So long Tydie.

[Faraaz]

Well bad news guys my old Senegal (Tydie) died. I was heart broken, I adopted her 7 years ago and now he finally has ended her life. She learned all his tricks from Kili and watching her videos. I never trained her to do any tricks all she did was watch and learn. I am tearing right now so please excuse my mistakes, anyways I rescued her when she was nearly all plucked. I spent about 2k for vet checkups then medications. After I finally brought her home she always danced and would step up on my head. Later she would play dead next to me when i'm sleeping to act like she was sleeping too. She also cleaned up my plate of broccoli when I never ate it. She lived a good 36 years of her life and 7 of them with me. Her cage and toys are packed up in the basement in honor of her. Now its up to my budgies to cheer me up and have fun with me, I tamed him to wave today, anyways Tydie you will never be forgotten. Salute to tydie.

[Wolf]

Losing a friend is always a difficult time, a long time. I know that it wasn't today because you mentioned it in one of your very first posts; how long has it been?
Because of the sense of loss and usually guilt, and the physical absence of the lost friend their is an immense black hole torn from the center of our very being, our soul as it were. All of the times that we can't avoid thinking of that were and could have been filled with the light of this friend and all of the feelings of hopelessness and guilt and despair do nothing to fill the void, but only serve to make the crater even deeper and darker and it is so easy to get lost in this great empty.
It is never an easy task to refuse this darkness as it is so overwhelming and it makes us seem to be so small, but that is illusion. Your friend was/ is a shining spark of the great divine and lives always as long as we remember to celebrate the time that we shared. Let your eyes see the hopes of the present and the promise of tomorrow in the memory of all of the joyous hours that our friend brought into our life and then brightened by sharing them with us.
we honor our friend by the celebration of the love and joy that we shared in life and not by pineing for times not shared. We honor our friend by sharing that same love and laughter that our friend shared with us.

[Pajarita]

Sorry for your loss.

[Gabriella]

I am so sorry to hear of your loss of Tydie. I also lost my Senegal, Sheba, this week (April 24.) She was my pet for 30 years. I purchased her from a pet store (that was three decades ago when I was young and didn't know better) and was told, at that time, she had been imported from Africa. I don't know her actual age, except that I had her in my home for 30 years. She was a very dear pet, bonded with me, would sit on my shoulder, give kisses, etc., and would shriek at strangers. I used to joke and say she was my little burglar alarm should a stranger ever enter the house. I think Senegals are excellent parrots as pets as they are not very noisy or very dirty compared to other birds. During the past couple of years she has experienced geriatric problems including high levels of uric acid, which can lead to gout, kidney malfunction and other problems. She has been under the care of a specialized (and quite expensive, I may add) avian vet. Due to the high uric acid levels causing the kidney malfunctions, the vet said Sheba required additional fluids and recommended daily visits to the vet's office for sub q injections of fluid. I could not afford daily visits, but did give her a twice daily oral medication (apurinal) prescribed by the vet (orally via eye dropper) which Sheba was very good about taking. I also gave her a couple extra eye droppers of water with two times a day (2 ml total two times a day.) She would rally and do well for a couple of days, then would have less appetite for a day, then would perk up for a day or two and so on....a little trooper of a gal who kept up the best she could. The vet also told me she was developing cataracts. Much like humans, dogs, and cats, parrots appear to develop symptoms of aging as well. This sucks. On Monday she was a bit quiet and on Tues morning her droppings were only half of normal. She appeared tired and was sort of bowing down instead of sitting fully upright. I took her to the vet who gave her sub q fluids after weighing her (her weight was down by several grams from Monday to the Tuesday...I weighed her nearly every day and I recommend that other bird owners do this as well.) On Tuesday, one of her feet could not grip well and I pointed this out to the vet who agreed that it may be the gout acting up, but she did not want to take a blood sample for lab tests until Sheba perked up a bit, hopefully by Wednesday. She gave me an Rx for an oral pain medication (like a liquid Tylenol for birds) to help relieve any discomfort from gout. I took Sheba home Tuesday evening and instead of placing her in her cage, I put her in towel lined shoe box on my bed table that night so I could keep an eye on her. At 11:30 PM I woke up and found her very weak and breathing harder than normal. Her little body was already getting cold. I wrapped her in a towel, with a heating pad and put her in bed with me, apparent that she was dying (I called the vet to bring her in to euthanize her but the office was closed in the middle of the night) so I held her and called her little name and told her that I loved her. She died just before 12:30 PM, less than an hour later. Even though she was obviously very weak at that time, just before she died she opened her eyes, and even though she was laying on her side, she fluttered her wings, not in a spastic way but in a gentle way. I say she was flying to Heaven. I am feeling tremendous guilt that I must have missed something in her care. Logically, I know that there is only so much you can do for a geriatric bird with kidney disease, cataracts, etc, but she did get pleasure in life from sitting on my shoulder, receiving and giving affection, and on some days, from her food, so I can't help but wonder if should could have lived for many more years had I done something differently or taken better care of her in some manner. Thirty years is a long time to have a pet as a member of one's little family. I do have a wonderful little dog (so darling) who I love dearly, but I am going to miss my Sheba for a long, long time. Again, I think that Senegals are darling little companions!

[Harpmaker]

They can't be replaced. But the time comes when your memories will enrich your life.

[Faraaz]

Thanks Everyone for their replies. I was training Truman and I looked at Tydies Cage. It was empty. Truman loves to land on his cage and tries to squeeze through the bars and get that giant toy which Tydie loved but it never happens. Truman loves to ring the small bell, the same bell which Tydie loved but I know that the days are over and I must move on.

[AnarchoBoxer]

So sorry for your loss. Best wishes to you.