Is there ever a point..

[shosh]

Ok guys...I hear you all and I understand. But...let's keep things in perspective.
I have 5 cats and 6 birds.....love them all, try my best to do the best for each of them, spend crazy amounts of money to keep them in the best of health and when meds don't work, I do homeopathic meds. I keep an eye out for any changes in health, any odd behaviour, anything out of the ordinary. I thank God for my diligence or else I wouldn't have caught the odd behaviour of my cat, Taboo, a few weeks back. Turned out he was blocked and couldn't pee and had to be rushed to the emerg. clinic. I cried myself sick for months when my cat Theo disappeared a few years back....I believe he was killed by a coyote ( who knew these things roamed suburbia) and I spent several days and lots of money to make sure none of the others would EVER get out of the backyard again( it is built like a veritable fortress now and they can't get over nor under the fence.)
BUT!!!.....We could give ourselves ulcers worrying. Really. There are things that are out of our control. Life is often unpredictable and unfair and even though we all have that DREADED itsy bitsy worry when we check on them in morning ( are they at the bottom of the cage?) , it really can make you sick and/or paranoid if you don't kind of keep a bit of perspective on what you can and cannot control.
I often thank God that I don't have nor do I want kids. I think I'd be a nervous wreck every waking minute of the day. I think that as long as you know that you are doing your best for your animals and yet still enjoying your own life, that is probably a good balance. I know people who NEVER take vacations because they are scared to leave their animals in another's care. Although I worry about my babies when I'm away and miss them a lot, as hard as it is, sometimes my fulfillment means getting away from my animal companions. ( for the sake of marriage, it's imperative.) Obviously, I don't travel AS much as I probably would without them around, but that is certainly a sacrifice I'm willing to make. They mean more to me....
So....do we ever stop worrying? Nope. Loving something as much as we love our animals means that we worry when something is wrong...but I don't think we do them nor ourselves any good by worrying about things that may or may not happen to them, diseases they may or may not get.
Just LOVE THEM, Take care of them and don't worry if you can't make it home for that one extra hour....the only one who probably cares is you....your bird will survive quite happily.

[4HAND]

For many of us,to live is to worry.It is our nature.Sometimes shaped by past circumstance,but often there are "born worriers".Stress erodes our health and well-being it's very true.I have found the following things help me to keep my perspective and not be consumed by anxiety.
1 No caffiene
2 Daily exercise
3 Reflection on all I have to be grateful for
When all else fails I watch a disaster movie and remind my self things could be worse.

Tena

[birdiemommy]

I too keep it in prosepective. I can't live life worrying about what may happen. I don't take uneccesary risks with kids or critters, but you can't spend your life worrying what may happen. The shop where I board my birds and get their grooming done, had a bird die while toweled. I was there at the time and it was awful. This happened to be a very old bird who was just too stressed out. Poor thing

[xafsmom]

Originally Posted by GreyGoose

I was wondering for anyone else too, If there was ever a point where you stop worrying about things that could happen to your parrot? Like I read this thing where they took their parrot to have nails clipped and while they had her in the towel she died, so now I'm afraid to take him to the vet even though he keeps his nails trimed hisself. But I constantly worry about things that might happen to him and I absolutley don't know what I would do if I lost him because I dont have kids so he is my child. I was just wondering if it ever goes away or not because I read things that can happen to birds and I dont know what I would do if anything happened.

Welcome to parenthood! You'll always worry! Don't fret it, if you didn't worry, you wouldn't care. Look on the bright side here... You can lock your bird up when you're gone from the house and the bird just eats or plays with toys until you come home, where it's happy to see you! Lock your human kid up, so the kid doesn't sneak out and meet up with its 18 year old deliquent school-drop-out boyfriend and child services comes and finds you.

hehe

[red192]

I worry constantly about my two birds, my three cats and my dog. Like when I go on my trip to visit MABIRD, I have to leave my critters in my roommate's care. She's not an animal hater but she doesn't give any of them the attention I think they all deserve. I'm to the point of paying my sister n law to come to my home daily and give her gas money because I know she'll feed them, give them fresh water and clean their cages out.

I treat them like my kids and I have family members who can't understand why I love them so much. I love them so much because they make me so happy with their wagging butts (scarlet) their constant head butts (cats) and their tweets of "glad you're home, FEED ME WOMAN" from Scarley. Even the little progress with Ringo makes me happy. I worry more so about him. What am I doing wrong, why is he afraid of me and not my roommate.

But being a parent to anything, human kid or a fid, we will WORRY w/o even realizing it. A part of human nature.

[SDavid]

I think I differentiate between being carefull and worrying. I wouldn't say that I necessarily worry because I do everything in my control to keep them safe and try to balance that with giving them and myself quality of life. I have tried to give my fids different experiences from a young age but never put them in harms way. You can't live in a bubble and shelter yourself and them from anything bad that's going to happen (and some people think that's the right thing to do to the point where quality of life is being sacrificed). There could be an earthquake tomorrow but should I be sitting here worrying about it? When you worry you loose your ability to function as a normal person and that's not fair to either your fids, your family, friends, yourself, etc.

When I'm at work I think about my fids and how I can't wait to see them. When I travel I'm thankfull I can board them at a place like Parrots of the World (where they were hatched). A place they know and a person who's been caring for birds his whole life. When I come back I'm less stressed, happier, my batteries are re-charged so to speak and I'm sure my fids notice and share my happiness. Although I do get a bit anxious and I miss them when when I'm away. Mostly because it's a time when their safety is not in my control.

Anyway, if you have good observation skills (which can't be learned IMO), common sense to take precautions (also God given), and knowledge of proper care of your species then I don't see what the worrying is about. Unless, of course, youre being made paraniod by the "inexperienced internet experts" out there who, based on all the things they've "heard" are all to happy to tell you that what your doing is going to have disastrous results for you and your bird.

[GreyGoose]

I dont have any kids and I'm pretty sure I dont want any, But this must be what it feels like to have one. Although it scares me about he can't tell me whats wrong. And I dont know about anyone else but I dont exactly live close to ANYTHING period and the emergency vet (if something were to happen) is an hour away AND they dont see birds. My regular vet the only one the the county that will see birds is an hour away so I feel like some people know they have that comfort of the vet being near. But I know if something serious ever happened especially on a weekend I would be out of luck. I try not to worry but sometimes it gets the best of me and everytime I even think about something happening it makes me want to cry. Because to me he is my child and the only for now so hes my baby.

[FoxersArtist]

I have found myself in a state of worry too. Even after having my own children, my B&G macaw is still my firstborn and I just want to curl up and die to think about being without here. Nevertheless, I think it's really important not to allow worry to take up space in your heart where happy things should be stored! I have known some people who care so much that worrying constantly eventually got them so down that they couldn't really enjoy or have fun with their bird the way having a parrot in their lives were meant to be. It's a fine line to walk - the difference between caution and safety & enrichment and enjoyment. The very best thing you can do is your very best. Try to pay close attention to your environment (and theirs) so that there are less risks to have to worry over and then just relax as much as possible!!! Every good parront worries about their babies but every good parront also knows what it feels like to soar!
-Anna

[svolk]

I try to err on the side of being cautious and learning as much as I can, but also realizing that there's nothing certain in life except change and uncertainty. I don't believe I'll do anyone any good by being in a constant state of worry - it could physically harm myself (ulcers, etc.), and I also believe wholeheartedly that the animals pick up on and feed off of our energy. When I first got Jerry I spent a great deal of time worrying and panicing about all the dos and don'ts and how I was going to screw up. I don't think that I'm any less diligent in my care now, but more well rounded in where I place my energies.

The first time that I left my birds in someone else's care when my husband and I were going out of town for 4 days, I nearly worried myself sick. Literally. I love my birds with all my heart, but I've learned that they can be well cared for by someone else other than me - which, in the event that something God forbid happens to me, they can be ok. My animals are my life but they aren't my children (and I don't want any kids), they are their own independent species that greatly differs from my species. I have utter respect for them and am amazed that they choose to include me as a member of their flock.

My husband told me something that still rings in my head - it was in reference to our dogs and back to the idea that they feed off of our emotions. When we first brought our rescue dog home the first several weeks were a struggle because the rescue was trying to dominate our other dog. They got into an argument over bones and the rescue bit our other dog - scared the living daylights out of us. Made us truly reassess how we handled things and how to get past that. I was on pins and needles the rest of that day and next few days and watching the rescue like a hawk - and getting worked up over every little thing. My husband told me, "you can't be constantly worked up and looking for something to happen - yes we need to be vigilant but if we expect them to display a certain behavior (in my case, I was pretty much anticipating another bite) then they WILL display it." And he was totally right. When I calmed down, so did they, and we've all moved on and grown together in a more positive manner.