URGENT- Pathology/post mortum

[Pajarita]

Again, so sorry for your loss but, if I remember correctly, this bird was a rescue so who knows what kind of life she had before she came to you, Marie. Birds that were not fed right when they were babies and/or were stressed out are not as strong as the ones that were cared for properly from day one. And, most likely, even if you had caught it and taken her to the vet, she would have died anyway. People talk about this or that species living until they are 30, 40, 60, 80 but, in reality, it's rare that they actually make it to old age.... captivity is very hard on parrots bodies.

[Wolf]

I have a few other sites that I visit regularly and most of the birds that I know of that died not including accidents have seldom been close to the ages that they are supposed to live to. Once in a while I run up on a grey of 20 and 25 years old, but so far I don't know of any that reached 50 or 60 years.
I was shocked and surprised to read the postings that Harlie had passed. I know how I feel about my birds and I know that I would be grieving very deeply if I were to lose one of mine, so I understand how you must be feeling. The biggest reason that I was so surprised was that I know how well you take care of your birds.I can understand how you are probably feeling but even with that I can only imagine the depth of your feeling for Harlie as she was with you and grew to be so much more special to you than anyone else can guess. My heart goes out for you and I am so sorry that this happened.

[Lori]

(((((hugs))))) so sorry for your loss. You were an Excellent mom!

[marie83]

All my tiels except for one have been from bad homes. The one who wasn't was abandoned by her parents at weaning I watched her very carefully before intervention but she wasn't reliably eating solids and needed topping up. Her death was a shock, she broke her neck in her cage overnight

I guess with Harlie we had 9 years together, she outlived my other rescues with the exception of another tiel called magic who made it to his mid - late teens. Harlie was still young when I asked her owners to hand her over but yes she wasn't looked after. Tiny cage, smoke filled house,a mainly sunflower diet and kids that terrorised her by poking things at her, shaking the cage etc. She couldn't fly, even climbing around her cage her balance was shocking if she made a mistake with her footing.
I'm amazed how far we came in the end because it was looking like she would never trust a human yet the night before her death she was flying back and forth confidently and with accuracy, then demanding cuddles in between.

[Pajarita]

There you go! I tell you, people don't even begin to realize how important good care is when they are babies... And this is the reason why 99% of older birds you find out there were all either wild-caught or first generation offspring, the ones that have been captive-bred from generations of captive-bred are incredibly inferior genetically and never last half as long as they should.

[marie83]

Oh totally. us humans wreck everything really.

Thank you everybody for all the support.

I will update her "progress" thread in a few days when I'm hopefully less easily upset, its just something I need to do as I was planning on doing it anyway.
Ollies missing her too although they usually ignored each other, he keeps looking for her, he got hissed at if he got too close though but too close was getting a smaller distance each time!

Harlie is being cremated tomorrow morning which is a bit bizarre for me because I have buried all my pets in the past but my boyfriend had a say in the matter too and he wanted cremation. I have chosen a place that guarantees individual cremation and even has a viewing window although I don't think I can go that far and watch it! I was about to start crying again then but Ollie is wet from his bath and perched on my hand- he has started rubbing his head all over my hand (like a wet dog rolls to dry off) which he has never done before. He is such a comfort.

[Pajarita]

Ay, no, Marie! Don't watch! I would faint dead away! I use cremation myself for all my animals but I don't do the individual ones because I don't keep their ashes.... I am very irreverent and quite pragmatic when it comes to these things.

[marie83]

No I couldn't do it and I knew that before I went so didnt even attempt to.

I wish I could be like that, I keep telling myself her body is old clothes that don't fit her spirit any more but I still can't see it that way. I have brought her ashes home though in a casket which I will probably bury at some point. It's completely daft but they offered me a scatter tube but I can't stand the thought of her not being "together". I am a weird creature lol.

[Pajarita]

No, nothing is weird when it comes to feelings... How about mixing her ashes with soil and planting a seed in it? That's what I want them to do to my ashes.

[Navre]

Even though we know they are not really there anymore, it helps many people to have a physical place in which to remember a loved one. It is why we risk life and limb to recover lost bodies. On a purely pragmatic sense it is crazy to risk the lives of rescuers to recover the bodies of the lost, yet we do it all the time.

Wanting to keep her in one place, a place in which you can remember her and reflect on her, makes perfect sense. It's not crazy at all. It's why the pyramids were built. Whatever you feel is right, is right.