Doug

If your cat has claws, I would keep it in a different room when unsupervised. Even indoor cats have hunting instincts as I found with my late cat and my late cockatiel. If the bird is startled and ends up on the ground near the cat, you cannot always predict what will happen. That said, welcome to the forum! You'll find it just like a family. Like my wife's family at least: mostly great people and a few you nod to politely when you can't avoid them...

I don't have any of those stores in my area. I've checked Fresh Market, Kroger, Wal-mart, and the local co-op. Nothing except pistachios (unsalted). Ellie didn't want anything to do with the pistachios...

Lexy, You can upload a picture to your signature (but the forum will rescale the picture to limit the size so it will be of poor picture quality) or you can upload pictures to a photo-hosting website (I use flickr.com) and put a link into your signature. If you do the latter and have problems with the link, send me a private message and I will walk you through it.

I bought a coconut with the idea of making it into a foraging toy - drilling holes and putting stuff inside. I wondered if it was okay to leave the "meat" in there for her to try to get out and eat. I don't think she would eat enough to be a problem (she mostly amuses herself with any food other than her pellets...) The next question is how long I could leave the meat exposed to the air. A day? Two? Longer? Then I would have to clean it out and make it into a toy...

As cynical as I can be, I find it hard to believe that humans can behave is such a reprehensible manner. For some reason, I can easily believe that a person can kill another person over an iPhone, but I can't wrap my head around scams involving innocent pets. I wish I could offer you solace, Sarah. I know that some people cannot "replace" a beloved pet, and others take great comfort from doing so. When my golden retriever, Barley, had to be put down, we got a new golden puppy, Piper, only a week later. As much as they look alike, we never felt that Piper "replaced" Barley, but we just had a hole in our hearts that Piper filled in her own way. (Both Barley and Piper were/are wonderful and screwed up in their own unique ways...)

Even if you can't afford to hire someone, it might be worth looking into befriending a teenager or a senior citizen with extra time and not enough to do. Someone that could come to your home occasionally and just hang out with Bodhi. That person might welcome the opportunity to have a part-time parrot without the worries about long-term care...

Please understand that I was not referring specifically to wing-clipping.

Alex had a much more intellectually challenging life than any of our greys will. He had constant attention and was mentally stimulated. "Give me a nuh - uh - tuh!!" What a great story!

Jay, I certainly respect your experience. Unfortunately, when you claim that everything that we do is wrong and will permanently scar our feathered companions, regardless of how much we are trying to do the right thing, I will tend to tune you out. To assign your valuable comments to the "noise" bin. Not everything is equally bad but I don't see that from your posts. You give me the impression that there is only one way to have a grey in my house - and I am not able, financially or commitment-wise, to do so. Once I ignore you for some hyper-excessive reaction to a minor indiscretion, it becomes increasingly easier to ignore you on other topics. I don't mean to be rude. I'm sorry to be so direct. But you, and Dave007, are so ABSOLUTE. From reading your posts, anything that is potentially harmful, long term, is equal to hitting the bird with a hammer. You are just as harsh to someone that gives their grey an occasional potato chip (SALT!!!) as someone that exposes their grey to the kind of treatment that your rescues went through. Sugar is equal to lead. I'm sorry, but it just isn't that clear cut. When you make it out to be, you lose credibility. At least with me. Most of us are trying very hard to provide a good home for our greys. Minor imperfections in our treatment is NOT equal to mistreatment. Have you seen my Ellie? You've made definitive statements that indicate that Ellie damaged in so many ways. You KNOW that my Ellie is damaged? REALLY??? I understand that you are passionate about the health and well-being of all our birds. Please understand that I am not trying to be rude when I say that you need to understand that the world will never be perfect. None of us - including you - can make our houses perfect for our greys. None of us -including you - can always be the perfect companion for our greys. When you are so absolute in your condemnation, you will lose a listener. People will dismiss your comments and do what they where going to do anyway. You need to bring people around gently.

Hungry, hungry hippos!

I hope you don't plan to have Curry for lunch!

Maybe one day I'll ALMOST be able to take pictures as well as you. MAYBE...

Looking on-line, it doesn't seem like you have a lot of options in Amman. Just because the vet was trained in parrots doesn't mean he will be an expert, but there may not be any experts available to you. I think you have to go back to the vet that saw Kookoo before. I'm an engineer so I have no qualifications to diagnose Kookoo, but it really seems like something is very wrong. Like Judy says, greys do a very good job of hiding illness so by the time you see that something is wrong, time is starting to run out. Please let us know what you find out tomorrow morning!

Mira, are you in Amman? Does Jordan have any certifying organizations for avian vets (like we have in the US)? Or can any vet call themselves an avian vet?

I am very worried that it is too late. I hope that it is not and you can get your baby well again!

What a nightmare! Do you personally know any solicitors that you can hit on for free advice?

Ellie was clipped by the breeder. I would be willing to bet that the vast majority are. She's not a great flyer, but she can fly across the room and land on my shoulder, or fly into the next room and land on her playstand. She's probably got several months before she molts her wing feathers. By everything you've said, Jay, I would guess that Ellie is now permanently physically and emotionally scarred...

I like the look of the crepe myrtle branches, but I can't find any growing in the wild and I am too shy to drive up to a random person's house and ask them if I can cut off a few branches from their crepe myrtle...

DANG! It is hard to imagine something so immensely ugly being so cute at the same time! And look at the crop on the one on the right!

Pictures like this are major contributors to multi-bird syndrome...

I spoke with the new avian vet in our area tonight about aspergillis and wood. She said that the roots don't have any more risk than the branches or trunks. The same precautions are required.

Patience Grasshopper! Little nips of exploration are not so bad, but the weirdest things can freak out a grey and make it bite HARD. (Okay, not like a macaw, but OW!). Ellie, who trusts me a lot, has bitten me in the ear when I reached overhead to take something out of a cabinet. It would take a kung fu master to not react dramatically to being bit on the ear or lip. You're startled and react physically, Chicken freaks out and you both go backwards in the trust-building... Since you are only recently getting past the biting on other contact, I'd be very hesitant to allow Chicken on your shoulder. Don't rush it. You've taken 17 years of non-trusting and started to turn it around. Don't take any backward steps by trying to rush it...

Take a DEEP breath... You can't change the whole world. Keep doing what you're doing and a lot of good will come of it...

Be nice, Jay. Nancy just had a CAPS LOCK malfunction. It happens to all of us...

So, no more pictures?