Lovebirds RESCUED!!

[Purl]

Let me tell you guys what happened. My husband and I own a pet supply store. We both had today off and went for a ride. We often will stop in and check out other Mom & Pop stores sometimes to see what they have, etc. We saw one and decided to go in..we were hesitant since they said they sold puppies & kittens, etc. But we went in...to our dismay we walked around and found some birds. 1 cockatiel, 2 lovebirds and about 10 parakeets. We almost got sick. The cockatiel cage was dirty, parakeets surprisingly cleaner BUT the lovebird cage must have had a month's worth of poop on the nesting box (over an inch thick) and the cage bottom. The litter in the tray was relatively newer. The birds looked horrible...we immediately turned around and left. We got in our car and were ready to go and we just couldn't leave them behind. They were priced..get this..2 lovebirds with cage!! $199/ Sale $150. We spoke to the kid he called the boss and we got them for $119 with cage..the thing needs to be burned. When we went back in we noticed the female's belly and one leg are all plucked!! Male has some plucking around his neck but no where near what she has. Anyway..we immediately took them, got in the car, called our vet and headed there. The male has a respiratory issue, female he couldn't hear it in her but we're treating both regardless. Male is thin. (food dish was filled with seed hulls!!) Their beaks and nails are a bit long but vet felt they were in too much distress and wanted them home sooner then later.
We stopped at our store and ordered them a nice new BIG cage. I pulled a bag of seed, some Roudybush Crumble, Harrison's Hi-Potency mash and mixed it all together. I figure by doing this they may get some mash on their seed and ingest a little bit of it. I have them in our office at home now, this room has our lizard so it's warm which I think they need right now..it also on the other side of the house from Purl. I have 1 small light on to keep them calm, changed the litter, gave them the mix I made and the water with their antibotics. They were cautious at first but I'm watching them via a mirror and they are eating.
The vet feels that the plucking is probably due to the stress of the conditons they were in. He thinks they are relatively young and feels that with our care they can turn around.
Finger's crossed.
I'm going to see if I can post some pics of them. Please excuse the cage..remember this is how they came and their new cage will be here tomorrow. Now when you see it remember it's been cleaned up a bit!!
My husband is not a bird person but he was almost in tears. He totally agreed with me that they could not be left behind.

 

[Purl]

Meet Salsa (green) and Peeps (yellow)..have no clue what type of lovebirds they are..only that they are now SAFE lovebirds.

 

[Didomum]

Makes me mad everytime I here the same old story. Glad you got them out of there but did you also call aminal control for the area and report them? If not please do. This is how we got our two Quakers last month. But before we took them we took photos of them in the store saying we wanted to show our kids the birds (small white lie but still) we took the photos to the animal control and showed them what conditions where like so the store could not change things before they got there and lie about the conditions. We all so snuck photos (love cell photo cameras) of the cats and dogs. We got a call last week the pet store has been fined and are no longer allowed to carry life stock. It a small victory but a start.

 

[Purl]

Our vet asked us for store name, location, etc. We spoke to him about calling animal control.

Edited to add:
They seem to be settling in nicely. They are together on their perch and I hear the faint familar sound of beak grinding contentment.

It's 5:30..I'm going to cover their cage for the night and let them get a good night's sleep, it was a busy day for them..

 

[Mayden]

Thankyou Purl for doing this. I don't care what people say about 'saving' animals from pet stores since they'll just get replaced. I wouldn't walk out on anything being neglected and abused that badly.

I hope you get to report it etc. Something needs to be done.

 

[PetoftheDay]

We hope your vet follows through, thank you for rescuing them. I hope they are investigated and fined. Keep records of everything, just in case!

 

[Purl]

Peeps and Salsa are doing good this morning. New fresh antibiotic water! Seed mix with bee pollen and Herb salad..they went right for it and were munching on the greens. YIPPEE!!
I think they will be fine.
Who knows..maybe some day they will be handable.

 

[walterbyrd]

> Peeps and Salsa

Love the names. Just curious, did you get the name "Salsa" from "Game of Thrones?" There is a character in that series named Salsa who is nick-named "little bird."

Thank you for your kindness is rescuing the birds.

 

[Purl]

> Peeps and Salsa

Love the names. Just curious, did you get the name "Salsa" from "Game of Thrones?" There is a character in that series named Salsa who is nick-named "little bird."

Thank you for your kindness is rescuing the birds.

Actually I've never seen Game of Thrones! I actually thought of this name when I fell in love with a pineapple sun conure two years ago and he was so colorful I thought Salsa would be perfect name for him. So when I rescued these guys I decided to name the male Salsa (husband thought maybe Guac short for Guacamole) but then I told him to name the female and he thought of Peeps since she looked like an Easter Peep to him.

Now I'm going to have to watch Game of Thrones...