neoow

Your secret is safe with us!!

Hi all! Apologies for being a bit radio silent recently. I do check in every so often but haven't responded to posts for a while and haven't started any new discussions recently. So I thought I'd just check in, say hello and see how everyone and their flocks are doing? Alfie and I are doing good. Work is crazy busy at the moment for me but life with Alfie is good. He had a routine vet appointment last week to have his beak burred (it grows out wonky so he has to have some help every so often to keep it in check). He was the best boy, as usual. Pretty sure he gave the vet a bit of a run around first off but they all seem to love him there, so I don't think he was TOO boisterous!! He also got to go in my new car, which he wasn't too happy about at first as it's a different size, shape and colour to my previous one. So that warranted a short adjustment period for him. I'm very thankful that Alfie is not change adverse and takes a lot of things in his stride. I've got a ticket to go to the 'Think Parrot' show again this year in June and this year I decided to book a hotel to break up the driving. So I'm heading down on the Saturday, going to the show on the Sunday and returning home on Monday. Alfie is coming with me for the whole trip so that'll be an experience for him. I double checked with the hotel that they're ok for a parrot to stay - I paid extra for a 'pet' but they probably normally expect dogs so I figured I'd better check to make sure we didn't get turned away! Alfie also turned 22 years old on April 16th. I didn't get him any goodies for his birthday- I'm saving up for the parrot show to buy him lots of toys/treats and various other bits and pieces. So he'll get some belated birthday presents then! Hope those of you that are still hanging around and checking in to the forums are all well and good? Hope your flocks are all good too, of course! Aaand of course, got to remember the photo-tax! 😁

I remember your previous post about Odie and I'm thrilled that he is making his way back to you. Sometimes things just have a funny way of falling into place just when we need them to. Would love to see an update when you're all back home safe and settled.

I am so sorry to hear about the loss of Brutus. I think all of us here understand how special it is to get to spend our time with parrots. If you feel up to sharing, maybe it would help to tell us a bit more about Brutus, about his personality, his favourite toys/treats etc etc. Maybe sharing some of the better times with him will help. However it is totally understandable if you are not ready for that yet. Grief is different for everyone and you need to allow yourself time to grieve properly, in whatever way you need to. I'm afraid I don't have much else that can help with what you're going through but please know there are people here who sympathise and understand how tough it must be for you right now.

Sorry, I can't help as I'm on the wrong side of the pond. Didn't realise that line of travel cages has been discontinued though. It's a shame, I have the medium sized one for Alfie for when I take him out and it's a brilliant cage.

Wow I'm so sorry you both had to go through that with him but am really happy Jako managed to survive. I wonder if you can slowly transition him away from the dependency on the syringe feeding. Maybe start by using the same food from the syringe but try offering it from a spoon instead. Then maybe transition from spoon to a bowl with you holding it. Lots of encouragement and praise every time he takes that next step. Once he's eating from a spoon or a bowl you might be able to try offering other soft foods for him to try. Mashed sweet potatoes, for example. Others have made some great suggestions with types of food to try. If that's all working then maybe try and transition to his regular food bowl. If you find a food he REALLY likes then maybe only offer it from the regular food bowl (whether that's in his cage or on a playstand). You'll obviously have to move at his pace for this and it might take a while to move him on to the next step or next little win. Lots of fuss, praise and encouragement will be your friend. Even if he just touches a new food and doesn't actually try some, make a big deal out of it. But obviously read his cues and if he's not comfortable or not progressing, take a step back and try again another day. I'm by no means an expert but that's probably how I would approach it if I was in that situation.

I'm a bit late to the party but happy new year everyone!

Hmm. I wonder if it's because I did it on my phone... can you see them now?

Just a slight update on this one. I found and purchased a smaller handheld perch as I figured that would be much easier to carry around to different places with me. It came with a plastic 'guard' that I don't think I can detach (although haven't tried to yet in case I break it). I've had it for a good few weeks and have been slowly introducing it to Alfie. He wasn't keen at first because it was something different. So I took it slow and just got him used to touching it with his beak and rewarding him with treats when he did. He hasn't stepped up on it and usually runs away if I ask him to step up on it. I haven't forced the issue. But tonight, he decided now was the time that he would step up and let me walk him round the room. Lots of praise ensued so he knew it was a good thing. So here he is, on his new portable perch! (I just noticed I had it the wrong way round with the plastic guard pointing in the wrong direction haha)

Sorry to hear about the recall scare but hopefully all are safe and well.

Take it slow with lots and lots of praise and her favourite treats. Hopefully she'll come round eventually!

Good luck with it, and please post photos when you complete it as I'd love to see what you end up with. I think it's good to have different options depending on where you're going/what you're doing. I really like the stroller idea, I'm just not handy enough to make something myself! Alfie enjoys getting out and about, as he's quite boisterous for a grey and seems to take it all in his stride. He loves going in his aviary in the garden and I have a similar problem in that I can never convince him to come back out of it in the evening! I have to remove all the toys and perches then put the travel cage over him to get him to go in it! Otherwise, he just climbs away!

I think this is a great idea and I have seen a few people do this. Some modify it and attach a dog crate onto the frame. Others do what you have suggested have have a mesh screen over the top. I have a couple of options for Alfie when I take him out. I have a small metal cage for him when I take him in the car- e.g to take him to the vets. I use that if we're going to be out for a long time, as it has food and water dishes he can't remove. I often take him with me when I visit my parents, as he absolutely adores my mum and it means he's not left alone. I also have a little camping trolly/cart that the cage fits in, so if I'm taking him somewhere where we'll be moving around (e.g a couple of parrots shows I've visited in the last couple of years) then I can pull the cage around in that. If I'm just taking him out for a walk then I have a backpack carrier for him which has a single perch in it. It did come with food/water bowls but they are just attached via velcro, so the first thing he does is rip them off and drop them... which means I end up with water running down my back! 🤣 Alfie has the same attitude about harnesses. I do have a harness for him and I did try and start harness training a few times... but he hates his back/wings being touched and the loop to go over his head is so small we never progressed that far with it. I never forced the issue because I'd quite like to retain all my fingers! 😁

I've done similar in the past- it was quite a few years ago and I was cleaning out Alfie's cage. He was in the cage as the cats were about. I took the bottom tray out and started cleaning that, then for some unknown reason I then took the grill out of the bottom as well and took that outside to wash it off. I heard some commotion because Alfie was jumping around his cage and knocking toys around, walked back in and saw Widget in the bottom of his cage having a good sniff around. I think it was a similar thing to your Wilson - he wasn't phased by or interested in Alfie, he was more interested in this space that he normally can't get to. So I quickly ushered Widget out from the bottom of the cage and put the grill back in place before apologising profusely to Alfie! 😬

I have two Bengal cats, Widget and Pixel who are both indoor cats. They will be 14 years old later this year but are still quite energetic when they want to be. They co-exist with Alfie quite well and both learned from a young age to leave him well alone. They pay Alfie no mind and don't harass him whilst he is in his cage and I separate them when I let him out- they typically get the upstairs and Alfie gets the downstairs. My living room door handle had to be taken off and put back on upside down to help with this, as otherwise Widget could open the door and let himself in. Anyway, this works well as the cats have everything they need upstairs and it gives Alfie enough room to fly around, get some exercise and generally cause all sorts of mischief. The other day, Widget was asleep on the sofa in the living room and I needed to let Alfie out so I woke Widget up, gave him some fuss and then shooed him out of the room. I let Alfie out as usual and he flew over to his tree on the dinner table. Then he immediately flew over to his standing tree at the other side of the room. He then flew back to the original tree. That was a bit unusual as he usually stops somewhere to stretch and preen first. All of a sudden, Pixel scurries across the room, looking a bit worried. Last time I'd seen her, she was upstairs and I obviously hadn't noticed her wander in to the living room at some point. Alfie was still flying around because he knew it wasn't right that she was there. Thankfully, I was able to get Pixel to stop running around and picked her up to remove her from the room. Phew! Alfie then settled ok and we carried on with our evening. I think Pixel was too scared of all the flapping to know what to do but I'm just so glad she didn't try and chase Alfie - or spot him before he spotted her. The stupid thing is, I normally do check around the rest of the room to make sure I got both of them out. That one moment of complacency could have ended very badly... although I'm honestly not sure who would have come off worse with that one... either way, I felt very guilty for a good while after! Have you ever slipped up/made a mistake and had a near miss as a result?