Kim, I need your advice.

[mamalovesrico]

Hi Kim,
I need your input on anything you can tell me here. I will try to keep this as short as possible.
I am a very happy and proud owner of a 1 year old male Umbrella Cockatoo. His name is Rico and he is my first bird.
In February I saw a female M2 at the pet store. My husband and I seriously thought about buying her. I told him no because I wasn't sure how Rico would react. I couldn't believe I said no, but I did. Someone ended up buying her. Well, she's back at the pet store.
The people who bought her said they didn't know what they were getting into and returned her after 2 weeks. Her name is Sammy. Sammy is 10 months old. The couple that bought her are in the process of opening up their own business and didn't have time for her. They had two kids who were older and didn't have time for her either. They also had a dog.
Well, Sammy looks a little depressed when I saw her at the store today. Her tail feathers are all ragged and I inquired. The store said it was due to her having way too many toys in her cage. Her wings are really short too. I inquired and they said that these first time bird owners decided to clip her wings themselves. They clipped every single one of them. They clipped them all extremely short also. The store told me that Sammy's wings are bothering her.
Ok, trying to keep this short. I just got off the phone with my husband. He told me if I wanted her he would get her for me.
I am 34 and my husband is 51. We have no children and I do not work. I stay at home all day with my U2 Rico and my 11 year old Dalmatian. My husband has 4 cats which are all deathly afraid of Rico. I love both of my pets dearly. As far as travel goes, my husband and I travel for a week at a time annually and are trying to make that twice a year. We usually go away for weekends maybe 5 times a year.
Any advice you can give me? Any questions you can ask me that I am not thinking of? I would love to buy Sammy but would like your advice. My husband asked me if I could handle 2 cockatoos. I don't see why not. I'm home all day. I love Rico to death. I'm trying to make sure I have all of my bases covered and want to make sure if Sammy comes to me that this will be his forever home.

[dino24]

I am not Kim but I was reading you question and thought I would respond anyway. That is so sad. It upsets me so much when people do **** like that. I have 4 birds and one of mine is a Rose Breasted cockatoo that was given to us because her first owners didn't know what they were getting into. It just breaks my heart to hear stories like that. Of course unfortunately with too's it is common! It sounds like you have the time and the love and if you have done the research and know what you are getting into I don't see why you can't have both. I know plenty of people who have 2 or more too's and they do perfectly well together. I don't know what Kim will tell you though so I guess you should wait for her answer before you should decide. Of course you should keep them in seperate cages and everything and I am not quite sure about the answer of the too many toys in the cage thing that the pet store people said I haven't ever heard that answer before I have usually only seen cases where there weren't enough toys but I guess she could have to many ( see what Kim says about that). I would definately get her vet checked if you do buy her! It is very, very sad that they butchered her wings so badly by clipping her themselves and not knowing what they were doing. Is she still friendly to you, are you able to pet her and love on her like you were before or will you have to work on that? Mine I have to do alot of work with because she got stuck living in a cage for 1 year with no handling at all. Let me know if any of this helps. I hope you get her cause she sure needs a good home and that isn't going to happen in that pet store.

[mamalovesrico]

Cathy, she's a sweetie. She will let you pet her but if your near her cage, she makes it obvious she'd rather be sitting on top of it playing with her toys. She loves to be scratched on the back of the neck.
She wants on her cage so badly all of the time that I had to walk her to the back of the store so she would pay attention to me. She pretty much lets you do anything you want to her. She's so sweet. If she doesn't like something your doing she simply grabs your finger with her beak and gently pushes it aside.
When we first walked in she was in her cage. My sister and I walked up to her and she just sat there on her perch and tucked her head into her shoulders and made these little pathetic squeeks. She seemed so sad. But like I said, once she was out of her cage she wanted on top to play with her toys. She is so quiet and didn't make a peep the rest of the time we were in there.
I'm so sad and so confused.

[dino24]

When you take those vacations will you have someone come and babysit the birds? Like maybe your sister or a pet sitting service? Like here where I live my husband and I do something like that for people in our bird club, they call us when they are gone and we take care of their birds while they are away. We also have a couple of other members in our club who board birds at their houses for people when they go away so do you have something like that in mind for when you guys are gone? Now in my case when my husband and I go away our birds go with us (well all of them except the cockatiel, he doesn't travel with us) but all of our other birds travel with us, they go camping with us and they go everywhere with us! LOL. Umm I am trying to think of anything else to ask you but the bird sounds very sweet and it doesn't sound like it has been damaged to much yet and it is still very young so it just needs to go to a good home which to me sounds like that would be you!!! But of course I am not the expert. Hopefully Kim will respond soon so she can give you advice cause I think you should just go for it IMHO!

[mamalovesrico]

Cathy, when we leave for long vacations we board our current bird at the vet. Rico loves going there and they love him. I don't know very many people in my area that have birds in order to ask them to come over and watch them. I think I'd rather board them at the vet because he has constant attention and he sits right in the midst of all the activity. The dr. even holds him while he's doing his paper work. So boarding won't be a problem. It will be expensive but worth it.
I'm waiting for my vet to call me today. She's examined Sammy in the past and know her condition.

[dino24]

I think you should just go ahead and get her. She needs a good loving home and I think you sound like you can provide that for her. I don't know why Kim hasn't responded yet, maybe she is out of town or something but IMO I think you should just go ahead and go for it!!!!!! You have the time to spend with both birds to make them happy and you have the love and anything is better than the pet store so I think you should go for it. Keep me posted on what you decide. Plus you were going to do it before she got taken back in April so what are you waiting for LOL.....

[mamalovesrico]

Cathy, I too think Kim must be on vacation or something. She is usually very good at getting back with people in here.
Well, I've made up my mind on Sammy. I'm not going to get her. I hope I don't regret this later but this is why I have come to this conclusion. My dog Corbin. He's 11 years old and has been with me since he was about 2 months old. I have not had another pet just Corbin all these years until I bought Rico, my bird, in October. He had a hard time adjusting to me spending time with another animal. He still gets a little jealous now and then but is handeling it well now. If I got another bird, especially a M2, it's just going to reflect the amount of attention that I can give to Corbin. This dog is like my right arm. And with the fact that he's getting old, I think a M2 might be a little too much for him to handle. I think I'm going to wait until Corbin passes before getting another pet. This is for his sake.
I still have to go into that same pet store to get Rico more bird food and it's going to kill me to have to walk by Sammy. I hope she goes to a good home. She needs it.
I was talking to my mom on the phone this morning and told her that I was contemplating buying Sammy. I know I could nurse Sammy back to health and give her the proper attention and training that she deserves. I know I could and I know she would be a great pet. I told my husband that it's too coinsidental that Sammy has become available two times now. If she becomes available a third time, I'm just going to have to step in and save the poor little girl.
I hope I don't regret my decision. Thanks for replying to all my posts Cathy.

[KimBear]

I'm sorry for not getting to you sooner. Normally I check this board daily, but your post wasn't up yet on Thursday when I was on, and Friday I was busy and hardly got on line at all. Sometimes I don't get a chance to do more than check my email on weekends. I'll see about setting my email to alert me if a message pops up here, if that can be done, so this doesn't happen again. I've always prided myself on being quick to respond, so this makes me feel kinda bad.

Anyway....

I think that if you have come to the decision to NOT get the bird, despite the fact that the situation is tugging at your heart, you have made the right choice, at least for now. It's good that you can look beyond the emotions of the circumstance, and make your decision based on what you really can or can't do. Not everyone would be as wise. Too many birds DO get purchased because the person feels sorry for them, and later the person realizes they've taken on a bit more than they bargained for. People may say, "what's one more bird?" or "dog" or "lizard" or whatever, but when you think you're at your limit, you should stick to it. I've been there, too. It's not an easy call to make.

I'm not saying you should never think about getting this or any other bird, but if something is telling you this isn't the right time to add to your family, then that's probably a voice you should listen to. If the pet store that's keeping Sammy is a good store, they will take care of her until someone else comes along, and hopefully the store is "picky" about who they sell these types of birds to. If they're not, then maybe this isn't the kind of store you want to give your business to anyway?

I just had this happen to me with a tortoise this weekend. Not a cockatoo, I know, but I love all animals and can't stand to see something not being cared for. It was at a local garden center/pet store that I really don't like to support but I "had" to get something from there, and saw this poor thing being kept in conditions that weren't appropriate for his species. I thought really hard about buying it, just to get him out of there. But I have so many animals already, and this species of tort couldn't be kept with mine, and would have to have a completely different set up that I'm not sure I could provide well. Also, I would be supporting this store (where I swear each time I go in that I will not go back but I live in a town with very few choices if you need to buy certain plants), and that's the last thing I want to do is encourage them to sell more tortoises that they obviously don't know anything about.

So what I did was called the store later that day and very politely told them that the tortoise needed a different environment or that he would surely die. I don't know if it did any good. I guess I could go back and see if he's still where he was, but if he is I will really have a hard time leaving him there!

So you see, I know how it is. Sometimes we do need to listen to our heads instead of our hearts. We can't save everything. We CAN care for the pets we already have and know that we're honoring the committments that we've already made.

[mamalovesrico]

Kim,
Thanks for your response and no reason to feel bad. I understand. I know your always quick to respond to posts and figured something was up.
I took my dad in to see Sammy today. I was a little afraid to go in but did it anyway. Sammy came right to me and even stuck her foot out to step onto my hand. My dad told me, "looks like she really likes you." It is very hard to get her off her cage top. I eventually walked out knowing I've made the right decision and knowing now is not the time to get another bird.
Unfortunately, I don't think the pet store is going to be very pickey with her. They weren't the first time. Said they knew the 1st buyers knew nothing about what they were getting into.
I've thought about asking the store if I could do a trade with them and come in and clean the bird cages either for free or in exchange for bird food. Thought maybe I could have some kind of influence on the next buyer but I'm not sure this is a good choice either. Still pondering this situation. I don't think they are going to like me trying to make sure their potential customers are well informed. I would just do this until Sammy is sold.
Thanks again Kim and thank you for the confirmation that I have made the right choice.

[dino24]

Hi Lara,
Well I am glad you made a decision and I am glad to see Kim responded. I am sorry that your decision turned out the way it did but if that is what you think is best then I guess it will be OK. In my experience most pet stores don't care they just take the money, hopefully she will go to a good home and not come back to the store again. I know how it is to have an older dog I did but she has since passed away but in my house we just manage to make all of the animals learn to adapt to each other and some how it all works out and since I have 11 animals I guess it has to LOL! I wish you the best and keep me posted if anything changes.