FoxersArtist
02-02-2008, 06:00 AM
What a long day it has been today. We left this afternoon and took a drive to go pick up Bhodi, an umbrella cockatoo between 6-8 years old. He had previously been through 4 other homes in the past 10 months and has seemingly been passed around and around from one well-meaning home to the next. His current owner is a bird lover and has a U2 of her own but she felt she was a little in over her head with Bhodi and her life circomstances have changed so she cannot keep him. I think it's fantastic that she made a lot of effort to find someone who can really work with her bird instead of just selling him to a pet shop or to the first person with a few bucks.
We took Bhodi straight from his house to the vet where she checked him over for possible infection and drew blood to do a CBC chem lab. She doesn't work tomorrow but said she would try to give a call with my results. She said that overall he looked very healthy, though she is concerned with the amount of water he seems to drink. It is possible that he is a habitual drinker, which supposidly can be cured by limiting his water intake for a long enough time period to allow his bodies chemistry to re balance itself, or he could have diabetes. The glucose levels on his CBC will hopefully tell us more if that is the case.
I'm pretty sure that Bhodi is a male and is very hormonally charged. He is a very sweet bird and already wanting to bury his face into my arm and stretch his wings for a good scritch. His previous owner has received 2 bites from him that required stitches in the past month and I have a very strong hunch that these bites were from a very excited, hormonal Bhodi. His body language inside the cage is very clear that he is wanting to get nesty and protect his place. Does anyone have a too that regurgitates for them? My experience is that this is not terribly common with toos, but this bird regurgitated for me like a macaw would.
I'm also thinking that I'm not going to have much of a honeymoon period to get to know this guy. He has been shuffled around so much in the past year that he seems pretty used to changing environments and doesn't seem to be pulling any punches. His owner indicated that he had a screaming problem and though most parrots that we see with screaming issues do sound off more frequently than a well adjusted, secure bird, BOY does this guy have a screaming problem!!! My ears are resting peacefully at this late hour but preparing for a very long day tomorrow as Bhodi's screaming seems to go on and on like a human that just doesn't feel heard. I will spend some time with him tomorrow, experimenting with different perches and activities to see if we can find something that will bring him a little more security.
I'll try to post pictures tomorrow!
-Anna
We took Bhodi straight from his house to the vet where she checked him over for possible infection and drew blood to do a CBC chem lab. She doesn't work tomorrow but said she would try to give a call with my results. She said that overall he looked very healthy, though she is concerned with the amount of water he seems to drink. It is possible that he is a habitual drinker, which supposidly can be cured by limiting his water intake for a long enough time period to allow his bodies chemistry to re balance itself, or he could have diabetes. The glucose levels on his CBC will hopefully tell us more if that is the case.
I'm pretty sure that Bhodi is a male and is very hormonally charged. He is a very sweet bird and already wanting to bury his face into my arm and stretch his wings for a good scritch. His previous owner has received 2 bites from him that required stitches in the past month and I have a very strong hunch that these bites were from a very excited, hormonal Bhodi. His body language inside the cage is very clear that he is wanting to get nesty and protect his place. Does anyone have a too that regurgitates for them? My experience is that this is not terribly common with toos, but this bird regurgitated for me like a macaw would.
I'm also thinking that I'm not going to have much of a honeymoon period to get to know this guy. He has been shuffled around so much in the past year that he seems pretty used to changing environments and doesn't seem to be pulling any punches. His owner indicated that he had a screaming problem and though most parrots that we see with screaming issues do sound off more frequently than a well adjusted, secure bird, BOY does this guy have a screaming problem!!! My ears are resting peacefully at this late hour but preparing for a very long day tomorrow as Bhodi's screaming seems to go on and on like a human that just doesn't feel heard. I will spend some time with him tomorrow, experimenting with different perches and activities to see if we can find something that will bring him a little more security.
I'll try to post pictures tomorrow!
-Anna