auntiebethd Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 Hello-My name is Beth and I am from Mystic, CT. I own and CAG who I basically inherited from my Uncle who recently passed away. She is appx. 9 years old (so I am told) and I say she b/c she came to me with eggs in her cage already!!! I have only had her for a couple months and she also came to me with a completely plucked chest and, legs and top of wings. So far her feathers are coming back in slowly but surely...she is quite aggressive, but definitely has a sweet side and seems to be taking to my fiance. Her name is Lila and we love her to death!!! We give her several different fruits and vegetables daily, clean her cage daily, change water daily and refill her food dishes as needed. I give her Zupreem pellets, Kaytee Exact Pellets, Kaytee Fusion and Kaytee Fiesta. She seems to pick at everything and does well with pellets. One thing she DOES NOT do well with is new toys of any sort. It seems like everytime I offer her something new, she is terrified of it and if it is a hand toy, she starts her egg laying behavior for days on end even after I take it away. For the past couple days she has not been very talkative, has been sitting on the bottom of the cage, but is eating and pooping normally, just doesn't seem very talkative unless I start talking to her and then she perks up. I'm just looking for a little advice since everyone here seems very knowledgable about greys and although I have owned a macaw in the past and now have a cockatiel, greys are very different!!! Nice to meet you all! {Feel-good-00020114}[/color] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 Hello Beth and welcome to the family, so glad you could join us and we look forward to hearing more about you and Lila. Sorry to hear about your uncle but now you have inherited his grey and it comes with eggs, fancy that, but she plucks too. Poor thing having lost her owner and now having to get used to a new one she is probably stressed out right now. It will take time for her to adjust and bond with you so give her lots of time and be very patient with her. It is normal for greys to be very wary of new toys, you have to put them where they can see them and get used to their presence before you can ever put them in their cage to play with. I would suggest that if she has not been in a while that you have her checked out by an avian vet just to make sure she is healthy and has no problems. Take a few minutes to read thru some of the threads for lots of useful and helpful information and do ask questions if you have any. We will do our best to get you some answers and help you in any way we can. If you have any pictures of Lila you would like to share with us we would love to see her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 Beth and Lila welcome here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntiebethd Posted February 27, 2008 Author Share Posted February 27, 2008 Thanks guys! I think I am going to try and find an avian vet to have her checked out. My only concern is that we have only had her a couple months now and have not yet been able to handle her. How in the world would we get her into a carrier and to a vet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyGreys Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 Hi Beth if you are unable to handle her you will need to towel her, here is a link for you.. http://thetrueparrot.homestead.com/howtotowel.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntiebethd Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 Thanks again for the replies-I actually called my vet this morning and explained the situation and they recommended a vet that is right down the street from my house (walking distance even!) who does house calls! They said that although she is not an avian specialist, she has a BIG place in her heart for birds and deals w/ a ton of them and focuses primarily on pet parrots I am soooo excited that she is going to come to my house and see Miss Lila in her home atmosphere! I am just waiting now for the call back to see what day she can come over...I will keep you all updated!!! {Nature-00020095} Oh and PS-I am loving all these emoticons on this forum!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntiebethd Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 Oh AND I can't believe I forgot to mention my other babies! My fiance and I have no children yet...we live in a 3 bedroom apartment with just enough room right now for us, our three cats (Tigger 15 yrs.), (Leo 3 yrs.) and Andre (3 yrs.), our dwarf bunny (PJ-2 yrs.), our hamster (Dubbie), and last but not least our sweet little cockatiel (Kiwi-2 yrs.) We are getting married in October of this year and then will be looking for a house for us and all of our babies. Right now though, we love our apartment b/c it is very roomy and we have a wonderful landlord who loves all our pets and lets us have them b/c we keep them very clean! {Nature-0002009A}{Nature-000200C9}<br><br>Post edited by: auntiebethd, at: 2008/02/27 18:20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyric Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Hi Beth: Nice to meet you! It is great that you have adopted Lila and sounds like she is in good hands. How wonderful that the vet can come to your house to see her! Like Judy said, it will take time for her to adjust to all the changes in her life. Take things slow and soon enough you'll be just like old friends. Let us know what the vet says about her. She may need extra calcium in her diet if she is laying a lot of eggs so be sure and talk to the vet about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntiebethd Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 Nice to meet you too Lyric! Yes, we are very pleased to have her in our home and hope that we can give her a much better life after the abuse and neglect she has suffered for so long. We discussed the patience issue before even having her home so that my fiance would understand why she does some of the things she does. We definitely pay a ton of attention to her and make sure to give her the space that she asks for when she seems to be annoyed or getting a little aggressive. She actually hasn't laid anymore eggs than the ones that she came to us with a couple months ago, but I am going to talk to the vet about everything that I know about her. We do fruits and veggies every single day and we try to share healthy snacks with her whenever possible and she loves to eat! We also keep several different types of cuttle bones in the cage and she picks at them as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Boy I wish I knew a vet that would come to my house to see my birds but not out in the country like where I live, you are very fortunate. Please let us know what the vet has to say about your grey. Congrats on your impending marriage in October, what a wonderful time in your life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imme Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Welcome to the forum. Hope all goes well with Lily. Keep us informed and congrats on your engagement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntiebethd Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 Thanks guys-boy everyone is really welcoming here-I think I will be staying around!!! {Feel-good-000200BB} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Welcome Beth!! It sounds like you are making good progress so far with your new inherited CAG. She sounds like a wonderful Grey that is adjusting at a normal rate and may be a little cage sour and starved for attention if your Uncle was sick for a while and couldn't pay the attention to her she used to get. She should flourish in your household with the love and attention your paying to her and the good varied diet your providing. We'll look forward to hearing how the Vet home call went (envious here) and what pointers may come your way from her. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntiebethd Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 Thank you danmcq-We really want to give her the life she never had after all the years of abuse. Even though I'm sure she is missing my Uncle, she was in a very BAD situation in that house...there were people smoking next to her cage, she barely ever had anything other than nasy old cockatiel seed and when I brought her home she had moldy poop on the tops of her feet!!! I can't say that I ever saw her cage clean and when I brought her home, the nasty smell stayed in my car forever! The cage was in my opinion not even roomy enough for a cockatiel, never mind a CAG! We had a brandy new big cage waiting for her w/ all new toys and tons of different foods and she took the adjustment very well and even destroyed one of her new toys in a matter of 2 days! She loves to play with all the toys in there and gets very excited and paces and waits by her "veggie" bowl every morning while I am in the kitchen filling it. She always says Ooooooh when I take the bowl out and walk out of the room...it's so funny! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 Oh My God, that is a horrendous story of the previous living conditions. No wonder She is doing so well. I seriously doubt she misses anything from her previous home. :-( Thank God you are such a caring person a providing her with a virtual Disney Land for Her. :-) Don't they become just like one of your own children? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted February 28, 2008 Share Posted February 28, 2008 This is so wonderful of you to do this and so sad that she had to endure such conditions but she is in seventh heaven now and doing nicely, she will be forever grateful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntiebethd Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 Thanks guys-we do love her to death! Can you believe that my Aunt actually called to see how she was doing and then after telling her how wonderfully she has adjusted she seriously asked if/when we wanted to give her back b/c they "missed" her...I told her she would have to pry her from my dead hand :woohoo: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Yeah, I agree with you. The Grey stays with you in a suitable home. I can not believe the conditions it was living in, very disgusting from my viewpoint. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntiebethd Posted February 29, 2008 Author Share Posted February 29, 2008 Yes Dan...VERY disgusting! Lila has definitely found her forever home with us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronda477 Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Well hello! And welcome to the forum! It's great that you took this little lady in! I'm sure it will only get better in the future for her being in your loving home! She will go through may adjustments the next couple months. But her true colors will start showing and you'll see who she was really suppose to be. The good thing is, she's eating good for you it seems. With the toys, you may have to introduce them slowly. By placing them across the room and leaving them there for a week and than moving them closer to her as the weeks go on, slowly making it's way to the outside of the cage and than the inside of the cage. It also helps if you play with the toy yourself and act like your having fun with it. She will start coming around here soon I'm sure. As long as the vet check comes out ok, than I'm sure the love you'll show her will bring her true colors out! Good luck and hope to hear more from you! Keep us all updated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MommaFawkes Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Welcome!!!! I admit im a little slow with my welcomes!! Hope all is ok for your baby!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamelessmuse Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Welcome to the flock!! I'm somewhat new myself and can tell you these guys are the best!! Patience will be your friend with Lila (cute name by the way!) I just got Greyce in January and it has been baby steps all the way, but it is so worth it. Every little step makes me want to do a jig!! It's just been in the past few weeks that she lets me hold her. You will get there. I did find some useful information in the Second Hand Parrot book, I ordered from Amazon. I know a good deal about birds, but a re-home was a whole new ball park for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntiebethd Posted February 29, 2008 Author Share Posted February 29, 2008 Yeah, I know a bit about birds too and I agree- re-homing is tough stuff! Luckily we are very patient people, so we are willing to work with her every stop of the way whether it takes days or years for us to be able to handle her and have her trust us. We have seen a ton of improvement just over the period of a couple months and I agree, every step seems like a huge accomplishment to me! I call everyone even on just one new word! :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted March 1, 2008 Share Posted March 1, 2008 Well you have every right to be proud of your accomplishments and it does take lots of time with a rehomed grey but the rewards are worth it for sure. You can tell us all about them we will understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntiebethd Posted March 1, 2008 Author Share Posted March 1, 2008 Thanks Judy! {Feel-good-00020114} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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