What is your reason for owning an AG?

[empera]

There are many reasons why people own these magnificant birds, and I'm very curious as to why so many people own them.

 

It can be any reason.

Examples: Talking ability, appearence, love of breed, loneliness, etc.

 

As for my reason, it's for many reasons. Due to a traumatic incident which happened years ago, and further pain and emotional abuse by loved ones I became depressed, and couldn't seem to find a way to be happy until, through good luck, I met my boyfriend and his two greys. They have helped me in ways I couldn't understand, and now I'm about to put a deposit on my own baby grey after much thought, research, and consideration.

 

Why do you own a grey?

[Poppy]

Its been my life long ambition to have a grey . I have wanted one since being a little girl and seeing my friends grey. Thanks to my Mum my dream has come true and I cannot be happier than I am now with him .He is a 2 1/2 year old Grey called George .

[Sallas]

Well, I am disabled and am a animal lover. I have always taken it very hard when my animals have passed on, so hard that for many years I did not have a pet because I knew I could not take it when they did pass on.

 

I had a few birds growing up and have always wanted a parrot. I did lots of research as to what breed of parrot would fit best with me and my lifestyle. I chose the African Grey because they are so intelligent, live many years, bond very closely with their human care givers, they are not extremely loud birds (no where near the loudness of our sun conures). I think a few of what many think to be negatives of the breed and parrots in general, were positives to me.

 

Now, if my birds end up being good talkers, that is a bonus, they are already starting very well.

 

I do not have any kids of my own, and my birds have filled that spot for me. I have been disabled for almost 8 years now and felt that it was not fair for me to bring children into this world in my condition. I cannot do many of the things that a father should do with their child. But, I can

provide the parrots with an excellent quality of life, and they do not judge me or my disability.

[empera]

Poppy, that's wonderful. George must be very happy

 

Sallas, Karma to you. Although I'm 16, and many would say that I'm yet to be mature enough to fully understand numerous aspects of life, I understand your situation.

 

My recently passed grandmother was disabled by an infectious spider bite which caused her left leg to be amputated. I would visit her in the hospital, and on occasional trips to random stores, people would stare and judge her with demeaning looks.

 

Somewhat off topic, but back to my point, she felt ashamed of herself, and had always been one of the biggest cat lovers possible. For they didn't give her looks, and whispers. They gave her love, and she gave them love back.

 

I'm glad you found the lucky greys that own you. Disabled or not, they love you for you.

[BaxtersMom]

I got a grey last July. The reason that led me to this was because my cat got diagnosed with kidney failure and I didn't think I could ever own another cat after her. She is 12 years old and I've had her since she was 4 weeks old. I greived terrible. Had her in the kitty hospital on IVs for a couple days and they told me that there wasn't anything more they could really do for her and they gave her about 2 weeks to live:( I cried and grieved and sobbed. They sent me home with IV fluids that I had to administer to her once a day (under the skin) and some medication. She did improve somewhat in the hospital and I thought I would just take her home and let her live as long as she could comfortably and if she started to suffer or not have a good quality life I would put her to sleep. It was a terrible time for me thinking what I would do with out my "Ms Kitty" That is the reason I thought about getting some kind of bird. I thought after she passed I would get some kind of parrot.

 

Well, Ms Kitty stuck it out and she defied all the odds. Ms Kitty did not pass like all the drs said she would:) As a matter of fact she is still with us today and doing quite well I am glad to say. The drs said 2 weeks and she has made it 6 months and still going strong. I am so happy about that.

 

In July, I still had it on my mind that I wanted a bird. I didn't want to wait untill Ms Kitty was gone by then and we went on search. I thought I wanted a Sun Conure but found Baxter my grey instead. He is just wonderful and I am so glad I have him. He was 12 years old when I got him. He is the best!! So glad I didn't wait cuz then I wouldn't have gotten Baxter..he is the perfect fit for me.

[Luvparrots]

I have always loved birds. Had parakeets as a child and a few as I grew up. They were all I could afford what with raising three kids alone. Now that I am single and secure I get afford to have a parrot which I have always wanted. So now I have pug to cuddle and an African Grey to talk to. I chose a grey because they are small and great talkers, when they do talk. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[Hrund]

I´ve always loved animals, cats, dogs and horses especially. We had two parakeets when I was a kid and I was allergic to them so owning a bird never crossed my mind.

I have a very good friend that loves animals like I do and we both breed Norwegian forest cats. She has a wonderful cockatiel that me and my boyfriend fell in love with. Through her we got a male cockatiel, Dracco, that wasn´t very friendly. We were a bit disapointed and decided to get another one. We went to a petstore and got another cockatiel, Daisy.

At the petstore we saw a lot of wonderful birds. My boyfriend wanted a African Grey since he was a teenager and we really liked the CAG´s we saw at the petstore. There was also another type of AG in the store, a smaller one. The owner told us he was a Timneh grey. We felt really sorry for him because every time someone came into the store, he went off into a corner of his cage and screamed loudly.

We had the owner of the store put us on a waiting list for a baby CAG, he told us it could be up to 1 or 2 years until we could get a baby.

My boyfriend went back to the store a few days later to buy some toys for our birds. He discussed the TAG with the owner and the man said we could take him home for a week or two and see if we wanted to keep him. We discussed this that night and the day after we went and got Nökkvi.

He was so scared the poor guy, there was not a chance in hell that I would have him go back to the store. We have had him for a litle more than 3 months now and he seems to be really happy, we love him very much and really enjoy having him around.

[Tycos_mom]

I always wanted an African Grey for as long as I can remember as amatter of fact when I rescued my Amazon many years ago a was looking for a Grey to buy then but I found Fergie and she really needed a good home so I adopted her instead. many years past and I rescued a couple mor birds. Then one day my daughter phoned me up and said she went to a party after the bar closed the night before she said I didn't know it at the time but the house was a crack house. she said she heard a noise comeing from a back room and ask what the noise was and the guy said oh it just a stupid bird. She asked if she could see it and she said this poor bird was in this roo in a cockateil size cage with a heavy wool blancket over it. the cage had so much poop on it and all it had to eat was a couple of peanuts she said his water was green with poop. I told her to take me there. I ask the person if he wanted to sell his bird. he said you got 800 dollars. well I didn't but I said I'll give you 300 now and the rest by this week end. I went home and phoned everyone I knew to see if I could borrow some money to get this poor bird out of the situation it was in. I finally got 400 together and went back over there and said will you take 700 for her. He look a little ill like he needed to get high or something any way he said sure take the stupid bird I hate that thing anyway so I gathered up Tyco and the rest is history. and That how I got my wonderful African Grey Congo.

[empera]

Ms. Kitty sure showed everyone. Loosing a pet can be hard on anyone, I always cry when an animal passes. Even if I wasn't that close. It's the big difference an animal makes in someone's life. They are such influential creatures, that loosing one is devastating. I'm very glad that Ms. Kitty is still enjoying everyday with you.

 

Wow, Tyco sure is a lucky bird. I can't believe people like that, it disgusts me. I applaud you for saving him, I'm sure he is much happier with you.

[she]

I can vaguely remember my Grandma having an amazon,and my cousin has had blue a cag for round about 40 years so you could say I was always aware of parrots from a very young age.Before I got Charlie I had had two tiels for 10 years and then the three of them for another 3 years before loosing my tiels at about 14 years old. I chose a grey because they had always fasinated me and I was lucky enough to be trusted with minding Blue while my cousin was away so I sort of had a trial run and loved it.I done a lot of research into the types of parrot and then on greys in particular before I was lucky enough to be blessed with Charlie.He is such a good companion and to me sums up the expression "companion parrot". He makes me laugh and is a real character.I cant imagine life without him or Cracker tiel.

[Janfromboone]

I have had cockateils for about 30yrs. I always wanted a parrot. I used to tell my husband that he had better be glad that I have the cockateils because if I didn't I would have to buy a parrot. The year I bought Tobie my father had died, my mother was in the hospital seriously ill and my brother inlaw died. My dog was diagnosed with cushings disease and developed macular degeneration, going totally blind and I didn't expect him to live. Both of my cockateils which were quite old passed away that year. I wanted someone that could outlive me and I had an empty cage, which was a large parrot cage (I had done some planning when I upgraded my cage a few years earlier). The local pet store had two babies. One an amazon, and the other a CAG (Tobie). I read up and was most facinated with the grey. All those years of owning cockateils (I only had one male in the bunch) and non of them would talk. I wanted a bird that would talk to me. I really didn't understand how much the greys talk until I started looking at you tube after Tobie was with me.

[Jane08]

My boyfriend has always wanted a parrot and loves birds. Being honest here, I didn't like birds and couldn't think of anything worse than having 2 of them living with me. The day we went to meet out first grey I took one look at this majestically posed bird (he was sitting tall all puffed out like he was proud to show himself off), he let me touch him and I fell in love. We brought him home 2 months later and he hasn't stopped loving me and I haven't stopped loving him.

[cflanny]

I am truley a animal person I have had horses,chickens cats and dogs but from a very young age I was inlove with birds. I have told my story before but wild birds would come to me in very wierd perdicaments many healthy but also many who needed my help. I have a ongoing relationship with the wildlife center here in my valley cause I have handed them almost 10 different wild birds that came to me for help.Somthing I cant explain but they seek me out.

I owned my first grey when I was 16 I spent the money granny helped me save for a car and got TOGO instead well I got older and went to college my aunt took him to watch for me till I got home they bonded and I couldnt split them up so I visit alot. I waited and waited till I was married and settled and knew for sure my situation was secure and one day I decided I was ready. I knew all along all I wanted was a grey they are truley companions and so smart. I just didnt even consider anything else now of course I want one of everything but that will have to wait awhile but someday !!

[Acappella]

I was pretty much oblivious to the pet bird world. Then a couple opened a pet store in town and I got to know the wife through a community group. I changed Jac's (my cat) food to a good one she carried in the store, and while shopping there I got to know 'her' grey, Dorian. He never spoke, and it was a few months before he would even move while I was close to his cage. I could tell he had a high-strung personality and wasn't a good fit with my friend, who is a pretty boisterous person with a huge personality and a loud laugh. I also saw that he wasn't getting any more used to having people come in and walk by his cage all the time. Also, people can be real jerks and I figured for every person that we caught in the act poking their fingers or other things at him, there were probably ten we didn't catch. Pretty soon I was in the store every day just talking calmly to him, and then I started working there a few hours a week to help out my friend who had become ill. After about a year Dorian was taking treats from my hand, letting me scratch his head, and making his baby sounds when I came in. He also started to come out and sit on the door of his cage when I was there, the first time he'd been outside his cage in at least two years. During that time I'd found this forum and started realizing exactly how much more care he needed than he was getting. I was now convinced that he was my bird, I just had to convice everybody else. Dorian helped by becoming hostile to my friend's husband, and very cool to her, while making a huge fuss when he saw me. One day out of the blue she said she'd decided to sell him. The thought that he might go to a home where people might not know how to care for him pretty much made me feel sick, so I set up a payment plan with her and a few months later the little monkey was mine.

[Kaedyn]

I grew up with a timneh grey in the house, along with a few other birds, a cat, and two dogs. I love them all, but I am very partial to the birds and dogs.

 

When I left for school, I took one of the dogs with me. For all intents, she was mine. If I was anywhere nearby, she was by my side. Like many others here, as she aged and her quality of life reached a low point, I did what I had to do. It was the single worst day of my life.

 

I've always been infatuated with birds. If I had to list some reasons why I own birds and more specifically a grey, these would be them:

 

1. Their high intelligence -- The grey being the highest.

 

2. The challenge -- With all that intelligence and personality comes quite a challenge.

 

3. Their lifespan -- I don't want to go through the experience of watching my pet's quality of life deteriorate any time soon, or really ever again, but I know that's unrealistic.

[nims]

I have always loved animals but I have never been able to have them while I was living with my parents. So after I moved out and got married I looked into getting a pet. I didnt want to own a pet that didnt fit into my lifestyle and I didnt want my pet to suffer because of my lifestyle as both me and my husband work full time.

 

I also took into consideration, intelligence, lifespan, time, cost etc. When I weighed everything up and after doing some research and speaking for a few breeders I decided that the grey was for me!

[empera]

Everyone has different stories, all unique.

 

I've always loved animals too. Currently at my house are two dogs, three cats, a sun conure, and nine chickens which I love dearly (even with a lack of intelligence). And my boyfriends house has seven dogs, two greys, four cats, a snake, a snapping turtle, and numerous fish.

 

His dad works for the city as an animal control officer, so he has brought home some exotic animals also. A penguin, an otter, hundreds of dogs, birds, cats, a few alligators, snakes, and probably anything else you could think of.

[SchroedersJen]

Love at first sight. I was Macaw shopping, saw a timneh and my heart melted. I did some research and decided a timneh was the bird for me. Boy am I glad I changed my mind! Schroeder is perfect in every way (except when he poops in naughty places). He is sesitive, smart, quiet, ha a sense of humor, gentle, snuggly, playful, and small enough to take with me on errands and family visits. he also smells good. The one thing I respect about him above all else (and yes, I mean respect in the traditional meaning of the word) Is his total loyalty. These birds learn who to trust and can be very loyal, warm companions. Schroeder doesn't bite me, and even though he is small, when he is on my shoulder, he is usually scoping for predators. If a large bird ever swoops out of the sky into my condo and tries to eat me, I am sure Schroeder will warn me and do all he can to protect me. He even protects the door when the doorbell rings to scare away bad guys. I'm not sure how effective my guard bird is, but it's the thought that counts. With a grey you get the best qualities of so many animals in a small, soft, beautiful package.