by Pajarita » Sat Mar 18, 2017 11:40 am
Thank you, my friends! It's been a real hard time for me and Wolf passing away has only made things so much worse for me... I feel as if I lost a brother!
I found Freddy dead the afternoon of Friday, March 10th. I had gone out to do a home inspection around 2 pm for a prospective owner for Pookey (did not work out but I'll tell you about this some other time) and had left him out of his cage because he had started to walk around and climb but I shouldn't had because I knew he wasn't as sure-footed as he used to be so his death is on me. I found him hanging head down from the platform and, although I will never know what happened exactly, I think he must have tried to grab the wires that make the platform with his bad foot, slipped and his foot went down. He must have tried to get it out and ended up with his left wing (the same side as his bad foot) getting tangled in the next hole as well as his neck in still another one. These are big holes (maybe 3 by 4 inches each) so he should have been able to get untangled on his own easily or safe while waiting for me but he didn't and I guess the struggle must have choked him or something because he was dead.
I also lost a male canary and the female cardinal but neither bird was unexpected as the canary had been getting sick and getting better on antibiotics but he did not this last time and I found him dead one morning, and I never did know how old the cardinal was but I always suspected they were both old birds (the male is still going strong). Then I find Freddy dead and to put the icing on the cake, I had to put down my 19 year old dog, Rocky, from kidney failure (his liver and pancreas had not been doing well, either).
I love all my animals and I treat them all equal but, in my heart of hearts, I know that I have favorites (same thing with my children, grandchildren, dogs and cats). I try very, VERY, hard to treat everybody equally but that doesn't change my feelings. Freddy was one of my 'special' loves and his death really knocked me off my feet. I was completely devastated and couldn't even look at Linus for a couple of days (I didn't even let any of my birds out for two whole days) but having others that depend on me and need my love helps a lot when something like this happens so slowly but surely things are getting back to the normal routine. My husband and children did not know what to do to make me feel better but they just don't understand... My husband kept on saying: "We'll get you another one, just like him" and that made things worse although I know he was trying to console me. I actually screamed at him twice because of this and was not even answering the phone when my kids called but now I feel bad about doing this because I know they were just trying to help.
And now, my beloved friend Wolf is gone too and I am back in the dumps... But I will claw my way back up, like I always do. I've always been a survivor and, like Molly Brown, I am unsinkable so don't worry about me.