Our family has 2 cats and 8 birds (6 parakeets and 2 cockatiels) Last week I was at Pet Smart and fell in love with a young all-white parakeet. I had no intention of buying another bird but this little guy looked me in the eye and had the sweetest face so I couldn't resist. DS named him Ho-Oh after a legendary bird pokemon - his latest obsession.
Just one of our birds is hand-tamed (the youngest cockatiel, Ziggo) so DS & I wanted to tame ho-oh. We took him into DS' bedroom and spent quiet time with him and ended up getting him to sit on our fingers. DS was thrilled!
During the day he spent time out of the cage with the rest of the flock. He fit right in but spent more time in the cage - I figured it was because he was still a baby and didn't think much of it.
Today DH noticed that ho-oh's belly side looked a little dirty. I checked it and noticed dried blood. It didn't look good. He had been falling a couple of times and we thought he may have hurt himself. The other guys fly around but his wings had been clipped at the store - we thought he may have been trying to fly.
Well, I made an appointment with the vet. but waited until DS came home. If the news was bad I wanted him to be with ho-oh.
Well, turns out that the little guy had a bad internal injury and was not well at all. He actually had a hole in him and was not even able to eleminate through the proper place - it was coming out of the hole in his stomach. The dr. believed that it was an old injury and may have been aggravated by the falling. But he was amazed the bird was actually alive and able to get around (he had been eating fine). There was nothing they could do for him so I had to make that horrible decision that no pet owner wants to make.
My DS was devastated. He broke right down which made me break down. I told him that we had to make the right decision so ho-oh would bot be in pain. He agreed, but it was oh so sad watching him say goodbye.
I told him that for some reason he was meant to be a part of our family even tho it was such a short time (less than a week). But he now has a name and a family (human and bird) who loves him. And now my bird Petey who died waaaay back when I was 8 has a friend to play with up in heaven.
All night he talked about the bird. He even wrote and drew in his journal and I think that was very helpful for him. I had to write a note to his teacher for tomorrow because he's such a sensitive little guy I just know he's going to break down.
My poor, poor son! This is one of those moments in life when I wish I could just kiss him and make it all better. I keep telling him that it is ok to be sad and ok to talk about ho-oh. Tomorrow I am going to one-hour phot to develop some pictures of ho-oh that I took before we took him to the vet. I am so glad I though to do that so at least DS will have something to remember him by.
Yes, they are just animals, but our pets have a way of capturing our hearts.
Thanks for listening to my long story....
Jill
Just one of our birds is hand-tamed (the youngest cockatiel, Ziggo) so DS & I wanted to tame ho-oh. We took him into DS' bedroom and spent quiet time with him and ended up getting him to sit on our fingers. DS was thrilled!
During the day he spent time out of the cage with the rest of the flock. He fit right in but spent more time in the cage - I figured it was because he was still a baby and didn't think much of it.
Today DH noticed that ho-oh's belly side looked a little dirty. I checked it and noticed dried blood. It didn't look good. He had been falling a couple of times and we thought he may have hurt himself. The other guys fly around but his wings had been clipped at the store - we thought he may have been trying to fly.
Well, I made an appointment with the vet. but waited until DS came home. If the news was bad I wanted him to be with ho-oh.
Well, turns out that the little guy had a bad internal injury and was not well at all. He actually had a hole in him and was not even able to eleminate through the proper place - it was coming out of the hole in his stomach. The dr. believed that it was an old injury and may have been aggravated by the falling. But he was amazed the bird was actually alive and able to get around (he had been eating fine). There was nothing they could do for him so I had to make that horrible decision that no pet owner wants to make.
My DS was devastated. He broke right down which made me break down. I told him that we had to make the right decision so ho-oh would bot be in pain. He agreed, but it was oh so sad watching him say goodbye.
I told him that for some reason he was meant to be a part of our family even tho it was such a short time (less than a week). But he now has a name and a family (human and bird) who loves him. And now my bird Petey who died waaaay back when I was 8 has a friend to play with up in heaven.
All night he talked about the bird. He even wrote and drew in his journal and I think that was very helpful for him. I had to write a note to his teacher for tomorrow because he's such a sensitive little guy I just know he's going to break down.
My poor, poor son! This is one of those moments in life when I wish I could just kiss him and make it all better. I keep telling him that it is ok to be sad and ok to talk about ho-oh. Tomorrow I am going to one-hour phot to develop some pictures of ho-oh that I took before we took him to the vet. I am so glad I though to do that so at least DS will have something to remember him by.
Yes, they are just animals, but our pets have a way of capturing our hearts.
Thanks for listening to my long story....
Jill
