Navre and Friends in Boston

[Navre]

These little guys can be so sensitive that they pick up on your stress. They seem to know when you are worried about something. At this point you are worried about them and they know it.

And, at this point, he is scared of me. He is scared of me because I'm the o e who has to scoop him up if he needs to be taken somewhere or put back in his cage.

Isn't there a room where he can be safe day and night so he doesn't have to be put back in his cage? Maybe that is what is stressing him out... maybe he needs to be cage-free in his own room until he relaxes. Also, have you tried herbal tranquilizers like theanine, linden, valerian root, etc in his water?

I should try the herbs. He likes his cage. Most of the time if he is out on the floor. I just have to call his name and he runs back there. It's only sometimes that he will get into the kitchen and kind of get lost and I have to corral him.

Increased bathing seems to be helping.

I got up at 0500 this morning, and changed his papers. I waited until 0620 for him to poop, and he never did. I'll have to get the fecal sample tomorrow.

[liz]

Myrtle is 7 but spent the first year of her life in a small cage. When I brought her home I did not close her cage. She knew she was free and that I was treating her with respect due any being.

To take her to the vet I would have to coral her into the bathroom and wait for her to go to floor before I could get her. She cried the whole time in transit. She stuck to me while in the strange place and even took the French fry reward on the way home. Then she would not speak to me for a long while after that.

They have fantastic memories. I once scared Myrtle and she would not look at me or talk to me for 10 days.

[Navre]

I think theanine is the active ingredient in avicalm.

[Pajarita]

Yes, it is but it's cheaper to buy theanine than the Avi-Calm It's good for the liver, too. They were doing an experiment with birds suffering from hemochromatosis giving them theanine to see if it helped the liver get rid of some of the excess iron but I can't find any results on it even though I periodically check for them.

You can also increase his intake of foods rich in tryptophan, a precursor for serotonin and melatonin - sesame seeds, oats, sunflowers, raw quinoa, chickpeas -but not too many because they are super high in oxalates, too.

[Navre]

Nicky seems to be doing better. The plucking has pretty much stopped. I think there are some feathers that he had damaged last week that are breaking off now, but that's about it.

It seems to me that it was just the stress of the vet trip. However long it should take a bird to get over something, triple that for greys. If he needs to be vetted again, I think I'll call the rescue's vet. She'll have to charge me a ton extra, because she is a couple of hours away, but she does house calls. I think, over all, he will be better off.

I brought in a fecal sample, but assuming that comes back negative, I'm not going to bring him in for X-rays and blood work. The risk/reward of the whole thing doesn't make sense right now.

They gave me Gabapentin for his plucking. I haven't given it to him, and I don't think I will. I am a bit concerned that his skin seems really red where he has plucked, but since he has stopped, I think I'll just let him be.

I should have Avi-calm today, and I'll start giving it to him. If it doesn't seem to be helping after a while, I'll try to add in some other hippie herbal stuff.

I have been letting Nicky dictate the pace of training, but I think I might have to step things up once he is over this particular incident. He needs to be able to be transported and handled without losing his mind. Taming to some level is necessary.

[Navre]

Irwin has finally started eating more than just the kale and beans in his gloop (and he would only eat fresh kale, never the frozen stuff that's in the Pan gloop mix.

Irwin likes red grapes now, and is at least interested in the other stuff enough to take it out and throw it around the cage.

He is far more vocal, eating better, bathing...acting like a bird. His color is better and he looks like he has gained weight. He seems like he might be able to fly, given the chance. He flies in his cage.

He can now crack and eat some sunflower seeds. He can't break the really thick ones. I noticed this because the big fat sunflower seeds always end up at the bottom of the cage.

Overall, I think he's doing better, and he seems happier.

[Navre]

They have fantastic memories. I once scared Myrtle and she would not look at me or talk to me for 10 days.

I think it's better that I always be "the bad guy" when it comes to Nicky. I don't want him to have reason to fear everyone in the house.

[Pajarita]

YAAAAYYY, great news, John! Sometimes, we forget about always keeping in mind to avoid stress as the plague and tweak things here and there and, when we don't see any type of adverse effect immediately or after a few days, we keep on doing them but I have learned that this method does not pay in the long term. It's always better to treat them as if they had been with us only for a few days and make the effort to keep things as 'smooth' as possible. And this rigidity in my husbandry is, in a nutshell, why everybody in my family thinks I am a maniac and a nut when it comes to the birds

[Navre]

And this rigidity in my husbandry is, in a nutshell, why everybody in my family thinks I am a maniac and a nut when it comes to the birds

Well, I'm sure they're not wrong, but if it works I say be nuts! Birds like nuts anyhow.

[Pajarita]

Yes, they do, don't they?!