Going on Vacation

[Vieve]

My family is going on vacation for 6 days soon and I am trying to figure out which option would be the least stressful for my African Grey, who had lived with s for 6 weeks now. We have a neighbour who comes to feed the cat each time we go away. I could have her come in 2-3 times a day, and take care of Melilah (our parrot) as well. I would see if she can stay awhile to to keep her company, but I'm guessing she would only be available to stay about an hour per day. I'm concerned it may be too much time alone and too much time in her cage. The other option is to take her somewhere to be taken care of by a more experienced bird professional. The downside to this is that she is just getting settled here with us and I don't want her to think we are sending her away to a new home. I feel like that could be stressful for her. What do you all do when you go away? What do you think is best?

[BabyBird]

My family is going on vacation for 6 days soon and I am trying to figure out which option would be the least stressful for my African Grey, who had lived with s for 6 weeks now. We have a neighbour who comes to feed the cat each time we go away. I could have her come in 2-3 times a day, and take care of Melilah (our parrot) as well. I would see if she can stay awhile to to keep her company, but I'm guessing she would only be available to stay about an hour per day. I'm concerned it may be too much time alone and too much time in her cage. The other option is to take her somewhere to be taken care of by a more experienced bird professional. The downside to this is that she is just getting settled here with us and I don't want her to think we are sending her away to a new home. I feel like that could be stressful for her. What do you all do when you go away? What do you think is best?

You could try giving her to a family member who you trust, or you could give a family member a spare house-key and let them stay at your house whilst your away, so they can look after him and be with him most of the day. That's what I would do.

[liz]

1 Don't go on vacation.
2 Take him with you.
3 Hire a pet sitter.
4 Find a family in your neighbor hood with a responsible teenager and enlist the whole family to care for him. You could offer to pay him per day for his care and his families support. Most parents help when their kid gets a job and they need help.
Teach the kid how to care for your bird and why you feed them that way and why you have a schedule (not just this is the way it is). Put snacks in your house and soda so the kid can be with your bird while doing his homework. I would have jumped at a chance to care for such an intelligent creature. Invite the kid over ahead of time and let him do a little bonding while he is getting comfortable with your bird.

I have done this. Our critters have never been alone at night. If the whole family is going to be away I hire a neighbor who can do sleep overs.

[Wolf]

I must say that I have no answers for you in this area, at least I don't think that I do. In the spirit of trying to help you, I will share with you my concerns and maybe that will help you to find your way.
This is still a very stressful time for your Grey , especially since you tell me that she was abused. More information about that would be helpful as abuse takes on many forms and degrees of it with different effects on the bird. She is still new to you and your household so she is still scared and the bonding process will usually take longer as she has to get past her previous mistreatment before she can trust you and begin the bonding. Despite her mistreatment she knows that she is dependent upon you and so I know that she is doing all that she knows to try and trust you. The biggest issue with this vacation is in the timing of it. and in the nature of the bonding with the bird. You have not had enough time to prepare for this as regards the bird. When you go away for longer than usual the bird thinks that you have died as that is the only reason that it knows and understands for you not being there with her and so she enters into a depressed state and begins the grieving process. This is very hard on most parrots and is even harder for a Grey and it is a thing that some of them never fully recover from. This is the thing that worries me the most although being stuck in the cage for so long is not going to be good either and is probably my second biggest concern.
I think that you really need to find someone who loves bird enough that you can have them come over and learn about your bird and its needs on a regular basis not just when you need to go away. This person needs to be able to accept that parrots bite and to not over react even when it is a bad bite. They need to understand that biting is a parrots last line of defense and that the parrot only bites when it feels that it has no other option. They need to learn from your bird how to interact with it including the cues from the bird that will allow them to avoid a bite, and especially with a Grey these signals or cues are often very subtle. They would not need to be there daily but at least a couple of hours a couple of times a week so that the bird knows them and can learn to trust them too and accept them as part of its flock.
I don't have such a person and since taking 7 birds with me is not an option I just don't go away if I can avoid it. I did leave twice for a maximum period of 24 hours as I went to pick up a bird at those times and had to time it so that my lady could be there for the bird and to give them attention and a meal until I could get back. When I did these two trips my Grey was the one that reacted the most strongly to my absence and started plucking again while I was gone.
As I said, I don't think that I have any answers for you concerning your up coming vacation, but my concerns and the reasons for them may help you if you plan a future vacation or at least I hope so as none of this is shared as a negative. Good luck in finding the best answer for you and your bird. Is there any way that you could get a smaller travel cage for her and take her with you on vacation?

[liz]

I cannot go away over night unless my daughter is here. She knows how I care for my kid. Rachel and Myrtle have their own kind of bond. Myrtle torments and Rachel has to take it. When I am gone she gets closer to Rachel and does not pull things on her.

Myrtle loves my son and a little too much to suit him. I left him in charge one time and Myrtle struck terror in the hearts of everyone including my son.

I bought a house in Florida last March. My daughter is in NC trying to get her stuff together or so she says. Personally I think she is taking a vacation from her responsibilities which have all landed on me including that knot head horse. I cannot put the NC house up for sale because one of us has to be here.

[Vieve]

Thankfully, she was never abused, as far as I know (Wolf, could you have me confused with another forum member?)

I agree with the idea of having a petsitter that can stay the night being the best option, and we already asked two that we know, who would be excellent with all of our pets, but both are not available. None of our family members are able to do it either unfortunately, which is what leaves me in this position. Sending her to a family members house is a great idea too, except that all of our family have dogs, which is a whole process to get the dogs adapted to the bird and vice versa. Same goes for all close friends and neighbours who I could ask.

The person who would come in a few times a day our neighbour, a teenage girl and animal lover, who has always pet sit our cat when we go away. She and her family are very close friends of ours and I know she would be willing to come over beforehand to learn more about Melilah. Also, her mom, another animal lover, would oversee. It is not ideal, I know, but this time around it seems to be the best option...

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the wonderful world of parrots where keepers don't go on vacations, have sick days, are allowed to have children or significant others, get up late, etc. etc. etc.!

I am afraid that there is no good solution to your problem. I am not trying to be difficult or mean but regardless of what you choose to do, it will not be good for your parrot. Grays are notoriously high strung and overly sensitive (that's why they are so prone to plucking) and you haven't had her long enough for her to feel secure in your home so even if you bring somebody to live there, which would be the best solution, this person will still be a stranger. My husband and I have not gone on vacations together in about 10 years. We have family back home which we need to keep in touch with (brothers, children, grandchildren, cousins, etc) so he goes on his own while I stay back and then I go by myself while he stays back. It's not easy and it's certainly not what we would like (we used to travel a lot and we really enjoyed it!) but when you have parrots and you want to keep them happy, you have no choice but to make big sacrifices...

Keeping parrots is HARD HARD HARD if you want to do it right... and disappearing on them when they are merely beginning to resign themselves to the new home, human, etc is not what one would recommend, especially for a gray. Now, please don't think that I am criticizing you for going on vacation! I am not! You, obviously, did not know that having a parrot would be so different from having a dog or a cat... newbies never realize the HUGE adjustment to their lifestyle that living with a parrot means but there you have it!

Try to make it so she is on a very strict schedule, get her used to leaving a radio on during the day and enlist somebody to come three times a day to get her breakfast and dinner served exactly at the same time every day and to let her out for, at least, 1 hour in the middle of the day. That's the best you can do short of cancelling your vacations...

[Wolf]

Yes it is quite possible and I apologise for the confusion.

[seagoatdeb]

I bring my parrots to visit my daughter a number of times a week, and she brings a parrot or two over here to visit with me too. This way my parrots will be familiar with her and her house if they ever do have to be taken care of by her for a while. Even then, it is hard on parrots when you go away and dont take them.

I think in your situation, It is probably best to leave them at home with someone coming over. Your parrot will be upset when they realize you are gone overnight, and probably not even want out of the cage, but it will be easier than adjusting to a new place on top of you not being there. Your Grey will probably be off eating well while you are gone too, so leaving more of the favorite foods for the care giver is a good idea too.

[Vieve]

I bring my parrots to visit my daughter a number of times a week, and she brings a parrot or two over here to visit with me too. This way my parrots will be familiar with her and her house if they ever do have to be taken care of by her for a while. Even then, it is hard on parrots when you go away and dont take them.

I think in your situation, It is probably best to leave them at home with someone coming over. Your parrot will be upset when they realize you are gone overnight, and probably not even want out of the cage, but it will be easier than adjusting to a new place on top of you not being there. Your Grey will probably be off eating well while you are gone too, so leaving more of the favorite foods for the care giver is a good idea too.

Good idea about the favourite foods. I was also thinking about stocking up on some foraging treats that will give her something to do in her cage, that can be rotated daily. My parents have also offerdd to come a few times over those 6 days to sit with her for a couple hours, which is great. She loves my dad, since she is a big fan of men, so that should make her happy!