit with clicker? I don't train Zak yet but do use clicker to introduce him to new stuff because he was scared of his own shadow not to long ago. With some things he is still scared because of the bed memories but we'll get through that too:-) So the clicker: I stand at the end of the room, about 2,5-3 meters away from him, present new object and when he stops being scared (for example stops to shake, settle down a bit) I click and then walk away with the object. In a 30 seconds period I come again, this time a step closer present the object, wait for the reaction, click and leave. You don't even have to go away, just go back few steps. Just remember to come closer every time and not back all the way back as you did the firs time. For every step, even when you back up, it should be closer (to your bird) than the previous backing up. Repeat the procedure till you get to him so close he can easily touch it with his beak. Let him. It can take up to half an hour, depends how scared your bird is. You shouldn't rush. If you see, you just can't get closer than few inches in first try, do repeat whole thing in a half an hour-hour. You could repeat it even few times to get better results. Usually it is enough to Zak to do it once slowly and then every next time I shorten the beginning distance and repeat the process. When he is not scared I put the object in the cage. With first toys I introduced he needed two or three days till he was comfortable playing with them on his own. When he started, in a day, there was no toy left ;-) So, this is one way to introduce new stuff. Someone will maybe have another idea. If it were me, I would buy a corner dish of some sort (you could mount in the cage) for her to bathe in. Someone (thin it is Ray) on this forum has a rabbit pooping dish for bathing, if I remember correctly. If she is afraid of misting try going into a shower with her. Zak is afraid of misting every time I begin but I talk to him a lot, animate him, praise him a lot and rub his head so eventuality he calms down and begins to bathe. It actually depends on how much he wanna bathe. If he wants, he'll be afraid of misting in the beginning, but in a few minutes he'll stop being afraid. At that point he is having so much fun I don't need to do anything else to encourage him:-) when I start, I simulate the rain. If I spray him directly to his chest I do it gently till he gets used to. I even rub him with wet fingers. You just need to try, but as you describe it, I think Joei is more than anxious to take a bath so she might overcome her fear of bathing more easily than you expect:-) Good luck and keep us posted!:-)

Welcome! :-) ---------- I don't mean to be unpleasant but I just need to say something. Laura needs a prompt and thorough cage wash!:-S Sorry for not being subtle, but the first picture is unbearable.