Zoom

I was at a meeting of the local Parrot Club last night, and the general consensus was that greys who are encouraged to whistle are far less likely to ever talk. Simon's eight months old now, and he whistles. He hasn't started talking yet. His contact call is a whistle, so I always whistle back when he whistles for me. Now I'm wondering if I should stop whistling to him. Any thoughts?

Sweet. The thing about birds is you have to earn their trust, so it's much more meaningful when they finally give it to you. Congratulations.

"...he volunteered to take the grey back if we were ever away for longer vacations. Clearly a guy not ready to let go. My girlfriend and I made it clear this was most likely not in the best interest of the Grey's own psyche. " I think Penguin was referring to the original owner's offer to babysit the bird when they go on vacations.

He WAS a huge cat. He's been shrinking for awhile now. He's lost about a third of his body weight since that picture was taken shortly after I adopted him 3.5 years ago. He's actually on appetite stimulants now because he has kidney disease and it has caused him to lose his appetite. I never thought I'd see the day when Duncan would need appetite stimulants!

Poor thing, she must have been so scared out there in the storm. I'm so glad she approached the right person for help. She has good instincts.

She sounds wonderful. I'm glad she found you.

I subscribed to Bird Talk for a year, but didn't renew. Oboe loved looking at the pictures, though. I don't think dogs and cats can "see" 2D pictures in 3D, but I'm pretty sure birds can. Oboe would actually regurgitate for the lovebird pictures.

Congrats, Ray!

It's wonderful! I'm looking forward to seeing a picture of her on it - she's already spoiled and you don't even have her yet.

Yay Netty! Congratulations!

Simon eats Harrison's Coarse Lifetime organic pellets. Kazoo eats Tropicana pellets, which smell yummy (I tried one - they smell better than they taste). And Oboe eats Roudybush pellets. They all eat homemade mash and homemade birdie bread, fresh veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, etc.

My Amazon, Kazoo, was given up by her original family after 13 years. They had three conditions under which they would sell her to me (or to anyone else). The first was that they had to see me with the bird, to determine whether we seemed to like each other. The second was that if I ever decided to give her up, for whatever reason, I would call them first. And the third was that I provide regular updates on how she was doing. It's been nine months now, and I think it's working out really well for all of us. I provide them with monthly emailed status reports on how she's doing, along with videos and photos from time to time. They feel much better knowing she's in good hands and is well loved, and seeing videos of her feeling obviously happy and at home here. They asked if they could come visit her sometime, and I said yes. They still haven't come by though - they say they want to see her, but they don't want to confuse her by reminding her of her past. I'm grateful to her original family for giving her such a good start in life. And they're grateful to me for taking such good care of her. Kazoo is happy here, and I love her very, very much. She's an absolute sweetheart. If you do decide to sell your guy, rather than fostering him, I would highly recommend asking potential buyers if they would agree to these same conditions.

I keep their carrying cages under their regular cages at all times. I don't have trouble putting them in their carrying cages, for some reason. They're all cool with it. I don't know if the same could be said during an actual emergency though.

Is it possible for someone you know (friend, relative?) to take him temporarily, until you and your boyfriend can work out the job and housing situation? Lots of people would love to live with a parrot but can't because they can't afford to buy one (along with all the start-up costs) or because they're not ready to make such a long-term commitment. Some of those people might make perfect foster parents. And you'd have the peace of mind of trusting whoever had him, and being able to get him back when the time is right. (On the other hand...if he and the friend/relative became bonded, you might not want to split them up later.) I wish you all the best. I know it's hard. And I also know how a disability can completely change your circumstances.

I know this is small consolation, but at least someone loved him when he died. Every companion creature deserves that much. He was loved for the last week of his life. People wept for him. As for any recourse you might have, I don't really know. I can tell you what I would do. I would tell the owner of the store that I'm a well-connected and well-respected blogger (which is true) and that if we don't reach a satisfactory settlement between us, I will blog the whole thing - from the deplorable conditions under which the birds were kept, to the diseased bird being sold to you, to his refusal to refund your money. I will ensure that my blog post is syndicated and circulated so that every pet lover in this city reads about it. Furthermore, I will ensure that it never goes away. Every time someone googles his name or his store's name, this accurate and damning blog post will come up at the top of the list. And then, if he didn't give me my $1500 back, I would do exactly that.

Good luck Netty - a second interview is a VERY good sign!

Did you have a feeling she was a girl, or a boy?

My Amazon came to me at the age of 13 and she wouldn't eat anything except pellets and peanuts. Pellets are good for her, at least. But I still wanted her to eat some fresh foods. Every morning I put a bowl containing a variety of fresh food in her house. Fruits, veggies, different nuts, dry oatmeal, birdie bread, etc along with one peanut. And every afternoon I put a bowl of homemade mash in her house. (She always had pellets available, too.) Even though she wouldn't eat my offerings, she always checked out the bowl for the peanut, which got her used to the whole idea of looking in the bowl. This went on for a month or so, until one day I saw her eating a baby carrot! A few days later she discovered she loved apple. And then blackberries. And almonds. And zucchini. And birdie bread. There's lots of stuff she doesn't like, and she's definitely not my most open-minded eater (that award goes to my Grey), but she has come a long way, and it makes me happy to see her getting pleasure out of food. I think you just have to keep offering your bird healthy foods, along with the seed mixture. Eventually he'll start eating some of it. Once he finds something he likes, he'll be more open-minded about trying new foods. (By the way, my Amazon and Grey both love food they can pick up with their foot, like baby carrots and wedges of apple.) Good luck!

By the way, I've heard that African birds tend to be anti-social with other birds, and that an Amazon and a Grey might not be the most compatible mix.

I have a 14 year old female Amazon and a 7 month old male Grey. They don't get along. They both seem to be afraid of each other, although neither one is aggressive. On the other hand, the Grey seems to be gaining in confidence as he gets older, and when he wants to sit on the couch behind my head and she's already there, he'll intimidate her into flying away. I also have a tiny lovebird who rules the roost. He demands whatever he wants, and he isn't intimidated by any of us.

Thanks Dave. I'll start using it today.

I had the plumber over today because my bathtub and sink are both draining very slowly. He left me with a product with me called Bio-Clean (http://bio-clean.ca/Index.htm). It's a biological drain opener. You mix a tablespoon of this stuff with some lukewarm water, stir it, and 20 minutes later, the bacteria is alive and multiplying. Then you pour it into your drain and leave it overnight. The bacteria eats any organic material in the pipes. You do this every night until your drains work properly. The active ingredients are bacteria culture, amylase, protease, cellulase and lipase enzymes. It says there are no fumes and it's safe for people and all plumbing. Do you think it's safe for my birds? If not, is there a product you can recommend? Thank you. Zoom & Flock

Good for you, Jenn.

What was his first word, Dan?

When you said you hoped he wasn't as sad as you, my heart broke. That's how I'd be feeling too. I'd want to think he was happy with his newfound freedom, not feeling scared or lonely or lost. Have you thought about getting another Grey? My boyfriend's dog just died a couple of weeks ago, and he says he misses his dog, Logan, but he also misses having a dog in general. He thinks he will get a new one soon. Although...I have a friend whose cat vanished, and after several months she finally accepted it and went out and got two new kittens. A month later, her cat dragged itself home, sick and hungry and in need of surgery. She got it the help it needed, and then it moved back in and was NOT pleased with the kittens. But that was a year or so ago, and they're all living happily ever after now. I hope you will take comfort from the knowledge that you did everything in your power to bring Murphy back home. I still hope for a happy ending for you, but maybe it will take a different form than we were all hoping for all along. Maybe there's a new Grey in your future.