Tag: #cockatoo

The Hardest Part of Fostering…

I think any foster parent would agree that the hardest part of fostering is saying good bye!

The house is really quiet today. The extra cage has been cleaned and moved to the garage to be returned to the shelter. Spare toys and perches are drying on a towel after being cleaned.

On Saturday, I brought Magoo back to the shelter to go home with his new parents. They seem like lovely people, and Magoo really seemed to like them. I was able to meet them and introduce them to Magoo a couple of weeks ago. I miss his little baby voice yelling “hello” and “Scratch Head!” but I do feel like I did the right thing letting him go.

We like to travel, and we are very lucky that Hector D. Byrd does OK with alone time. She enjoys our company, no doubt about that, but she is also fine with daily visits and background music when we go away for a few days. With Magoo already being nervous and plucking, us traveling isn’t great for him. His new home has people that are home a lot and other birds to keep him company.

Another reason I feel good about him moving on, I didn’t realize until his new people picked him up. Apparently, he stepped right up for the new people, and he never really wanted to step up for me. He liked me, he let me pat his head, but I realized when I saw him with his new people, that he hadn’t chosen me. Birds are really picky, and they know who they like.

When the new people came to meet Magoo, he really liked them. He talked to them, he had them scratch his head, and he even kept yelling “Bye Bye” when they left.

I really enjoy fostering. I get to know different animals, and I get to help them acclimate to home life. It frees up shelter space for another animal in need. With Magoo being adopted, I’ve got room for another foster whenever the right new friend comes along! I miss you already Magoo, but I’m so happy that you seem to have found new people to spend the rest of your life with!

One other note, parrot food related. I have talked about Bird Street Bistro, a food I use daily and love. The people that adopted Magoo introduced me to a new parrot food that I’m really excited about called Avian Naturals. They make several different mixes, some can just be fed straight from the bag, others you add an equal amount of hot water, let it sit, and feed when it cools a bit. The thing I love about these mixes is that they are full of dried veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds. Bird Street Bistro is awesome, but it is very grain-heavy. I always supplement it with other fruits and veggies. My plan now is to use both of these foods, so that Hector gets a nice balanced mix of fruits and veggies instead of me just feeding her whatever we have.  Avian Naturals has great deals on their samples. You can order 1/4 baggies of their mixes to try out. I ordered four of their mix with water blends, and 4 of the just feed it straight blends. So far Hector’s favorite is the “Comet’s Grain Free Mix” which is one of the mixes that is fed directly, and it is full of bits of nuts, veggies, fruits, and seeds. It’s a perfect addition to her normal Bird Street Bistro mix. 

I usually feed Hector in the morning, then she has free choice pellets always available, and she gets bites of any fruits and veggies that I’m eating or cooking with throughout the day. The mix with water blend from Avian Naturals feels like it could be a great afternoon snack since I can just mix up a tablespoon of it anytime and give Hector a nice, warm treat!

What do you feed your pet birds? I’m always interested in trying new things!

Cali Update

I think I posted about Cali hurting her leg about a month ago? If not, Cali basically did the dog-equivalent of tearing her ACL. She is not a candidate for surgery because of her age, kidney issues, and heart murmur. We’ve been managing her with pain medicines, but she is still limping and not getting around very well. The vet switched her to another pain med last week and that is helping a bit. On Monday, she is going to start laser treatments. Hopefully that will help accelerate the healing process. I’ve done laser treatments myself for stubborn muscle issues and found them helpful, so hopefully they hope Cali!

We had beautiful, sunny weather today, so I couldn’t resist taking Cali for a walk. She seemed to want to go, so we took it slow and didn’t go far. We walked roughly a block, and she still seemed to want to go, so we walked just a little more and then she stopped and looked at me, so we turned around. She seemed to enjoy the slow pace and getting out to sniff! I had some yard chores to do, and she happily stayed outside with me for a while to smell everything in the yard, and to rest in the sunshine.

 

I’m also trying yet another new food for Cali,  Dr. Harvey’s food. Basically it is a dry mix that I will add protein, water, and oil to and mix up fresh to create a new meal for Cali. There is a special low-protein recipe to help her kidney issues, and I’ve also ordered a kidney supplement from them that I’ll try with her. I emailed them to ask what proteins they recommend for kidney dogs, and they told me they will help me customize a diet for her, so I’m waiting for a call from them. Cali hates all the low protein prescription foods I’ve been trying for her, and they are all expensive. Really hoping that this mix might be the answer for her. I’ve mixed up a batch from the sample bag I just got for her to try for dinner. Fingers crossed that she likes it!

Mixing it up was super easy, I just mixed one day’s worth to try it, but I could mix up to 3 days at a time and store it in the fridge. You mix the dry product from the bag with hot water and let it sit for about ten minutes. It’s kinda like making hot oatmeal, and I think there are even oats in this mix! Next I stirred that, and today I added hard boiled eggs as protein since I had them. I think lean chicken and turkey are going to be better alternatives with Cali’s kidney issues, but this was an easy way to try it. I mixed in the eggs, and added a teaspoon of oil, easy. Now it’s in the fridge and ready for Cali’s dinner!

As a quick Kanga/foster bird update, I got her a new toy. She LOVES to destroy wood! Here’s the toy before and after about 10 minutes.

Kanga wastes no time destructing wood! I just ordered a new six pack of perches since he eats through them pretty quickly. The current one is short, but wide and it has been lasting a bit longer. Overall, K is doing great. He doesn’t always want head scratches, so I’m trying to give him treats and reward him when he hangs out near me and doesn’t run into his cage to hide when I approach. Moving slowly to not overwhelm him, but making some progress.  We’ve also been having dance parties every morning. I’ve tried some different songs, but I have to say that Levitating is still his favorite!

 

Settling In

Our son and his cat were home for the weekend. I love the way he sits on the stairs!

Bean absolutely can’t resist a box!

Foster bird is settling in. He is so different than Hector! Interesting to get used to! K is a toothpick making machine! He had a short wood perch on his door that he literally destroyed down to nothing in about 10 minutes. Hector loves to destroy cardboard, this guy is a wood destroyer.

Hector has had a rope perch in her cage for years. I take it out and wash it every so often, but she doesn’t bite or chew it. Today K decided to “work” on his rope perch, and managed to completely chew through it so that it doesn’t attach to the side of the cage anymore. I got two new perches for his door today. He’s already working his way through the first one. Thankfully they are pretty thick, so it is taking him a little time.

If you look at K’s foot, you’ll see he is holding one of his wood chips. He likes to shred wood and then use the bits to scratch himself, so cute!

Thankfully we only got woken up at 5AM to a screaming parrot the first morning that we had him. Since then I’ve been covering him at night, and he doesn’t scream or even talk until I uncover him the next day.

I’d been told he doesn’t prefer men, and that is so true. He seems petrified. He doesn’t want my husband or son anywhere near him and often darts back into his cage if they come over to say Hello. I’ve got my husband feeding him his favorite Nutriberi treats, and that seems to be helping. He’s trying new foods, and enjoying all his toys!

He and Hector still don’t seem all that interested in each other. I did watch Hector climb to the end of her cage today and check out K, but there still wasn’t much interest. I picked Hector up so she could get a better view, but she was more curious about what treats I might have for her, than she was about the other bird.

K likes to dance! I turned on some music the other day and he started flapping his wings and bobbing his head. Dance Party!  So far Levitating by Dua Lipa seems to be his favorite, major head bobs!

“Hi Baby” is his favorite phrase. He has also started Meowing, and I’m pretty sure I heard him say “Pucky” over the weekend. He says “Hi” and “Hey.” He’s a super busy guy. Can’t wait  to see what games he comes up with next!