RIP Coco, my beautiful little girl

[flyingfluff]

It's so hard to believe it's already been one full week since I've lost Coco. I miss her more and more every day. But I think I'm doing okay with moving on with my life. I've got school to distract me and I still have all of my other birds to care for. It's hard for me to understand how animals are able to accept death so much easier than people. I don't know whether to be jealous or not. As hard and painful as this whole process is, I'm so glad I don't have to watch her suffer anymore. That was the worst part-- seeing my little baby gradually become weaker and weaker and watch her body give out on her. She still had so much life in her- all the way to the end. She fought tooth and nail.

Coco was my first bird- the one that started my passion for birds and parrots. She was my baby and best friend since I was 11 years old. I knew almost nothing about how to care for birds when I brought her home from the pet store- at least not compared to my knowledge on parrot care now. I had her in what I now consider a too-small of a cage. I fed her those honey millet seed sticks, and lots of seed mix. At only 11 years old I patiently worked with her and spent many hours with my hand just chilling in her cage so I wouldn't scare and in hopes that she would let me gently pet her stomach.

She was barely a year old when she was diagnosed with kidney problems. The vets didn't want to do any sort of bloodwork or surgery on her because she was so tiny. Especially because she was actually perfectly healthy minus who very watery droppings. Often times they were just pure urine and there was no solid part to her droppings. But she didn't even notice. She went about life with such joy and enthusiasm.

I remember back when I was in 8th grade I woke up to her thrashing around in her cage at around 5-6am. Turns out we had very rare, but small earth quake in Maryland at that time. I remember being so amazed that she was able to sense it.

High school were the years that she spent hours at end on my shoulder, knee, head, finger, etc just keeping me company while I did homework. She would want to join the family at the table for dinner, but my mother never allowed it. She didn't want little budgie droppings by the food. Though, any time I was by her cage and eating or drinking something, she just had to come check it out. She would hang off the side of her cage horizontally and stretch as far as she could. She was never happy until she got that little nibble of cracker or bread.

In the fall of my jr year in high school I brought Buddy from the same pet store. I switched high schools that year and I knew I was going to be home a lot less and I knew I would be leaving for college in 2 years. I couldn't stand the thought of leaving Coco alone in my room all day long, day after day while I was at school and fulfilling other obligations.

The moment Buddy saw her, he was just as much in love with her as I was. He would chase her around and follow her around like a lost puppy dog. Initially Coco didn't want to be bothered by a pesky little baby budgie. Though soon enough they had both hit it off and they became inseparable. I was no longer allowed to just take her out of my room without Buddy, otherwise they would continually call for one another.

I also remember how much fun she would have taking baths. Her favorite was to sit on top of the little musical/jewelry box my mother kept in her bathroom next to the mirror. I would mist her with water, as well as the mirror. She would rub herself all over the mirror and drink the little droplets. Then she would run up my arm, shake herself off, preen a little bit and then run straight back to the mirror. I tried to teach Buddy to have the same enthusiasm for bathing, but to this day he still doesn't like it. Coco would start hanging off my finger and twitch her wings in excitement when she knew I was taking her to the bathroom to bathe. As soon as I would walk in there, she would fly off my finger and straight to her spot by the mirror. I wasn't allowed to bring her into the bathroom unless I was going to give her a bath. She expected it.

I finally brought her down to school with me last May. Little did I know that less than a year later she would no longer be with me. My worst fear had come true- her kidney problems had finally caught up to her. She had a tumor on one of her kidneys and it was slowly making her weaker and weaker by the day. I know she tried to hide it as long as she could.

There was one point where not long after she met the two baby budgies me and Jon had just got, she tried to teach one of them to fly. Both Nellie and Jon's green bugie are clipped so they fall like rocks and then bounce around on the floor as they try to take off again. Coco flew down to the floor where the little green one was and tried to show it how to take off. She would slowly take off from the floor and then come back down and repeat. Even in her weakened state she was still trying to care for all the other birds.

But once her and Buddy got "divorced" it was painfully obvious that even he knew that something was wrong. The last couple weeks of her life, Beans would lay & sleep by her cage and protect her. Even Caesar would stand on top of her small cage that I kept her and try to get her out.

I miss her so terribly much and I know there will never be another Coco. She was and still is the best friend I ever had. I never knew it was possible to be so attached to a small little bird, but I was. It seemed that everyone who met her loved her just as much as I did- it was hard not to.

R.I.P beautiful girl.
You will always be loved and missed.
July 1999 - March 16, 2009

[expressmailtome]

I am so very sorry for your loss. It is so hard to lose a family member.

Matt

[tabooh]

So sorry for your loss, so sad

[Kiwipi]

Hello Flyingfluff,

I'm so sorry for your loss. You did Coco a great tribute by writing so passionately about her...it was beautiful to read and very clear she meant the world to you. My thoughts and prayers are with you, Coco, and the rest of your flock that's missing her.

[flyingfluff]

Thanks so much for all of your kind words. She was definitely one special girl. It's so weird to think she was only 1 of three birds left when I went to pick her out from the petstore and she ended up making such a huge impact on my life.

[GracienGeorge]

Tank you for sharing such a wonderful quick short story of your baby girl. I bet you could just write a book of all the wonderful memorys you two shared! Rest in Free flying Heaven little Coco!!!!!!

[Allison4]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Your story was beautiful but so sad. It brought tears to my eyes.

[reyes97206]

I'm sorry for the loss of your baby girl. RIP Coco

[flyingfluff]

Originally Posted by GracienGeorge

Tank you for sharing such a wonderful quick short story of your baby girl. I bet you could just write a book of all the wonderful memorys you two shared! Rest in Free flying Heaven little Coco!!!!!!

Haha yep, I could go on forever about her! But uh... I don't think most people want to listen to me blab all day about my bird.

[BLC]

RIP beauty