Pissed off!!

[diljaa]

I'm so pissed off with my mom right now! I went camping on Saturday and we were just going to stay for one night so I thought I'd just leave my lovie, Pixel at home, thinking it would be less stressful than taking him to someone else's house. I called my mum telling her I would give her a key so she could maybe check on him if we decided to stay a little longer. She persuaded me to bring him over and she would watch him. I brought his food along with him to her house just in case, telling her she probably wouldn't need to refill his food bowls. He had his pellet/seed mix that go into the plastic bowls you can reach from outside the cage and his avicakes that go into a bowl you have to reach into his cage to get to. I demonstrated how to empty the bowls and put all fresh food in there and as well that he needded his water changed at least once a day. I also told her that he was flying a lot more than the last time she saw him since his clipped feathers are growing out and she should be very careful if she was to let him out. She said that she wouldn't let him out just to avoid any accidents. My dad was at their summerhouse but she told me she was going to stay at home and not join him for at least a week.
On Sunday I call her and tell her I'm staying for a couple of days and to check up on Pixel. She tells me that she opened his cage and he flew straight into the window! Okay, not her fault but the last thing she told me when I left was that she wouldn't let him out. So I remind her that since I would be gone longer she would have to change his food bowls.
On Monday my car is acting up and I call my dad (who is alone in their summerhouse, remember, since my mom wasn't joining him for at least a week) who tells me Pixel is there with him. WHAT?!? Mom just told me the day before she would be staying at home. Apparently my dad had to go home for something and my mom decided to go with him back to the summerhouse. So they just put Pixel in his cage in the back of the station wagon and drove up there.
On Tuesday I call my mom just to check up on things and she tells me how much he eats. I tell her he's looking for a certain seed because he won't eat the pellets in the mix and she has to empty it and put fresh in and that she should take the metal bowl out and put fresh avicakes in there, just take him out first because he will bite when you reach into his cage. Then she tells me how much he poops and that she just cleaned out the seed tray and it's covered in poop allready. I tell her that I used to put newspaper in the bottom but since he just rolled it up to make a hideout and become vicious I stopped doing that so I had to clean it in the bathtub all the time. She suggests putting something in the bottom so he had something to do. I tell her no, he has a lot of toys and he wouldn't be bored. All right.
On Wednesday we're coming home and we were going to stop by the summerhouse to get Pixel on our way. So when we have about an hour left to drive I call my dad and he tells me mom went home to go to my niece's birthday and took Pixel with her. At this point I'm like "WTF!?!" Is she doing this just to piss me off? So I call my mom and she's at the birthday party, I tell I will be there tonight to pick Pixel up. When we get into town it's almost 9 pm and I go straight for Pixel, my mom's not home yet but I can let myself in. He's in the living room, with very little water that smells very foul! He has eaten all the avicakes I left him 5 days ago and only the hulls are left. He's digging through his seed/pellet mix bowl, apparently looking for the good bits. There's a towel in the bottom of his cage.
I take him home and he takes a shower with me and drinks a lot of water! I take him to his playstand to dry off and put food in his playstand bowl. As soon as I put the bowl there he jumps on it and starts eating like he hasn't eaten for days! He sits there for at least 20 minutes just eating!
I look into the food bowl in his cage and there are just pellets left and the hulls from the seeds he likes. And there is a lot in it. Like 3 times more than I usually put in there. So I call my mom to ask if she didn't change his water and if she didn't throw away the old food before she put more in. She said she changed his water everyday but not this morning because they were going for a drive but she didn't wash his water bowl in between (my bad, I didn't tell her but I thought she would at least rinse it). She said she didn't throw away the old food, she just topped it with fresh food. I didn't even mention the towel in the bottom because I didn't want to seem ungrateful. I was telling her that next time she would have to do as I told her and then she said "At least he's alive!"
Is that really all I can expect from her? Should I be gratefull she didn't kill my bird!?! Remember she was the one who persuaded me into letting her watch him, not like I was asking her to do something she didn't want to do!

[mabird]

So sorry poor Pixel had to endure less quality treatment than what he is used to. Heck, I bet he sure was happy to see you!

I'm sorry to say this is how I find most non-bird people would treat a bird. Their puppies sleep on a silk pillow next to their heads every night, but our birds are "just birds". I'm lucky in as much my folks have NEVER let me down in the manor in which they care for my pets including my birdies. And they do all right with the kiddos, too. Ha-ha.

In your mom's defense a lot of folks would've just filled his water and food dishes to the top and left him home to fend for himself... at least she cared enough to lug him & his cage around, right? I know a bunch of folks that wouldn't have done that much, sorry to say.

I'd say be nurturing & encourage her to care him more in the manor that he is accustomed to for next time. I honestly think she meant well by driving him all over Iceland, quite frankly.

Now, that being said, I must be honest...
if my mom had done the same exact thing, YES, I'd be beyond peeved. ,

[jenseits]

I'm so sorry. You must be steamed! It's really hard to find people who can do a good job with bird-sitting. I'm sure your mom meant well, fwiw.

[red192]

OMG, I was getting angry reading this! I"m sooooo sorry this happened. I'm glad he's alive! Don't feel bad, my mom would mean well but would screw it up too! Next time just ship him to me, I'll spoil him good for you!

[Tom Lawless]

I'd look into other pet sitters. I am lucky to have a friend who knows parrots and does great with my guys. The people at the store I got them from also board and I would have no worries about the great care they would get there too. You should check out your options for both family peace and the good of your Pixel.

[chapala]

You'll want to make other arrangements next time you go away!

[Astrid660]

^ I agree!
Poor pixel, he must be happy you're back!

[r2rusmc]

You get what you pay for. Otherwise be glad your Mom was able to help even if it wasn't up to your standards.

[NotEnoughTime]

I gather this was a first-time "bird sitting" experience for your mom.

It is hard for a person who is not "parrot oriented" to get their head wrapped around the difference between a parrot and a dog or cat. Even with training (which it sounds like you went over) the special issues of parrot-care are hard to grasp the first time to a non-bird person.

I hope you won't hold it against your mom. She was nice enough to volunteer and, it sounds like, she tried to ensure most of your concerns were addressed - even though mistakes were made.

I am glad Pixel is safe and well. I imagine that if anything had happened to your bird while in your mom's care she would have had a hard time dealing with it.

[Congobongo]

Lesson learned...never let her have him again! Also, start checking now into other sitters or facilities that will board a bird (my avian vet does). so that you do not need to rely on her ever again in the future.

I know my mother doesn't have the same 'care values' about pets that I do. She always let her cat outside. And, the cat was pregnant and going into labor and she told me to put her outside in the garage (which I did NOT do). And, we got her spayed right after that.