Julian's Second Update

[Roonil Wazlib]

Hey guys!

So, some of you may know of the recent life struggle I've had. My boyfriend and I broke up, and Julain, the cats and I had to move back in with my parents. (And I was in the guest room for over a month, waiting for the downstairs room to be finished, so I didn't really have an area that I could spend any time with Julian in) My mum is an analy neat person, and she had an extremely difficult time adjusting to Julians mess, and basically told me he needed to be kept in the cage because she just couldn't stand it anymore. So I was freaking out and ended up putting him up for adoption because I wasn't going to be that selfish. And atm I have next to no money as I don't have a job, so building an aviary felt like an impossible task. But I sat down with the parents and have borrowed the money I needed to build him an aviry (which i just posted over in housing) and took down the ad, and now, three months later, we have our own space and have adjusted to our new life. I just couldn't bare to give him up! and im thankful to report, even though its been pretty stressful, he's healthy as can be, (and have a mim and pop to love him as well) which is why I wanted to update you guys.

He came into my life in April 18th of last year, and though it has been tough, and much harder than a cat or dog, he is my little bundle of joy, and I always just want to do what is best by him, and I think judging by the before and after pictures of our eight months together, I am doing that, even though sometimes it feels like I can't give him all the attention he needs, or that he's cooped up for longer than I would like, or that he hadn't got as many toys as I want to give him, or this that and the other thing. We are doing okay.

I would also like to say that he's talking heaps also. When I got him he was just crudely learning how to say "hello" and I don't know if it was because of his age or because he didn't get any attention from the people he was last with) But, regardless, he's saying "Peek-a-boo" "I love you" "Gimme a kiss" "Watcha doing" "Hello" "Moo-Shoo" "Cimba" (cats names) "Come on" "Good boy" (which sounds like "Oh boy" like tickle me Elmo ) and he rings the telephone, and can mimic my message whistle tone to a T!

GET READY FOR THE EXPLOSION OF PHOTOS:

BEFORE:

The first photo I took of him. In the car of the way home. The woman who I got him from didn't even have a stick between the bars for him

Later on that night when he was settled. My heart absoulty breaks for him in this picture. I didn't realise how bad he looked compared to how he is thriving now.

A month or two later:

AFTER:

My boy is so sexi and scrumptious now!

[Roonil Wazlib]

When I got him he had so many stress bars. Now thankfully, 90% of them are gone XD and looking on flek!

No reason for the towl, just that we arn't too afraid of them

And this for shits and giggles

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And now we can do this for about five seconds with out him holding on (quite very recent):

And I know yal'll are probably going to have a fit over this, so don't give me a lecture. I have slowly integrated the cats and parrot to be able to co-exist like this over about four months. The cats are about 4 years old, and have never seen/hunted a bird the size of julian before. They are mostly scared of him/are his friend, and I watch very closely when they are out together. I just wanted to post because I think this is so adorable and some of you might get a laugh

[Wolf]

It really is a cool picture of Julian and the cat and you already know that cats and birds interacting is not really a great idea, but try to remember that a cat doesn't have to bite or scratch a bird to harm it because the cats saliva is toxic enough all by itself. So be aware of this as well and separate them when the cat is cleaning itself as there is more saliva present then. Just a heads up for if you did not know or think of this.

[Roonil Wazlib]

Yeah. I know. One time, when Julian was eating, and mum was watching them, my cat was trying to get his vegetables - his vegetables for goodness sake, lol, and mum laughed and told me to come have a look, and when I did, i did laugh too, but told her to watch out for that because of the saliva.

[marie83]

Well I can't say I approve of him being around cats but I just wanted to say how much healthier Julian looks with you caring for him. Your clearly doing a great job.

[Roonil Wazlib]

The reason for my integrating them together like this is because if something were to happen and Julian managed to get out of his cage when I wasn't home, and the cats were in, I wanted to be sure that a catastrophe wouldn't happen. He is flighted, so he could get away, but I wanted to make sure that the cats would be less likely to go for him, as I've had an experience before where we didn't realise the cat (different cat, different bird) was in and we went out and came home to the cage on the floor, blood and feathers everywhere, and the bird nowhere to be seen. (bird was ok, thank the heavens) but, for my situations, i felt i could be responsible in the kind of interaction they had, and felt it best that i know they can have this response around each other (i wouldn't do it if i had a smaller bird, though, that is too risky)

I'm not going to say that "I know my cats wouldn't do that" bs, because cats are cats and instinct is instinct and i'm not delusional, but I felt it best in my situation, and now the cats hardly bat an eyelid at him, and that's exactly the kind of response I want them to evoke when he is involved.

Anyway /endrant.

Thanks I'm still in shock at how well he's advancing. I took him to the vets two months after I got him, and she said to take him off the seed and put him onto pellets. Thankfully I didn't listen to the avian vet, and went with my gut. He gets %60 fruit and veg, and with his species, I think it makes all the difference - not the %10 she suggested.

[liz]

Now "don't try this at home" but Rambo gave the other animals attitude adjustments when he moved in. They respect his space and no one trust Myrtle. Rambo claimed Riddick as his dog. Myrtle claimed Squeakie and Jasmine.
Fancy Cat was the only furry I trusted with the Cockatiels. When I got home one day the animals looked suspicious. They were all facing a corner. What I saw was fancy laying stretched out on the floor in front of a Cockatiel who had some how escaped. I put the bird back and Fancy rejoined the other furries. Somehow she knew they were important to me.
Like I said don't anyone try this just because my house "ain't right".

[Pajarita]

I am so very glad you were able to resolve the problems without getting rid of him! And he is looking really wonderful! But I also do not approve of allowing a cat so close to a bird. Cats are not really domesticated and have a very high prey instinct so even when one thinks one has the situation under control and the cats are 'used' to the bird and will not react, it's nothing more than wishful thinking. Please reconsider.

[Roonil Wazlib]

Liz, your story warms my heart. Really wonderful to hear. If I could give Fancy a high five and a scratch behind the ears I totally would. XD

[Wolf]

I both agree and disagree with Pajarita about birds and dogs and cats. Like many other things there are often two sides to the same coin and in some cases you can not concern yourself with both sides but I don't think that the issue of birds and dog/ cat interaction is one of these.

First and foremost dogs and cats are predators and are simply not ever to be trusted around birds which are a natural food source for them. Secondly, dogs and cats are not generally found in the parrots natural habitat, so parrots do not have the natural fear of them although they are predators. And my last point on this coin is that both cats and dogs are domesticated, although cats have retained enough of their wild instincts that they can generally survive in the wild without human intervention, while most dogs can't. But, I do believe that both cats and dogs need to be around our birds enough to be familiar enough with them to be bored with them and to find them generally uninteresting. This can save our birds from these two predators in two distinct ways, the first is that it can allow us time to intervene in their interactions enough to save the birds life and quite possibly from actually being harmed and in the case of the cat or dog being in the house and managing to gain access to a caged bird to not attack the bird or its cage while you are out as they are familiar enough that the bird is relatively uninteresting to them.

While, to me these are just common sense precautions, the only thing that I can say is that even with these precautions in place and maintained, do not ever, for any reason what- so- ever trust a dog or cat with a bird as the bird is one of their natural sources of food and we are not able to effectively over ride their natural instincts in every situation.