should i feel guilty?

[SarahDavid]

This saturday i left at 1pm till sunday 1 am to my friends house and i left My CAG Noah with my cat alone but i cheked on them 5 min each day looking if they have food and water etc. but i feel so guilty that i left them alone like this.. did i takewrong decision.

 

How long is too long for leaving my pets alone ?

 

Is it bad i leave them again during a weekend ?

 

Im asking because i gonna be out of town this weekend to see my dad in law for first time here in USA i met him only once back in my country Denmark.

 

 

Thanks

Zahra

[SarahDavid]

Actually its first the 23th august i will need to leave to LA to see my dad in law and his brother that is sick have cancer.

[kittykittykitty]

Zahra, I'm sorry about your husband's brother. How long will you be gone? That will make a difference in the plans you will need to make.:unsure:

[TinyTimneh]

in light of your circumstances (and i'm very sorry to hear that your uncle in-law has cancer), you do not have to feel guilty at all. you have no control over these things that happen.

as for the previous outing from 1 pm saturday to 1 am sunday, when you think about it, your grey was probably sleeping a large part of the time and most of us with school or jobs are out of the house for about eight hours a day anyway so the eight hours awake without you is no problem (plus he has the cat and if you checked in on them he's not technically alone) and for the rest of that time he was probably fast asleep. don't sweat it. plus, it's not like this happens all the time, so with the right toys and enrichment the bird will barely notice you are leaving, and you should start acclimating your bird to spend periods alone regardles of if any type of scenario like this will be happening again, it is vital for you and him that he learn he doesn't need you around 24/7. I hope your uncle in-law recovers.

[judygram]

Actually Zahra it is proably good that from time to time you are gone like this, it is good for them to know you will have days and times that you wont be around as usual so they get used to it.

 

I'm sorry to hear of the ill relative, hope he recovers soon but these things happen and we have to do the best we can and go from there.

[Tycos_mom]

Everyone has things they have todo sometimes and even though it may be a little tough on the birds at first they do adapt. I was beside myself when I decided I needed to go back to work as finances where just not there This was about 5 months ago and my birds had never been alone for any longer than a couple hours and had never been caged for verylong except at bedtime. Even though I only work 3 days a week and only 6 hours a day from 5 pm until 11pm and my birds sleep from 8pm til 8 am I still felt so guilty that they had to be locked in their cages for 3 hour more than they where used too silly I know but at the time it was a very big deal to me. Your birds will adapt the worst thing you can do is stress over it because they will pick up on that stress and then it will be harder for them if they know you are upset. don't worry and do what you have to do. Make sure there is someone to come in and spend 10 minutes of so feeding and talking to them and they will be fine until you get back. Mabie if its poosible the person that you get to watch them can turn the radio on for them in the morning and then come around bedtime again and turn it off. Or mabie it can be put on a timer so it goes on and off by itself that way they will have some sort of human interaction while your gone.

[Broomer]

I was origionally concerned with Loki being alone as well, I actually spent some time making a chart to see how much time Loki will be alone at any given time. Both Kim and I work, Kim on a 11-13 week rotation that goes all over the place like 2 days on (12 hours shifts) - 2 days off - 2 days on (12's) - 3 days off .. etc. I myself have Tuesday and Thursdays off, with the options on getting time and a half if I want to work Sundays.

 

well, actually, I can make it easier then explaining it, I made a picture of 5 sample weeks of Kims rotation. 2 of her 2 on, 2 off, 3 on etc. and 1 week of each of her other 2 week stints. to see how many hours Loki will be alone at any given time.

 

http://i327.photobucket.com/albums/k470/lokicag/LokisSchedualimage.jpg

 

We plan on using a couple lava lamps (way cheaper then a companion bird for our companion .. bird :blink: ... or cheaper then a fish tank ) and a small radio, all on timers, to keep him company while we're working. At the longest, Loki will be alone for 10 hours, 2 times a week. And once a week both Kim and I will be home together with him. :laugh:

[nims]

Hi,

 

Your AG will be left alone at some point and leaving she/he alone sometimes is good for the parrot. They need some "me" time too after all. Myself and my husband work work and there are times when she is left alone for upto 8 hours. As long as there is plenty of food and fresh water and lots of toys to keep them entertained they should be fine.

 

If you are worried that your bird is not eating while you are out make sure you feed him/her before you leave. I usually feed my CAG some warm oatmeal which goes down a treat!

 

Hope this helps!

 

Nims

[SarahDavid]

Thank you all for the support, yeah it was hard for me to leave Noah for two days even though i cheked on him once a day..

 

the response is really appreciated thanks again.

 

Zahra

[SarahDavid]

special thanks to kittykitty since i havent answerd your email will do that as soon as i get a chance glad you are not ignoring me here