Rescued Cockatoo need a home

[Char]

A week ago I rescued an Umbrella Cockatoo. A friend told me about her situation and I felt I had to intervene.When I arrived the man was drunk and threatening to set her loose in the wild. He was supposedly leaving for Spain in a few days.

 

I rescued her with the intention to find her a good home. I am not a Cockatoo person and don't really want to keep her. My Grey is tiny and she is just so BIG. I am waiting for a local breeder to produce a female Amazon for me. I am not going to let her go unless I find a GOOD home for her but would like to find someone before she settles in here.

 

I took her to the vet and she had a gram negative bacteria in her stool which I suspected from looking at her poop. Her cage was filthy! She is on antibiotics and should get over this just fine.

 

She is sweet and loves to be petted. I was told she was on Harrison's and she is eating that okay for me but not with enthusiasm. She has bitten me once and that was when she managed to get on my shoulder and I tried to get her off.

 

Her previous owners said she was a screamer. I can't blame her she was kept locked up most of the time. Not even a playstand and the 2 toys in her cage looked older than her.

 

She is 2 yrs old DNA female. She came from the same pet store I got Whisper from and their birds are all vet checked by the best avian vet in the state. PBFD and chlamydia tested and polyoma vaccinated. They assured me she has never been exposed to another bird.

 

Since I have her here on a huge playstand with lots of toys I have not had any screaming PROBLEMS. She does let out a loud squawk occasionally and at around 8:30 PM she starts up but that is birdie bedtime here and she stops as soon as I put her in her cage and cover her. She is absolutely gorgeous and is not a plucker.

 

I have contacted the local rescue people around here and so far nobody has called wanting her. One of the main people who do this sort of thing here is in the process of moving out of state and could not help me.

 

I don't really want to go the route of running an ad because I want to be sure I am getting a good home and not a reseller.

 

I am only asking the person who takes her to reimburse the vet fees which I think any reasonable person would expect. Her visit the other day was $253 and she need to return in 2 weeks to have a recheck gram stain.

 

I bought the cage she was in and Oh what a scrubbing that took! I have disinfected it twice. I paid them $100 for it but it is really not big enough for her. I would rather the new owner got her a bigger cage and I can keep this one for the amazon I am getting.

 

Does anyone out there know of anyone in my area who would want her. If I don't find anyone GOOD for her I will keep her but it means I will have to forget about the Amazon I have been patiently waiting for.

 

I am located in Nicholasville Kentucky USA. 10 miles for Lexington.

 

Post edited by: Char, at: 2009/05/30 16:10<br><br>Post edited by: Char, at: 2009/05/30 16:13

[Tycos_mom]

Good luck Char I know you will find the perfect home for her. I did the same thing for Mr. Magoo the Citron crested cockatoo. he was really sweet and such a cuddle bunny but only with woman. He was always an only bird with his mom and when she died he need to find the same kind of home. I found him a wonderful home with a woman who's male CCC had died the year before she had him for 20 years so it was the perfect match I still get updates from her and she just love Mr. magoo so much. I hope you find a wonderful home for your sweet Cockatoo also.

[Luvparrots]

I know you will find the right home for this sweet cockatoo. Good luck!!!!

[Dave007]

It's gonna be hard. First off, I doubt you'll get any vet money you put out. That doesn't normally happen and the reason is that in another person's eyes it didn't have to be done.

Screamers/screechers---not uncommon for any cockatoo or macaw, If his playstand lessened the noise it's a good thing.

UMs are a somewhat friendly bird as opposed to the other larger ones.

Gram negative results aren't that difficult to cure. Many TOOS have that problem. I'm sure the vet told you it wasn't serious but if he didn't you can call him to make sure. Many TOOs wind up in shelters because they're naturally nervous, extreme pluckers, and require lots of hands on attention. They also wind up there because they're much older and haven't been treated properly even tyhough many times, it isn't the owner's fault. A TOO doesn't like to be caged. It will cause plucking and moodiness. They're attitude and personality is just the opposite of a grey.

One popular way that people sell or give away their birds is through an avian vet's facilility. Ads are posted and many see them and decide on it.

Also concerning UMs--they're much more friendly to other species than the much larger TOOs. Being with other species that they like causes them to be even quieter. Not toatally quieter but somewhat quieter.

Of course you can list the bird on Craigslist but I've seen people sell their birds to others that groom them to be breeders and that can happen very easily with a young bird such as yours. They're at the breeding age when they reach 7 yrs old.

You can ask neighbors or friends if they're interested or you can put the bird in a shelter which I doubt you wanna do. Many people go out of their way to learn as much about the species in order to find out if it's possible to keep the bird.

There are no guarantees that one species will get along with another and that also applies to your future Zon. I would first try the vet and he may know of a good place for him. They constantly get that type of info on a daily basis. The big thing here though is to only ask for a much smaller amount of money because you are selling a bird that comes with some type of history.

[Char]

You see I feel totally different about the vet bill. If the potential new owner were not going to take the bird to the vet and get it checked out then they are not the type of person I would pass the bird on to anyway.

The rescue people I spoke of are from the vets office and I am hoping that something comes through.

 

As I said the vet bill was $253. I think that is a pretty good deal. They sell in the pet stores her for around $1500 to $1800

 

Like I said if I do not find the RIGHT home for her I will keep her. I feel I have a responsibility to her now. I would havae to forget about the Zon as 3 would be too much for me.<br><br>Post edited by: Char, at: 2009/05/30 22:48

[Guest jamalbirdbiz]

Lotz of people are into having older petz, b/cuz they dont like the biz ($) side of the pet industry, so they wud rather have an older bird. Ur right to expect them to pay at leazt the amount of of the vet bill. that is normal for rezQz. I almozt went into the birdbiz myself, but changed my mind after doing my researches on the subject. I dont think u will have any prob finding a good home for that home - make shure itz good b/cuz those cockatooz pluck more than greyz and shud live to be really old - like 70 or something. wow. thatz quite a committtment :silly:

[auntphibian]

I was going to post about this subject, but since you have a bird fairly close by, I'll let you know.

 

Some of you know I am a regular volunteer with the lorikeets at the zoo. Quite often, we get calls from people needing to find a good home for a bird. We have started a list of birds needing homes (at no fee, we just want to find experienced bird people who will love them). We also have a list of people wanting birds, who are experienced with them.

 

we have 3 people waiting for a bird..one wants a cockatiel, one wants something the size of a grey, and one will take any med/large bird.

 

If you still have her, I can put you in touch with the guy who wants a large bird. He actually wanted the U2 that I have, but she's such a darling, I kept her! We are in Nashville, by the way. He works at Aquatic Critter and is experienced with larger birds.

 

Let me know, and anyone else who wants a bird or needs to home a bird and is close to Nashville, we might be able to help!

[Char]

This is an old thread from back in May. I found her a home long ago.

 

Auntphibian: Your info is good to know. Why don't you start a new thread in this section. It will get more attention that way.

[Guest jamalbirdbiz]

im very intrested