Update on Rescues, homeless visitors, etc.

[OwnedbyMacaws]

Hi folks. Sorry no update sooner. All I can say is that I'm busy busy busy.

Mickey and Mal (as we have taken to calling Mallory, less feminine) are doing wonderfully. Progress remains slow but steady. I am now allowed to touch them as long as I approach very slowly, and they will let the kids enter the room without throwing a fit anymore. No one's been able to coax them into stepping up or allowing themselves to be held, but they do seem to love my hubby and he is enjoying bonding with them, I think. (and rubbing it in a bit that they like him better, LOL) They've been in quarentine a total of 30 days as of today. We have a vet check up in two weeks, in which time if they still get a clear bill, other than the Asper. and the AV tells me it's ok, I'm going to attempt to start intergrating them in with the others. I'm not completely sure how to go about it, but I thought I'd just roll their cage in the room with the girls for a while each day and see how it works out. Since Mickey and Mal have heard the girls and Sam and SImon several times, they often call to each other between the rooms. It can be quite loud here when they get started. I'm looking forward to seeing how they interact with each other.

Sam and Simon are still here as their owner Dave is having a difficult time finding a place to rent short term that will allow the dogs (who have ended up at my house as well, since the friend they originally went home with found out his dogs didn't like them.Yeesh, the things I do for my friends)and the big birds. Meanwhile, both the humans and the macaw members of this family are falling head over heels for these two guys. They are a delight and I will surely hate to see them go. Lola is quite smitten with Sam in particular, and Simon seems to be spreading his charm between the other three ladies. Even my prickley pear bird Bonnie seems to be enjoying these fellows being around more often.

Sorry no pictures yet to show you. I know I keep promising them, but I just haven't had the time to do any proper shopping for a new digital. I know you folks can understand.

Oh, and btw, for any who were interested, my Aunt Meg ended up buying the little Sun Conure from the pet shop. She just couldn't get that little bird out of her head and kept going back to visit. As much as I dislike buying animals from pet shops, this little bird has checked out healthy with the AV and he seems quite lovely. He's a year old and his name is Chip. Aunt Meg is very happy with him.

Oh yeah, and my son the goldfish collector won a raffle at the local pet shop and won himself a $100 dollar gift certificate which he promptly spent on the most expensive goldfish he could find. So We now have the complete cast of the shootout at the ok corral with the additions of Ike, Billy, Frank, and Tom. I'm considering redecorating the tank in a western theme. LOL.

Hope everyone on BB is doing well.

[Lungfish]

So glad to hear M&M are doing well. Glad you remember to update us who are following this saga.

Are they showing some signs of re-feathering yet? Are they eating with gusto?

[Rue]

Thanks so much for the update...I've been wondering!

And congrats to Aunt Meg!!! Sometimes getting the bird you're most taken with IS the best choice in the end!

[OwnedbyMacaws]

Originally Posted by Lungfish

So glad to hear M&M are doing well. Glad you remember to update us who are following this saga.

Are they showing some signs of re-feathering yet? Are they eating with gusto?

Lungfish, thanks for asking!

Yes, they are eating like crazy. At first they'd only take the seed and the pellets. The fruit and veggies got tossed around and out of the cage. But recently, Mal made an attempt at a grape and discovered it was quite good. Mickey decided if Mal could do it, so could he and now anything that gets put in the cage gets tasted promptly and mostly devoured. I'm happy to see it because they have quite a bit of ground to make up in the weight department. So far grapes, pears, corn on the cob and slightly nuked sweet potato seems to be the favorites. They also seem to like scrambled eggs.

And there are pins everywhere on them now with no signs so far of plucking! I have noticed that they will preen each other quite vigourously when they are out together though. I have a suspicion that this has a lot to do with what happened to most of their feathers. I have my fingers crossed anyway.

[OwnedbyMacaws]

Originally Posted by Rue

Thanks so much for the update...I've been wondering!

And congrats to Aunt Meg!!! Sometimes getting the bird you're most taken with IS the best choice in the end!

Thank you Rue. I have to admit, I was leary of Aunt Meg's choice, but Chip seems to be a very sweet bird and Meg says he isn't *too* loud, so far. He certainly is beautiful.

[OwnedbyMacaws]

Originally Posted by Jodi

Boy you have a full house. :) It is so great to hear how well M&M are doing. Very lucky boys they are.

M&M, LOL! Makes me think of those commercials with the animated m&ms.

Yes, a VERY full house, considering Dave's a big dog lover like I am. You should see Droz, the irish wolfhound. He's an inch shy of 4 ft tall, and he towers over my 6'4" hubby when on two legs. Or the whopping 169 lb Tibetan Mastiff, Jango. Of course ,they are both big luv bugs, but they can be scary to look at. Put my Dane and my bulldog beside them and I bet I could rob a bank with no problem.

Hubby and I added it up the other night, there is currently approximately 850 lbs of dog inhabiting here at the moment. We live in a big house, around 3800 square feet, but it's getting a little crowded.

[OwnedbyMacaws]

Originally Posted by Jodi

I have thought about getting a Wolfhound when we live out in the country, but I keep thinking about the short lifespan. I am dealing with that now with my 9 1/2 year old female Dane. Our male Dane is going to be 6 next month, I don't know if I will get another big dog or not.

I know what you mean. It seems to be the bane of a large dog lover's existance, the shorter lifespans. I have a dane (Blue Merle), Wendy, that's 5 this year and I hate to see every year go by. It's no better for the bassett,Lucy, or Eliza, our English Sheepdog, as their life expectancy is only 10 to 12 years as well. Dave's Droz is only about 3 I believe, but an expected lifespan of only 8 years is pretty awful. Richocet, the Bernese Mountain Dog's is just the same though. You would think that Jango, Tibetan Mastiff, with his whopping weight would be in danger as well, but his life expectancy is the normal 14 to 16 years, as is my 100 lb american bulldog Lilly and Daves 60 lb Afgan hound, Muppet.

I never spent any time around Wolfhounds until Dave got Droz, and I've seen him grow from puppyhood. My opinion when Droz first came was that he was an awkward, homely little dog, but has turned into an admiration of his character and I have learned to recognize the beauty of the breed. The kids love him, the other dogs love him, and the cats adore him for some reason. Even my girls will chatter at him when he flops down in the room. And it's pretty much the same with Jango.

There's just something about a big dog, when its a really friendly dog, that you just can't resist.

[MaryG1959]

About this time last year someone posted on a bird board about two blue and gold macaws in need of a home.(ahem---no names of course---OUTLAW!)...the picture was literally one of the most pitiful sites I'd ever seen. These two had few feathers and looked more sad than I'd care to remember. I'd made some preliminary calls to the rescue who had them....none were returned until September 24th---the day my husband's best friend died (our dog Blue!)....what timing, huh? So I told the rescue that we'd had a horrible day---mounds of vet bills from our dog etc etc etc.........long story short we went to visit them with the idea of "If they pick us that is fine but if they didn't warm up right away---we were out of there!!" God must have been whispering in their little ears as they jumped on us the minute we walked in the door. It was the hardest thing in the world to walk out of there--as we decided previously we weren't making any rash decisions.

This "rescue" is/was more of a money making proposition---charge large adoption fees, barely feed the birds---dirty cages---etc. She knew very little about birds......

We came up with their ransom, went and picked them up. Kept them quarantined---took them to a new avian vet. She promptly told us that we were out of our mind, she was convinced they were sick and suspected beak and feather disease. Their feathers on top of their heads and everywhere else seemed affected. She told us that rescuing these two sick birds could very well kill the remainder of our flock.......

I was in tears before I left her office. She said basically "You are out of your mind but I would've done the same thing!"

It was a long wait for those test results......it came back that they were severely malnourished and had psittacosis. No beak & feather thank God!

So we opted for shots, every Friday night at 8 pm we had a date with the vet. She fast became the best thing that ever happened to us! A vet who was good, new her stuf and "shot straight from the hip!!"

Today these two are still working on becoming feathered---they look a site better than they did before as they have nice full shiny feathers on top of their heads and feathers coming in everywhere else. They still get upset when their bowls are taken for cleaning but they know surely as the sun rises in the morning they get food and clean water twice a day!!

Lucy & Ethel are their names (new names) and they have a very special place in our home.

I know that your birds will be as wonderful to you as mine are to me.

[OwnedbyMacaws]

Whata great story! Mickey and Mal didn't 'jump on us' and they aren't eager to yet, but I already feel pretty great about the improvements they've made, especially in the health area. Mickey would have died before much longer without treatment, and Mal would have eventually. I'm really looking forward to getting to know them as time wears on and conviencing them that no one is ever going to treat them badly again

[MaryG1959]

by the way, it has been a long process, I've gotten several serious bites from them. My severe macaw didn't let me touch him for months. So---it does take lots of time!!

LOTS AND LOTS OF TIME!!

But guess what? They are lucky you found them! You were willing to do what others were not! (give yourself a pat on the back now!)