marybeth

Gabby is pretty disabled we have discovered but I still don't know what happened to him and don't know if we ever will. He has a vet appt on Tuesday (our local avian vet is only available a couple of days per week and was off on vacation so that is why it took us this long to get in). I've moved the perches lower but think I may still need to lower them some. I guess eventually we may need to get him a wider, shorter cage. Even though the perches are lower, he loves to climb up the walls of his cage and he will hang there by his beak and I worry about him falling. He does occasionally flutter down to the bottom of the cage. He's gotten "stuck" a couple of times hanging off a perch by his beak and reaching around with his legs trying to find something to grab onto. I was able to help him by sticking something in for him to climb onto but I worry if he does that when I'm not here. If you came in my house and saw him w/o knowing his legs didn't work right, you would think he was probably at death's door, because he will often just kinda lie on his side on his worst leg (it doesn't seem to support his weight at all), and even when he perches he can't really perch upright. I feel bad for him but I hope that the more we try to accommodate him with his surroundings and the more he becomes familiar with everything, he will be ok.

Thank you! Oh yes, I'm sure it will be months before we really see his full personality. I can already see hints of attitude here and there, sometimes it just blazes out of his little eyes and I know he's going to be full of mischief when he really gets good and settled in. I love it though and can't wait to get to really know him.

Thanks Yeah I think things are going SO well, for an adult bird that we have no idea what circumstances he comes from. He must have had some love, though, because he has alot of sweetness in him. He said hello to me again today. So far he has only spoken to me. He has whistled to me and hubby, but he has said "hello" to me twice. I know it's not a huge deal but I wish you could see how he said it, it was so sweet and deliberate. Gosh, I just love him so much, I can't even believe I didn't know he existed a week ago!

Yeah that totally makes sense. I will make sure I put anything new in his environment during the daylight hours from now on. Thank you so much, these are things I had never considered.

Thanks! I hope so. I fed him some whole wheat pasta a little bit ago, I held it for him because he doesn't seem to be able to use one foot to hold his food and eat it like I've seen parrots do, and he ate quite a bit and was totally ok with me so I think he has forgiven the incident.

Ty so much for the advice, I had no idea it would be good to close the door by suppertime. I will 100% put some towels down tonight if he stays in the new cage, that is a great idea. I know they need a good amount of sleep. But he has had an active, friendly period every night since we've had him home, right about this time of night actually. He seems to doze after supper for an hour or so and then he is active and interacting quite a bit. So far it has been his most friendly time. Of course it's hard for me to deny that when I want to interact with him so badly. I don't cover his cage, I just let him sleep when we go to bed and he does doze throughout the day, he has very distinct sleepy times and awake times. Is that ok do you think? I could cover his cage but he is out here with us and would be able to hear us anyway so I don't know if he would sleep.

Last nite he was sooo sweet, turning his head upside down for scritches and giving me kisses. But now tonight I scared him while trying to put a perch in his new cage so I doubt he'll even let me scratch his neck before bed. We'll see.

Thank you! Yeah, that's a good idea. So far we have not closed him in the new cage, just left the door open with him in there. But he hasn't come out (I just looked over and he is thinking about it right now). I think it would really upset him if we reached in and removed him and put him back in the old cage over night. I've got it open next to the new one so if he goes in there before we go to bed I'll let him sleep in whichever he chooses. Oh, and I adored our quakers, but you are right, they were little party animals. I absolutely adore their personalities. And we've never had a rehomed parrot before so this is all new territory for us, but I am really in love with this guy and I love how crazy smart I can tell he is, I just want to win him over and see him feel comfortable in our home sooo badly. It's so crazy, a week ago I did not even know this guy existed, and now every little whistle he gives me is more precious than gold. I love it!

Thanks guys! Yeah, we are headed to the vet this week. We were planning to yesterday but didn't realize the only avian vet in the area isn't open on Saturdays. Boo. So probably tomorrow if they can fit us in. I just hope it doesn't stress him out too much, I am so anxious for him to settle in here and feel comfortable. He is so different from the quakers and conure I had years ago, I can tell that he is much more particular and cautious, although surely some of that may be due to his life so far. My others were with us as babies and he has already experienced alot of life, and no way to know really what kind of life it has been. I am hopeful it hasn't been too bad for him though, because he is not terribly skittish. I did scare him tonite though, ugh. I was trying to put a perch in for him on a corner at the bottom of his cage because we are realizing that he is actually pretty handicapped and I think we are going to have to structure his living space around that . . and when it popped into place it scared him to death and now he hasn't come out of his cage since, and he fluffed his feathers at me which I am assuming is "stay away" body language. Dang. Before that, last nite, he was being so, so sweet . . turning his head all the way upside down for me to scratch him, and even giving me kisses. I'm glad he is in his new cage, and he seems really ok with it, but I feel like I have moved a blind person into a new home that they don't know the layout of. He was obviously comfortable in his old cage and I am just so worried he is going to fall and hurt himself in this new cage.

Thanks guys! Morana, ty for the suggestions, I am very very big on researching everything so I will definitely do that. I did go ahead and get him a few perches today but I will be researching and doing some trial and error and see what he prefers. The vet was closed today so we can't go until after the weekend. He has been in and out of his cage quite alot today, we've just left his door open so he can do as he wishes while we are here. I so wish he would check out his new cage but I'm not going to force it.

Ty guys! Today we got his new cage set up and it is so much nicer than the one he is in, I hope he will check it out soon. He is getting used to us. He likes to have his neck scratched and will tilt his head down for me and especially hubby. Today he tilted his head and looked away a little, it looked like he was being a little bashful, and he said a really quiet "Hello" to me. It was so exciting to hear him speak to me and I hope it means he is feeling a little more comfortable with us.

Where do you get a net like that? I love your setup.

Thanks guys, and thanks for the advice Morana. I don't think he has had any sort of care for issues like that in his past, and no special perches or anything to help out either. The cage he came to us in just had one small wooden perch. I will go out today and get a few different types of perches like you suggested and also be sure the vet does what he can.

Thanks so much Dave! That is exactly the sort of thing I was wondering about. That playstand looks perfect, I will try to get something like that for Gabby, I think it would be really helpful for him because he seems to prefer to perch with one leg underneath him and the other one out to the side.

Hi guys! I haven't had a chance to really get a good photo of Gabby yet, but I got impatient tonight and went ahead and snapped a few. The lighting was very bad, it was dark in the house, and he doesn't want to move from the top of the cage door so I couldn't set up a really nice shot, but at least you can see his sweet face. By the way, how long do you think I should wait to offer him a bath? I feel like he probably hasn't had one in awhile but I don't want to freak him out either. Also, his beak seems a little crooked. Is that normal? We're getting in to the vet tomorrow but I just wondered.

Hello again! Thank you all for the warm welcome and the advice. It is always so nice to see people who care so much about our little friends. It looks like he did not have a good diet before he came to us; the lady handed us his "food" which was two big bags of seeds. We stopped and got him some pellets right away and we share whatever we are eating that is appropriate for him. We eat almost 100% clean, whole foods so most of what we eat he can eat. He is doing great with fresh fruits and veggies and a little pasta, though. I think later today or tomorrow I will try a rice/bean/veggie mixture and see how he likes it. He takes the offered foods from our fingers SO gently, and we have offered some gentle scratches around his head and he loved that too. His cage should get here sometime today. I guess we will just set it next to the one he is in right now and open them both up and put some food and water in both and let him decide when he wants to check it out. I will try to get some nice photos then too. I am excited and can't wait to get to know this little guy.

Hi judygram! His name is Gabby. I will most definitely be posting pics soon! I am a photographer so I can't wait for a chance to get his beautiful face in front of my lens. His leg does not seem to cause him pain, he does stretch it occasionally but I remember my other parrots doing that also. He takes treats that we offer quite gently from our fingers (only myself and hubby, the kids are only allowed to watch from a distance for now). He is eating and drinking well and climbing all over on that leg, just when he perches he pretty much lays his body on the perch as if that leg doesn't support weight at all from that angle. But from the way he uses it to climb and hang, I am hopeful it's not hurting him. I am really looking forward to seeing how he fits into our family. He is very beautiful and his eyes speak volumes.

Ty for the welcome! The cage we ordered for him isn't HUGE because I was a bit worried about him falling but it's a decent size and much better than the travesty he is in right now. And it does have a nice play gym on top, and we are also going to get a standalone play gym when he warms up to us some. I will do some searching on the forums for ideas on special perches, I would love to make him as comfortable as possible. We took the lock off of his door tonight for a bit (he can open his cage if you don't put an extra lock on it) and he decided to come out and join us for a bit, and then after awhile he went back inside. I know it may take some time for him to feel safe around us but I really think he is going to fit in so well. I love him already.

Hi guys I just thought I would introduce myself. I am a 34 yr old mama of a 2yr old and a 4 yr old (of the human variety) and a cat and dog . . and as of yesterday, rather unexpectedly, a CAG that needed a home. We've had parrots in the past, quakers and a conure, but it has been a few years and I fully expected we would share our home with them again someday but I wasn't expecting it yesterday morning when my husband called and stammered around a bit, asking if this was something I would be interested in, yada yada, all the while not telling me what the "something" is . . I'm going, "what? WHAT? what are you asking me!" and he finally spits out that a volunteer at his work knows someone who is caring for a grey who needs a family (in his previous family, hubby had gotten him for the wife, wife passed on, hubby doesn't want to keep the bird). And I'm like, um yeah? Let's go meet the fellow! So, we went and met him, he whistled at hubby alot (he supposedly likes men), and well . . he was in a small cage in a dark house and the woman works all day and he is alone and of course we couldn't leave him there. So that's where we are. From all the info I could find, he is somewhere between 7 and 12 years of age. He seems a bit tentative but not scared, really. We haven't attempted to take him out of his cage or anything yet, although tomorrow his new, more appropriately sized cage will be here so I am hoping we can get him to check that out without too much hullabaloo. I've sat by him quite alot and just chatted him up, and today he started whistling at me every time I sat to talk. It was very deliberate, he looked right into my eye and gave me a nice big whistle, and I returned the favor. So far we have only heard the whistle and then some sort of electronic sound. Oh yes, also, he has some issue with one of his legs. The woman told us his toe was messed up or something, but it's not his toe, it's his entire leg, it's as if it's rotated out wrong, he can use it to hang off the cage just fine but he doesn't quite perch upright on it. He leans a bit. I hope it's not painful for him. He's pretty gimpy when it comes to standing or perching on two legs but like I said he climbs just fine. He hangs by his beak alot. Yesterday morning I had no idea I would be sharing my home with a grey come afternoon, but we are really happy about it. We are taking everything very, very slow because we have no idea what sort of life he has had. What do you think about his leg? I wonder if there are any special sorts of perches or anything we could do to make him more comfortable. Of course we are getting him into our local avian vet in the next few days, too. Anyway, I'm excited to be here and get to know you guys.