murfchck

It does feel good! I just found out that Oliver know martial arts! I gotta karate chop from him. I was letting him pick out which nut he wanted from my hand as he rested on one foot. He picked his nut and in one swift movement, jumped on his other foot while chopping my hand with the other. That takes talent! I shouldn't encourage that but it took me so off gaurd, all i could do was praise and giggle at his new trick. We have some bad storms coming in and he seems really nervous, i can't get him off his cage to come into the main room. He just starts shaking everytime i try but then he growls when i leave the room. This is our first storm together so i don't know how he handles them. Anyone have any tips to help me put him at ease? I have Shrek playing for him right now.

About 9:30 last night i got a call from the woman i got my birds from. It seems she had Stewart longer than she first told me. Suprise.. That does mean for us we do not have to wait 4-6 months to get him tested. She says she had both of these guys for over a year if not longer and all her birds and the babies she had have been well. She also spoke to the breeder she purchased Oliver from and she said his birds are tested before they are sold and he has had no positives on his birds. I am not sure if i believe him since pdd is not a part of the basic blood screening but if no one has told him of any troubles from what he has sold i have a little hope that he is just a carrier. Oh and her son in law has lukemia and has to give up his birds now for health reasons and she wants us to take his blue and gold macaw this week before he comes home from the hospital. I told her i couldn't do that, with this pdd in my home does she really want to risk putting his lovely baby at risk? I wish some of you guys lived closer to me to help me out with this! Oliver was a new man yesterday. He was playing and flapping around and being vocal again. What a wonderful sight! And boy was he eating, even after we put them to bed we could hear him chomping down on his roudybush! This morning we have that huge air sac back, first time in days but it hasn't slowed his energy. He has been running back and forth and all around the top of his cage. I tried to get him to step up for our shower and quickly got slapped away by his foot and he was off again running around! I thought i would try a scrambled egg for him this morning and to entice him add some snap peas that i shucked in it. It worked! Lol

He isn't a fan of dried fruits or bells... Lol.... His fun seems to be throwing all the different foods i offer to him at me, then he laughs. I will try some pasta tomorrow, although if he throws that at me it could put an eye out! Cooked pasta doesn't hurt! Lol

I am sure when i get Oliver his duster, Stewart will be afraid of his own cage. I know greys are timid but he is really afraid of everything. It took well over $100.00 to find he liked a staw to play with, not just any straw, that one straw. I went and bought a bag and made him a toy out of them, nope. Bought him a straw toy, nope. We are back to no toys, a roll of adding paper is all he will stand and really just the paper, no cute paper holder. I swear next time we go to the bird store, i am taking him to pick out his own toys! ( not really, he isn't allowed to play with any other birds but Oliver ) These two guys are messes!

I did see it but was really afraid of the "how to" of mixing it. Did not realize to do it straight. God forbid i do anything to upset what balance we are achieving. I will be getting a feather duster, thats a great idea for him! Lol This guy cracked me up today with his trickery... He was calling me over to him while he was on his metal stand, ( he has been banned from the brand new wooden one, made out of the hardest wood that "even" macaws have a hard time chewing, HA ha ha ha, let me add here, no such wood exists) which he never has done before so i went over with glee in my heart! He wanted to step up, now my heart is exploding with pride. " oh what fun we have had, exploring things together, he does love me" i thought to myself. Welp, that wind was knocked right out of me when he would not step off. Turns out he didn't want me at all, he wanted the wooden tree stand and i had to give in as i was losing feeling in my arm from his squeezing harder and harder with each place i tried to set him on, and daddy wouldn't be home till six.... Lol

This isn't much of an update today but, to me it is a wonderful step of progress! Oliver ate two orange slices and some apple this morning! Those were two things he ate before that he hasn't touched in weeks ( except to throw them out of the bowl ). His noses was stuffed and dry yesterday but after our steam and my sad attempt to put in his saline drops, it opened up a bit and started running. He wanted nothing to do with his shower Sunday but after seeing his improvement with the steam all week, and seeing the set back from missing one day, he will not be given that option again! Lol ( sure, like if that big beak comes at me i wouldn't back down ) I think since i am his nurse, he resents me, hates is a more accurate word. I can walk past him and he either swings his beak at me or raises his foot to hit me. I am rarely allowed by Oliver to even tickle his head. My husband on the other hand, when Oliver sees him, will lower his head for a tickle every time and all he has to say is wing and Oliver will raise his wings up for him to rub underneath! Oh well, i will be the bad guy if it helps him to feel better! I read in the health room yesterday about the aloe spray and all the benefits it has so i ordered Georges aloe spray and it has already shipped. I can not wait to start that for him. Maybe it will help his itching and he will leave his new pin feathers alone on his chest and back! Funny how the few coming in close to his hind area where it would be easy for him to reach he leaves alone. I hate seeing the little pin holes with a speck of blood on him!

That was a beautiful post and i am hoping i am over the shock and sorrow of the news to be able to move forward and stop looking back to what if's. I am truly sorry for your loses, and pray that when faced with that time i can handle it with the grace you did. We have had some beautiful weather here in texas, 80's yesterday, so it was birdies day out! We would set them down and let them roam. Stewart likes to chase you, Oliver is our explorer checking everything out (as he runs to his daddy). I don't think either have ever had the freedom to do that. It will so much fun later on when they both are more comfortable with these outtings. Right now, Oliver will scream when someone walks by, one poor girl jumped out of her skin. He seemed to enjoy that, his head went up high his eyes were wide as if he was saying, " hey, did you see how i made her jump and scream? I'm good at this game!" I am attaching some pictures from yesterday! He had 3 big feathers growing in on his back, and now there are none. Don't know when he got them out but he did. Our breeder friend said to spray them with msg 2 x's a week but i am letting my neighbor try this, Oliver doesn't need that, he just started eating again and i am not going to put an ucky taste in his mouth so others can see how beautiful he is, i already know and don't need feathers to see it!

Took the weekend off mentally and just enjoyed our birds. We built them a huge play area in our kitchen for them to hang out on during the day, they really seemed to love it until Oliver almost took a tumble. We had rigged a little water bowl for them until we could get what we wanted, bad idea. Oliver tried to perch on it and it tipped. Let me tell you, there is nothing wrong with his reflexes, he grabbed a branch with his beak, feet dangling and pulled himself right up. We were shocked, we thought he was a bit off balanced as i had mentioned in earlier post, but after seeing those acrobatic moves, no way. Thats one more symptom he does not have with this pdd. :-) In fact, his only symptom of this disease is the blood test. I am still holding to his breathing as sinus and damage done from him never being treated.

Thank you, and no i did not take that as harsh. You are saying what everyone has been saying. I am just not good with feeling helpless but i know that you are right. I am looking for a miracle in any way shape or form right now, even when there isn't one to be found. Funny how in times like this our mind is willing to believe anything that sounds helpful.

The vets office called this morning, so my day has been an emotional roller coaster to say the least. I have been trying to stay positive but today i have been so torn up, while at the car dealership picking up a part for my car the poor guy gave me the price and i broke down crying, everything hit me right then. I feel so sorry for the poor guy, he didn't have a clue what to say or do. They want to do a follow up in two weeks, just to check the progression, suggested i bring my grey, Stewart, just for them to look and get a weight to have something to compare to later on. Even though these two were in the same home before i got them, my guilt for this is so great. I am asking everyone a question.... They are housed in the same room right now. I want to move Stewart to another room, the vet says it really wouldn't matter except that it could stress them both out and thats when pdd could become active. He also says that he has probably already contracted it, even before coming to our home. Thing is if he hasn't already got it, why keep him in a situation where he really would catch it? Moving him is about the only thing i have any control over and feel i have to "do" something. Am i being selfish seperating them? My husband keeps telling me that they were brought to us for a reason and that they were also meant to be together or this would not have played out as it has. I am so conflicted, seperating could cause this to speed up and cause Oliver undo stress and a feeling of being alone, not seperating is a death sentence for Stewart also if he doesn't already have it, which i won't know for 4 months. It isn't just the moving of the cages, its their playstands, their time outside etc. How do you keep them apart like that?

Two feathers coming in, one tail feather fell out. Atleast new pretty one will grow back in their place! I got my first balancing bite from Oliver this morning. After our shower/ steam this morning i guess he wasn't done and was trying to bathe in his water bowl so i ran some bath water and my plan was to let him take his own bath, his plan however was to grab ahold of my upper arm with his beak and pull himself back up. Stewart yesterday got my other arm with his nail, it actually went right under the skin (where blood is drawn from) and got hooked there. Nice blood pool and bruise. Now i have to go get needles for our dog who is diabatic and explain to them i am not a drug user again. Their district manager had to call me and apoligize to me after they refused to sell me the needles last time, i had to have my vet call them and then they wanted a prescription as proof. Lol.. What we go through for our pets!

No, no website. I have seen her advertise on craigslist just once. No worries, i will be doing something when Olivers dr gives me the okay! I am not one to depend on someone else to take care of things! :-)

Spoke to the vets office this evening about reporting her to aspca and the one she claims to be rescueing the macaws from, they asked i hold off untill we are 100% sure he has it and is not just a carrier. They need proof. The only way to do that is a biopsy from his crop with a vein. I am not totally sure i want to put him thru that right now. Dr. Moore works with recues so i trust this will be taken care of correctly, i would not handle it with grace. My vision is stripping her naked, starving her and plugging her nose so its hard for her to breath and putting her in the middle of a freeway and saying, okay, survive this! I wish i could load a video here, tonight was the funniest ever. I got a picture though so let me explain the humor. By our kitchen table is Olivers play stand and where he eats with us, which he has never ventured off of. Tonight i was setting the table and i set our salads down and went to get the plates of food while my husband got our drinks. When he came back in, there was Stewart in his salad bowl eating away. We laughed... I set our plates down, he walked out again to wash his hands and went back to finish up. This is what we walked back into... We went ahead and ate around them as Stewart had moved on to my dinner plate. Now does he look like he has parrot wasting? Lol

Spoke to the avian vet at the dallas zoo, she said there could be false negatives but not positives. I am trying to stay upbeat around him but everytime i look into his eyes, i start crying. I called the lady i got him from, since she is a breeder herself, to warn her of this, her story changed yet again. This time she said, " i would come every day wondering i would find him dead on the bottom of the cage ". She said she would call the breeder she rescued him from to warn him also but she really believes her greys and his macaws are just fine, no need to have them checked. So this thing will keep getting passed from parrot to parrot in the dallas, ft worth area as long as they continue to breed. ( and where they ship to) She even told me when the time came to put him down, she had another one for me, healthy and fully feathered. OMG! How can she not understand how serious this is? It is transmitted thru the air for heavens sake, it can take years for symptoms to show up, stop breeding until they are tested!! This almighty dollar makes people stupid as crap! And it is the birds we love who suffer for their greed. Sickening

Got a call(voice mail) last night from the vet. He tested positive for pdd (parrot waisting disease). I read Daves sticky in the health room, now i am scared. Although Stewart and Oliver were in the same home before i got them, i feel so responsible for subjecting Stewart to this. My only hope is that the vet said 30% of birds test positive, only 10% actually have it. I know it is just a hope because he shows almost every sign. Don't know our next step yet, they are calling me back as i missed his call and he talked so long the vm cut off when he got to that part.

Nothing from the vet, results not back. On the bright side, he is eating stuff again. No more " just" snap peas! Yeah! He had some grapes and pasta and even some of my sandwhich at lunch! He has been on his playstand almost all day too, actually playing with the toys! Okay, it was a toy this morning, now it is a bell and 2 pieces of wood. Lol

Although he is full of himself still this morning, his air sac was huge again this morning. ( so much for my not covering the cage theory ) I was able to get some pictures. One picture is messed up on the side, but you can still see the crop verses the air bubble. You can also see the size of it looking from one side of his neck verses the other. I really hope i am being overprotective and this is normal, i have never homed a naked bird before to be seeing what goes on under the feathers! Anyone know?

On the advice of our first vet we got a humidifer for him. We did not know however there was something other than a cool mist. We got the cool mist and it chilled his room really bad. At one point our heater was up to 78, our normal temp was 68-70. I asked our new vet about it and right now, he would like us to do the steaming because it is more direct. (I will also add he said to stay away from the vicks ones because they are made with the teflon inside.) Oliver made up in one night his bout with without eating. He ate so much over the course of the day i figured dinner would be light. Oh no, i had made the guys some pasta and peas and he ate so much that i thought the weight from his crop was going to drag him forward to the ground. I just hope it continues on and today just wasn't a fluke. He was so full of himself this evening, dancing and and running back and forth on his stand. And best of all..... he said hello to my husband AND when we were putting them to bed, we think he said i love you. His first real words, does a mama proud! Lol

How beautiful! Congrats to you and your wonderful new family member!

So far a pretty good morning. We did not cover his cage last night and he woke up with no huge air sac and started dancing as soon as i opened his door! I made him a big bowl of fruits with his snap peas on the bottom so he would have to put everything in his mouth to get to them, in theory anyway. He used the side of his beak and scooped it all to the floor to get to them darn things. I steamed some fresh corn on the cobb for lunch, he wanted some! Yeah! Now i have some brocc, yams, carrots and green beans steaming for his dinner! We also got a great shower steaming in this morning! Attaching a picture of him dancing after the shower. Side note: if you are thinking of installing a shower perch in your home, think hard about where you put it. This morning as i shaved my legs, i had to keep looking up to remind him not to poop! (it would have landed right on my head!) I thought i had thought of everything, distance from the wood ceiling the shower rods even the bounce of water when rinsing so no soap or shampoo could hit him. I had him protected, i just failed to think about protecting myself! Lol

Thanks. Vet called and if the air sac is like it was this morning and he still has not eaten he goes back in. They will monitor the sac and tube feed him. I gave him the zupreem baby formula this evening thru a syringe ( no needle of course ) and after that he actually ate some seed and pellet. Not much, but it is a step. So, if he eats in the morning and his sac is huge again, i can send them a picture or video. I think they think i can not tell the diff between a bubble of air wrapping around his neck and a crop. I left him uncovered tonight to see if that makes any diff. I'm grasping

Well he didn't eat much last night. I scrambled an egg and gave him some bananas this morning, wouldn't eat. (I noticed the air sac that is on his neck/ shoulder area on his back has now expanded to his front neck area by his crop. Waiting for a call back from the vet. I know air sacs are normal but this was huge and he doesn't seem to be breathing with any ease.) I offered him his almonds and walnuts and he snubbed those so off to the store i went, ran out of snap peas last night and that is all he will eat, his tummy was growling this morning so if he will eat them i will let him! He did eat a few pellets, but only if i hand them to him, which i will do for him as long as he needs me too. I am usually a positive person but today it is harder than normal to pull off. His balance has gotten bad, this not eating phase, his breathing, the clicking. I can not help but look at him and cry. He will not even step up for his morning cuddles. He isn't sitting on the bottom, nor is he even sitting low on his legs, his eyes look good but the bad is all i can focus on and see. My heart is breaking. My poor husband, today is our 25 yr anniversay, he is up for a promotion he should hear something about today, this should be such a happy day and all i keep doing is bothing him at work with my tears and fears. My oliver does not deserve to be going thru this...Damn those people who did this to him. Okay, pity party over, going to try again to get him to step up so we can sit in the steam and open up his little nose.

It was actually a quiet noise, which is why i thought at first it was his sinus. His eyes and stance however were powerful looking, even for a naked guy! Yeah, i am not to happy with his diet right now. We caught him eating his pellets tonight after we had put them to bed and we snuck out of the room before he heard us so he wouldn't stop, i will see in the morning how much of that he ate. I had made some corn bread muffins loaded with good stuff which he liked before so i try to crumble some in everything just for greens, and i made some chop which i am serving with each dinner meal, i tell him its his salad and hope some gets down, even if it just sticks to something. He is getting suppliments but i don't want him to lose any weight, he can not afford that at 895 grams. I was wrong on his meds, tonight was the last dose! Yeah!

Yeah, they are at our table every meal. They even have their own plates, that is Stewart right after dinner a few nights ago, Oliver sits by my husband. Lol I am guessing it is the antibiotic making him have less of an appetite. At first we would give it to him in the morning and had an easier time with him eating breakfast, but lunch and dinner suffered. Now we changed to evening, before before bed, and breakfast and lunch are nill but dinner he eats like there is no tomorrow. 2 more days and he is done with it! ( that is the day the bloodtests should be back so fingers crossed he gets the all clear and isn't put on more )He did eat a few grapes tonight along with dineer, which he use to love so thats a good sign, oh, and of course his snap peas. I gotta ask this and it may sound silly but, i have never heard a macaw growl, and i have not read anything about them doing that, do they? Boy howdy, did he today. He fixed his eyes on something that we couldn't figure out what and growled. At first i thought it was just his sinus bc he does make groans, but then i walked outside and my husband said he did it again. Ah, life with these 2 are full and i knew it wouldn't be easy but the small steps we are making together are so very amazing and wonderful. I really hate the thought of going back to work, but alas these vet bills are killing us!

Again, all day would not eat. We went and got weaning pellets, told that may stimulate him. Nope, nothing, nada. Tonight my husband split up so lasagna for the dogs, i figured why not give that a try.... Sure enough, he ate almost a full bowl. But the jokes on him, it was full of spinach! Bwahahaha, one for me!