[abrophy]

I love forums!! My husband and I have several pets including three cats, a cockatiel, and two canaries. I recently acquired a very sweet umbrella cockatoo. She is 34 years old and had one previous owner, a woman who was moved into assisted living. A neighbor took the bird for three days before finding me. She has lived in a cockatiel cage her whole life (poor thing!) and I have a new cage on order for her which should be here in the next day or so. I don't know a whole lot more about her. I know that the woman also had two cats. I am trying a variety of different foods to see what she likes. She has never been taught "up" and stays on her cage. We have encouraged her and gotten her to trust us enough that she will come on our arms or shoulders for a quick minute before returning to her cage.

I'm looking for suggestions on how to bathe her or get her to bathe herself since I don't know how this was done in the past. I've tried misting her, which she did not like.

I'm also wondering if anyone has an older cockatoo and can give me any advice about owning an older bird. She has has some feather loss on her chest and legs. Some people have said this loss is normal for her age. I'm not sure I buy that. I think it is likely from neglect the past few years. Her crown feathers are also thin, but I think this is because of rubbing her head against the bars of her too small cage. Will her feathers grow back? If not, it's OK. We have had her for a week now and as she trusts us more, her wonderful personality emerges.

We have been looking for a cockatoo for quite some time and are glad that we finally have one in our family.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!