Amazon Fight

[FoxersArtist]

I have to be very brief right now but need to ask for prayers. PJ & Loretta got into a flight - I don't know how he got her except to climb her cage and perch and knock her off, but he nearly killed her. I found him sitting on top of her, trapped in a corner on the floor in middle of the fight and Loretta looked like she was dead. Both are injured and Loretta is at the vets getting IC treatment. She will be there at least over night if she makes it. Thank you so much for your always prayers and support. :(
-Anna

[birdie]

Praying hard for Loretta. Poor thing she has come such a long way...

[Larry, Baby and Me]

Oh my Anna, That is horrible. Please keep us posted.

You must be beside yourself.

Lar

[Patty, Linus and Co.]

Sending healing thoughts to everyone, but especially Loretta. That is so awful.

[FoxersArtist]

I feel really dumb with all of the things that have happend with the birds here recently. I feel like I must be a terrible owner and now it's finally catching up with me - but I'm going to fight that voice as I know crazy things happen sometimes. I DID make a decision of letting both PJ & Loretta out at the same time and DID feel safe because both birds have shown no interest in harming any other bird in the past. I feel like that was my mistake and we will have to be very careful with PJ from now on.

(Warning: VERY GRAPHIC, IN RED)
Loretta is so old that she can't really get around. We moved cages around yesterday to make room for Lacey in the aviary and I am sure that moving PJ is what triggered him to be possessive today. He was in direct sight of Loretta now and it's spring. His hormones are still raging. I know what happened. He saw her sitting on a perch that was higher than his and he wanted it for himself. He climbed down, went to her cage and climbed up to where she was. He tried to knock her off her perch but Loretta is a fighter and though she is old, she does not let anyone boss her around. She put up a fight which likely escalated PJ's aggression. Now his instincts were not just telling him to defeat his opponant for a higher position, they were telling him to kill her for his own safety. She flew down to the floor (or climbed down) when she realized that winning was not a possibility and he followed. There was a trail of her feathers all the way from her cage over to the other side of the aviary where he cornered her and started attacking. She fought back some - he has multiple dent marks in his beak and is missing a chunk on the side of his face and on his nares. She also managed to chomp him in the foot where his joint is swollen, but does not appear to be causing him pain.

Loretta had it out as long as she could but she is old and tires quickly. After fighting without him giving in, she gave up and accepted that she was going to die. They had probably been fighting for at least 5 minutes by the time I found them. I had been cleaning on the other end of the house and could not hear them. I knew something was wrong right away when I walked into the aviary but was not prepared to find my sweeties covered in blood. After Loretta stopped fighting, PJ perching himself on top of her and kept biting her - I am assuming because he wanted to make sure she was really, really dead. He started tearing her feathers out and mutilated the skin on the top of her head. He had bitten her badly on the toe and we are not yet sure if it is broken or just badly cut but the vet does not want to amputate. He bit her on the face, the eye, the top of the head, the wing, & small bits of her beak were missing. She had so much blood on her I wasn't sure where all she was hurt until I got her to the vet and started to clean her up.

My vet was out of town (she warned me about leaving), but someone was there to fill in for her. I wasn't sure Loretta was going to survive the trip to the vets as she was totally lifeless on the way but she perked up as soon as they gave her some injections (for infection, inflamation and pain) and put her in an oxygen tank.

I sat with her in the back of the vets office and cried and sang her favorite song softly to her and she heard me. She has been through so much in her life and I cannot bare to think of her going out of this world that way. She's supposed to pass away peacefully in her sleep one of these nights. The vet said his least concerns are her external wounds and hopes there is no damage we cannot see but did not want to put her down. He thinks that if she has no internal injuries she has a real fighting chance but assured me that she was not in the clear yet. He called this afternoon to let me know that she was still alive and seemed to be hanging in there. He said he would call again soon and they are going to transfer her this evening to a hospital with more capacity to care for her. I am going crazy with not knowing how she is and if I had an oxygen set-up, I would have brought her back here with me.

PJ is doing ok tonight. His face is causing him some pain and he looks like he is not feeling well, but is doing ok. The vet sent me home some antibiotics so that his face does not get infected and I will have him in to a specialist to have his beak evaluated as soon as he is feeling better. His ankle looks less swollen and he is using it.

Please keep both of these guys in your prayers, and us too - sorry to be asking for so many lately. Bhodi must be lonely up there...he keeps trying to bring his flock home.
-Anna

[birdie]

Hoping for the best for Loretta. Any news yet this morning? I thought about her 1st thing.

[Patty, Linus and Co.]

Thank you for posting an update. When do you think you will know about internal injuries? Poor baby.

[too&me]

So sad this happened, you have had such a difficult spring. Prayers for Loretta and for PJ to heal fast as well. None of us is all seeing or even in the right place at the right time as often as we want to be.

[FoxersArtist]

Loretta made it through the night. The vet may do one more nebulizer treatment on her and was talking about sending her home this afternoon. She will still need special care in a brooder for a while but since I know how to tube feed and can keep a close eye on her, they want her to come home. The vet is going to wrap her foot and maybe one of her wings too. They indicated that she looked pretty bad, phyically, this morning but that other problems should have cropped up by now and they haven't. I will know more this afternoon when the vet calls. PJ is doing well this morning. He is sullking a little but he doesn't seem to be in near the kind of pain he was in last night. Now that he has had a taste of blood and what it feels like to win a fight, we are concerned that he could strike again. He was very aggressive with Andy last night, despite his injuries which tells me he was still a bit ramped up from the action. I'm going to try to organize the aviary today so that we can have him caged. He's going to hate us for it (and will be a constant nag to come out) but he'll still have supervised perch time in the house. At least everyone will be safe.
-Anna

[birdie]

Glad to hear Loretta is doing ok and will get to come home today. PJ, though he may be upset with being caged, sounds like he needs that at least for now.

My OWA has been getting more aggressive the last few weeks and I am pretty certain a wing trim is in order this weekend for her. She was lunging at me last night and that use to be a rare thing but is becomming more frequent as she gets older and since she laid the egg last year.

[too&me]

Some thing really riled the aliens this week, glad to hear Loretta is showing improvement.

[Anne-Samantha's Mom]

Dear God in heaven I just read this I am sick sick sick with worry...dear god please let her be ok..dear god please.

[lcarle]

OMG!!! I am sooo sorry Anna!! Prayers are definately coming!!!!

[birdie]

how is Miss Loretta doing today? how about PJ?