Pippi & Squall Pippi was just a baby white bellied Caique. She had the sweetest face and eyes, along with the biggest baby bird cries! All of Pippi’s siblings found a home straight from her breeder but she was left and thus sent to a store. There she started to wean but along with this entire process began to pluck. Plucking is fairly unusual for Caiques let alone one so young. The shop desperately tried changing cages, location, foods, handling, and more. They however did not want to take her to the vet yet. We contacted the owners of the shop directly and told them that if they did not want to foot the vet bill and care we would take her in. Initially this was met with resistance, more time was what they thought she needed, but after drastically increasing her plucking to a near bald body in less than a week they called us up and agreed. We took her in from there and went in to see our trusted vet. The vet gave her a clean bill of health and suggested that it was mental with this little one. We then tried routines, lots of attention, distractions, training, and much more. The screaming never ceased but the plucking did. We eased her onto a healthier diet, along with supplements and fresh foods. She was VERY picky and did NOT want to get off straight seeds. This little character would run all the way across a house on the ground screaming if she heard a bag rustle thinking she was getting more seeds! Needless to say after an extra-long gradual time she finally switched to the better diet. Now you can crack a bag of anything open around her, even seed, and she won’t even want it! Talk about a change, right? Still Pippi continued to scream. As you know we already had other birds in the sanctuary and she got to interact more with them after her initial isolation period to be extra sure on health and illnesses and the vet’s approval. Still the other birds couldn’t stand how insistent and pushy Pippi was. Personal space was not in Pippi’s vocabulary, nor was respect. She had not learned proper bird to bird interaction and the current sanctuary birds were not willing to take the time to help her learn. They quickly rejected her one by one. Pippi began travelling with us and going on more outings. Still she obviously missed having another bird around even after all this time. We took her on meet and greets with other Caiques but even then they all rejected her, that is until we found Squall locally near us. Squall was a slightly older male white bellied Caique who perked up around Pippi and immediately seemed to bond with her. They played together multiple times and even when Pippi pushed Squall gently corrected her. Every time Pippi came home from a play date with Squall she was happier, quieter and more content. Her destructive behaviors were nonexistent. We had to have a long difficult talk as to whether we would BUY Squall to live with Pippi? This is a difficult decision especially with very limited funds. In the end, we were able to work it all out and Squall did indeed come to live with Pippi. Squall is a character, he’s strong but gentle and loves to hang upside down like a bat. He teaches Pippi how to enjoy life and they’re inseparable. Pippi has become more mellow and Squall has become more playful. We’re glad to have Squall here and Pippi has since been kept on a very monitored diet and feather condition. She’s still growing in a lot of feathers and improved quality but has made drastic changes. We’ve also been able to provide them with the play stations and space they need to co-exist happily as well as the socialization to be handled, groomed and remain friendly.
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Legato! Legato was actually a pet store bird! His original owners got rid of him because treating him would cost more than getting a new one at the pet shop. He is a blue, male, Indian ring neck. This little guy was sitting all by himself in a shop and when we approached he looked in awful shape. The shop said he was “fine” and that he wasn’t underweight nor was his being cold to the touch and acting shut down a problem to them. Not all pet stores get the vet treatment necessary for birds or other small animals and to them Legato was AGAIN not worth enough to pay for the expensive vet work. Shockingly though they would not surrender Legato to us and instead insisted on full price! We feared for the state he was in and that he couldn’t wait another day so ended up paying for him. Later we took his vet records back and although we did not get our money back (especially since we wouldn’t return the bird) we did take action for Legato. Our amazing vet was able to see Legato immediately after taking him and although he was weak we were able to get enough blood to run a panel of tests. Just from the visual and physical check up’s our avian vet found he was severely underweight, starving even… his feathers were in poor condition, he was weak and oh so cold. Legato was neglected, that much was apparent. The blood results found that he had one of the highest white blood cell counts our vet had ever seen, so much so she almost thought it was a mistake. He was so dire that he was put on immediate broad-spectrum antibiotics, we didn’t know how much time he had and as many bird owners know, they can be fragile and be gone very quickly. Legato was one of the lucky few that the meds worked quickly, coupled with being taken in by us in a warm environment and lots and lots and lots of fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, and pellets. To this day Legato has not and is not a picky eater! He was just purely thankful for the bountiful meal and all the new foods to try. The first bowl of mixed fresh foods we gave to him, he devoured. Legato recovered quickly from illness, and slowly over time from malnourishment and starvation. His feathers began to blossom into the beauty we knew was deep inside. His trust has taken even longer but slowly he has bonded with living near Saya and made a friend, and now follows us around content as ever to be part of a flock, and a family. Legato loves all foods! He also loves to chew and appreciates any wood toys being sent in. He’s a food dipper and enjoys making his food nice and soggy before eating it and sleeps in the oddest position with his legs spread eagle in the corners of his home. He’s a character who has begun to chant “what are you doing?” and “good boy”. He is indeed a very good boy, and a handsome ring neck. Saya! Saya is a white bellied caique who was given up by her owner. Her owners ran into unfortunate circumstances and were no longer able to provide her with the level of care she needed. Our little Saya is an absolute sweet heart around 6 years old and has seizures. Did you know seizures can be fairly common in certain species? Even regular grooming is a common trigger! Saya’s regular grooming would require her to see an avian vet specialist who had to put her under anesthesia for each appointment. Saya was taken into the vet and given full blood work panel check-ups. She passed every health test with flying colors with no underlying health issue showing on her blood work as to the cause of the seizures. Saya quickly took to her life as the boss of the sanctuary and likes to spend her mornings out and about. We did quickly learn though that she also gets motion sickness! Since her arrival she’s quickly formed a bond with us and has begun to work on therapeutic tolerance training and keeping calm in new situations and scenarios. We’ve been able to expertly build on her ability to cope with situations without pushing her past the limits or stressing her to trigger any seizures. Saya has come a long way from her days falling off her branches, even though we still keep a hammock in her cage just in case she needs a soft catch from her perch at night. She even gets small mini grooming sessions with us privately and although it’s not a full grooming session, it’s a great start to reducing her going under anesthesia any more than necessary! Saya’s personality is certainly to run things, but she’s the biggest cuddle bug as well. She will dance for an audience (and for a walnut) and runs around the home like a puppy, preferring to speed around on the ground than to fly. She is fully flighted and has made leaps and bounds in the few short years she’s spent with us so far. We look forward to having Saya as a member of the sanctuary to show all the other birds how to settle in! Saya’s favorite toys are squeaky balls, the bigger the better! Her favorite treats are blackberries, and guess what! The aviary got their very own thorn-less blackberry bush that was “magically” planted on the side of it for extra delicious treats. We foresee Saya spending a lot more time sun bathing and indulging. Follow Saya and the others through updates on our Facebook! |
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February 2020
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