New grey owner and a bigger family now.

[Drea07]

Hello this is my first time to the site and also my first time owning a grey. I hope this will become a great place for me to come and ask questions and get some great advice.

 

Here's a little bit of the background on how Rocky, our grey came to live with the family and how things are going for us all. About three weeks ago I received a call from my Mom, a friend of her's was looking for someone who could rescue an African grey from a neglectful situation. Now at the time we weren't looking for a new family member, but my mom knew that I would not allow for any animal to stay in such a situation if I could help it. The last owner apparently had no more time for Rocky and was worried because Rocky was plucking his feathers and becoming self destructive. Apparently they called a rescue but the rescue would not take Rocky for another month and they did not want to wait that long. Now I'm not sure how true their attempts were, but in any case Rocky needed help. So numbers were exchanged and I made the call. While talking with the previous owners he told me I could have Rocky and all of his things, just come and get him. I know this is normally a big red flag, but I got lucky. So I made arrangements to come and get Rocky that same day.

When I arrived hours later, I could not believe the condition Rocky was in. The house was cleaned and the cat was well taken care of, but here Rocky sat in a cage that was stuck in a bedroom away from everyone, against the wall furthest away from the window. His cage was filthy and had about four inches worth of old food, feces, and feathers. The bars of the cage were sticky with I don't even want to know what. Rocky had not just "started" plucking his feathers, he had been doing it for a long time. He had no feathers on his torso at all, his legs were bare, up his neck and his skin was red with little scratches on him from his beak and long nails. The blanket for covering his cage was also sticky from some type of residue that was stuck on it. If you went near Rocky's cage he would start trying to bite and hiss at you. I knew I had to get him out, right then and there. So we got Rocky back to our home within a few hours.

I had already started doing research before going to see Rocky, so I could prepare myself as much as possible on such short notice. Once Rocky was in his new home and calmed down, I began the next stage in helping him. I scrubbed his cage down for the next three hours, washed his cage cover, threw away the busted up and stained toys provided him with a new one (and keep changing them out), cleaned his dishes and provided him with fresh food and water. The whole time Rocky sat on his perch watching me, every now and then he would start to come towards me in an aggressive manner so I would step back and give him a few minutes while talking with him softly. After getting everything cleaned out, I put his cage next to a window that has a few bird feeders in a tree so he had something besides a wall to look at.

I forgot to mention, my fiance was at work this whole time and had no idea he was coming home to a surprise. LOL Of course he walks in the door after I got everything done. And the first words out of his mouth were..."Hey honey,..what the heck is that?!" He walked into the living room and Rocky said, "Hey buddy", and that was the end of that right there, Rocky now has my fiance wrapped around his beak. LOL

I was beginning to worry at first, because Rocky would bite when you would change his food our water, and did not want anyone putting their hands on his cage. A few times he bit so hard that he drew blood, so we made sure to keep the kids away from the cage. We have a love seat that is next to his cage, so for the next few days I spent a lot of time on that couch talking to Rocky for hours, giving him fresh fruit and just giving him the time he needed. By the second day Rocky came out and sat in the door of his cage, not coming fully out but not going back in either. This went on for about another two days. It seemed almost as if he was unsure if it was OK to sit on the outside of the cage. A week later, I was sitting on the couch reading a book and having a snack, Rocky said "Want some.." and then climbed down the side of his cage and across the couch to sit next to me. This was a very big step for him and we were so proud of him. He did get a bite of my apple...well more like he insisted on having almost half the apple.

It was around this time that the last owners girlfriend gave me a call to see how things were going, she was in shock that Rocky was coming out and sitting with me on the couch without biting. Apparently his last owner never let him come out of his cage. They plan on calling again in another month, but I really would like it if they didn't.

After this Rocky started making many big steps. He is itchy a lot with all his new feathers that are coming in, so I picked up some aloe bath for birds and this seems to have helped. He is only preening now and not plucking. He tells us when he is ready for bed by saying "Time for bed, good night, love you", and is never in his cage if we are home and awake. His beak is a nice black again instead of the dry whitish look it had. The feathers he still had are becoming more vibrant. He talks and talks and talks, and will sing to us while we are cleaning, if were cooking he will start sing "hey good looking, what's ya got cookin!?". He also thinks he is the family comedian and will bust out laughing when he makes a joke or is being silly. He is biting far less then he was, still will here and there, more so with my fiance (we think it is because his last owner was a man), but he is starting to allow him to pet him.

We are also able to get Rocky to step up onto a perch and onto our hands, he has decided that he prefers our shoulders to sit on. Rocky has become so comfortable and trusting of us, that he will now play what we call "Birdie Ball", we take everything off the coffee table and then let him chase after one of his new toys and toss it to us. It's very funny to watch, because when he feels he made a "touchdown" he will start flapping his wings as fast as he can and say "yes, yes, yes".

 

Rocky has come such a long way in such a short amount of time, we do have our days were it seems like we take a small step backwards but he always comes around. Right now Rocky is helping me to type out this letter, sitting on my shoulder, talking and preening me. lol

 

I guess the only complaint I have is that there are a few words he picked up that I really wish he did not know. I suppose there is not a way to un-teach them words once they have learned them. 8/

[GT_Jacket]

Welcome to the forum and what a great rescue story. Rocky is very lucky to have found such caring people -

[Luvparrots]

Congratulations on becoming owned by Rocky!!! What a wonderful rescue story, I commend you. I look forward to hearing much more about your new companion, Rocky!

[danmcq]

Welcome to the forum Drea!!!

 

I love hearing a rescue story such as this showing how much can be done in just a couple of weeks with lots of love and patience. You have done a GreYt job and it's good to hear the Aloe misting is doing the trick on letting those new pin feathers actually have a chance.

 

I look forward to hearing a ton more and seeing photos as well.

[Barbara2]

God bless you for providing a loving home to this loving grey! That was a fantastic introduction. I look forward to more stories and pictures.

[Codys Mom]

Congrads sounds like you have a great bird their , Rocky is lucky to have such a great home

[ranaz]

Oh what a greyt story. Rocky is so lucky I guess. And its so sweet how he has been progressing with your love and care. It makes me so d#@!% angry to think of owners who neglect greys as Rocky's previous owners...how can they do this? Im so glad you have rescued him...

 

Welcome to our family and you must know that we all love photos, so hoping to see Rocky soon.

[tODDski]

Congratulations and cheers to many years.

[Cupid]

Great story! Hes lucky, but you and your family are the real lucky ones to have gotten him in your lives, He was free of charge because the old owners didnt know the wonderful joy he couldve brought them those cat lovers.. Its ss, and Rocky will enrich your lives for so many years to come. Im happy for him and you, and Im sure with the great steps your taking now, he will live a long happy life. read through the threads as there is so much info that will help you out. Try to post pics soon please.

[Irie5447]

Awesome job! Rocky is in a great atmosphere with great folks! It sounds like you guys were destined for each other, haha. Please keep us updated on Rocky's progress and please post some pictures! Thanks for sharing such a great story.

[judygram]

Hello Drea and welcome to our family, so glad to hear you have opened your home and your heart for Rocky.

The poor dear having to live in such filth but he is in the lap of luxury and it seems he knows it too from what you describe. It does take time but he is coming along just fine and hopefully he will regrow the feathers soon but at least he gets what he needs now and attention is what fills the bill and he will blossom into a handsome fella in no time.

Would love to see some pictures of Rocky if you have some you would share with us.

[Drea07]

Hello and thank you for all the warm welcomes. Once I find the USB cable for my camera, I will be sure to post some pictures of Rocky.

[Kathylee01432]

Hello Drea -

 

I was brought to tears reading the horrible condition that Rocky was in. Sounds like he wasn't far from death. There is no excuse for someone neglecting any animal, let alone a bird like that. I just wanted to say Thank you! People like you are what make the world a better place. I am happy to hear that Rocky is becoming well adjusted and more vibrant. I look forward to hearing many more stories about Rocky so please do share from time to time.

[Morana]

Well, I have to say that you're storry is just soooo beautiful that I can't wait for new updates! :-) I had a few giggles reading your storry- Rocky sounds like a great Grey, and you seem like a perfect parent for him:-) I can't even begin to tell you how happy it makes me that Rocky was saved, and that he has such loving new forever home! :-)

Please hurry with the updates and pictures, I can't wait to meet Rocky and hear some new good news:-D

Do you have an avian vet yet?

 

PS: They can forget the words you don't want them to know. Ignore the words you don't like and reward the ones you do;-)

 

PPS: IMO, if you think it is apropriate for you to let Rockys last owners know that you don't want them to call anymore then it is ok to tell them that. They had their chance to take care of Rocky. I'm kinda playing the worst scenario in my head that they might want Rocky back, or maybe even worse, they might decide to get another parrot after seeing/hearing you having great time with theirs-like, everything is possible, and that the next parrot would maybe suit them better...or something.. I'm a bit parranoid about those kind of people... Brrrrr....