Stories of Loki

[ClatteringConure]

I hope this is the right place to post some stories of my beloved conure. I looked over the other forums and this seemed like the best place.

I have some stories that I want to share because they really touched me. The more funny stories I will post in the pinned topic for her funny antics because believe me she has them!

What I really want to talk about is how in tune she is with me. My mom has commented that in some ways Loki acts like a therapy animal. In my introduction post, I briefly mentioned having panic attacks and she'd come to me and calm me down. I'll go into more detail about how she has helped me with my mental disorders.


I'll never forget the very first time she came to me. It was last October. I was having a panic attack. I was sitting in front of my computer my head in my hands. Yes, I have medication I could take but I really try not to take it if I have to. However, I usually end up taking it because my own attempts to pacify a panic attack are not successful. I was sitting there caught up in my panic attack, light-headed, short of breath, heart racing, feeling flighty and panicky. I was also slightly hyperventilating at points.

Suddenly, I hear a flap of wings behind me and turn around to see Loki on the floor waddling up to me. I leaned over to help her climb up my side and to my shoulder. Whenever she flies to me I let her sit with me not having the heart to put her back on her cage. With her perched on my shoulder, I turned back around focused back on my panic attack. She immediately went into action. She acted like a different bird. Before that she had been a busybody. Climbing all over everything and chewing on everything but she was very attentive to me. Loki snuggled against my neck occasionally preening my hair. When I would go into a hyperventilation episode she would cuddle against me harder and begin talking softly. Another thing I found unusual she would tug on my shirt. She chews but this felt more like tugging.

Solely because of her help within 30 minutes, I felt my panic attack melting away and eventually it was gone. It left me exhausted, so still sitting up I laid my head down on a small pillow. I had noticed she was facing the opposite direction. When I called my dad into the room she became protective of me. She fluffed up at my dad and was rubbing her beak back and forth on me charging at my dad.

That amazed me because before her nothing else I tried or did could calm me down.

One other time I had not a panic attack but a different episode that was coming on. Loki flew to me just minutes before the episode began. I was sitting on the couch this time. She was leaning against my head again preening my hair snuggling against me. She was able to help me then too and I think she knew there was something going on with me before I did.

Depression is my biggest problem. When I'm having a really hard time with depression Loki will often cling to the very edge of her cage trying her hardest to peek into my room when I'm bedbound. If I'm able to get out of bed she'll sometimes watch me and talk to me. She often times begs me to take her. Overall Loki can act differently around me when I'm depressed.


It's astounding what she does for my mental health and how much she makes a difference. What amazes me, even more, is like with those panic attack episodes it's like she knew what to do.

Loki really is amazing and I love her so much. I don't know what I would have done without her these past two years.

 

[RavensGryf]

Hi welcome . That's such a sweet story of Loki. Some animals are just amazing. It's obvious what a special bond you two have. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[ClatteringConure]

Thank you RavensGryf for the welcome.

Here's a couple more stories of Loki.

This story starts last Monday. The night before I had lifted up my bedroom window and usually it takes a lot effort to get it to budge. This time, it shot up and I evidently twisted my back the wrong way. I didn't feel it then but I did the next morning. I've done things that's made my muscles sore before so the entire day I thought nothing of it.

That night I was in my room on my computer and I hear Loki squawking. Something fell to the floor and it really scared her. Wanting to help her like she had me so many times in the past I walked into the room and took her. I laid down with her on my bed to calm her down. I am always very careful when I am laying down with Loki. She got into a comfortable spot in front of me snuggled up against me and in my hair. She stayed there for a while and stopped making her nervous chirps. That told me she had calmed down.

I spent a while longer with her enjoying snuggling with her but when I went to get out of bed I felt a strong pang of pain in my lower back off to the side. I really thought nothing of that either as I usually find a way to get out of bed. This time, I couldn't get out of bed. I had mom get Loki off my shoulder which Loki reluctantly left me. She was placed back on her cage. I continued to try to get out of bed but when I turned over I was in an immense amount of pain. I had never felt that kind of pain before. I was frozen in place on my side and my whole body was tense. I couldn't bare to move as I was having muscle spasms.

Mom had left to get some natural pain reliever leaving just Loki in the living room. She heard me and she began to squawk and wouldn't let up. Whenever she heard me she began to make a raucous. When I quieted down she did. When mom came back into my room with the pain reliever she told me that Loki is hanging on the corner of the cage trying to peek into my room. I was eventually able to get out of bed and when I did Loki was following me everywhere she could on her cage keeping a close eye on me for the rest of the night.

The next morning I got up and wanted take Loki so I did. She got on my shoulder and I sat with her for a bit. When I tried to put her up she absolutely refused to go back to her cage. I wasn't able to get her back in her cage because of my back and because she was being so stubborn. When I tried my usual tricks to get her off she'd just push further up against me. It took my mom to get her back in her cage.


Today I've kinda hurt my back again after thinking it was finally healed from being sprained. After I was starting to show pain again and my ability to walk upright was affected Loki began to make her nervous chirps. She was watching me and didn't like it when I left her. It made her more nervous.


Right now, however, she's happy and content in her little coconut. I need to post a pic of her cage and especially of her favorite toy her coconut. It's where she spends all her time scratching her head. haha She loves that thing! I call it her "Coco". haha

 

[Allee]

Hello and welcome, we're happy to have you and Loki join us!

It sounds like you have a very special companion, thank you for sharing your stories and photos of beautiful Loki.

 

[Flboy]

You really have something special!

 

[Ollie_Ash]

Loki sounds like an amazing friend!

 

[ClatteringConure]

Thank you, everyone! Loki indeed is a very special little girl but when I got her I was very devasted. Which is another story I'll touch on. How I came to get Loki.

5 years before Loki I had a male white faced cockatiel. His name was Shade. He was my world and my everything. Unlike Loki, we didn't clip his wings. He flew around in the house and while he spent time with everyone he was after me the most. He would often land on my head. Shade would bow his head so I could scratch it. In fact, he'd beg me to scratch his head. There's stories and things about him I won't forget. One time he jumped into my cereal bowl. Which I quickly ushered him out. He loved plastic bags and when I say love, I mean he really did love them. He'd court them. haha Spread out his little wings into a heart shape, sing and do little hops around them. Luckily with Shade, I got a recording of him singing. Like Loki when I called him he came running to me. He could be across the room (or in another room) and when I called him he'd come flying to me. He seemed to know when I was struggling too as he would fly into my room and land on my head spending a little time with me.

Two years ago in April, he wasn't acting like himself. He was sitting fluffed up and quiet. The next morning we called the vet's office and took him to the see the local avian vet. He gave him a general antibiotic shot and gave us some medicine to give him through a needless syringe. That night I'll never forget. Shade so used to flying tried to fly to me but fell to the floor. He came walking to me and it broke my heart. It was like he was thinking I could save him. We tried to give him the medicine and was able to but he was so sick and the way we had to do it stressed him out. He wasn't used to being handled like that.

That night before I went to sleep I noticed he was sitting up on his perch. I got up at 2:30 AM and noticed he was sitting on his food bowl which I knew wasn't good. I went back to bed and at 3:30 AM I found him laying on the bottom of his cage on his back. I knew he wasn't going to make it. I knew there wasn't going to be a miraculous recovery. So I sat down beside him and softly talked to him. I talked to him until his feet stopped moving and I knew he had passed.

It was just past 3:30 AM on April 2, 2014.

I was beyond devastated and felt extremely guilty. He flew everywhere, we let him eat almost anything human food wise, we let him walk around on the floor and forage. I so wish the things we know now we knew back then.

His test results came back and revealed he had a bacterial infection. I asked them where he could have got it from. She said it's hard to say. He could've picked it up from anywhere. It didn't make me feel any better or any less guilty. In his last weeks alive he had begun to spend a lot of time with me. I think he knew he was sick and was trying to spend as much time with me as possible. He had always taken naps several times every day but again I was ignorant. I thought he took naps because that's birds did and especially because he flew around the house all the time.


The morning of his passing I began thinking things like "what am I going to do without Shade?" I really didn't know how I was going to go on without him. For 5 years he had been my companion and my baby boy. Everyone in the family knew how much he meant to me and I was getting calls of condolences. In the meantime, my older sister who lives down in Texas got wind of what happened. She texted her husband and asked if they could buy me another bird. He immediately texted back saying yes.

See the day we took Shade to the vet we went to the pet store to get him healthy food to eat as he had always eaten only seeds. The vet wanted us to get him on a healthier diet. While there at the pet store, as usual, I went right to the birds. There was a pineapple green cheek conure there. We hit it off instantly. She came right up to me and began talking to me and soon we were playing together. The pet store had taught her how to roll and that's what she was doing for me as well. I spent all my time with her enjoying her company but hoping and thinking Shade would recover thought nothing more of that little pineapple green cheek conure.

My sister called and while I had thought of the conure I wanted the cockatiel I had also seen there and liked. He was really friendly and had been there for a year. I told my sister I wanted him. I had my heart set on him. She called back and said that he had been sold. I sat there for a little while because before my sister called I looked up Loki's type of bird out of curiosity. And possibly if I thought I could handle having a bird like that.

I still remember what I told my sister next.

"Ask them if they still have the conure. The one that rolls?"

We hung up and she called back and told me yes they do so I told her I'd take her.

I had decided to get another bird before my sister called. I couldn't bear to see Shade's empty and quiet cage in the front living room. It was only a painful reminder. However, I felt like I was replacing Shade so fast. So I called my aunt and grandma and asked if I was moving on too fast and they said no. They told me to do what I felt was right.

My cousin drove my mom and me to go get that little pineapple green cheek conure. When we told them which one it was.

What did they say?

"The one that bites?"

I knew I was in it for it then. haha We picked her up and took her home.


It's brought tears to my eyes typing this as I still dearly miss my baby boy. He was only 5 years old when he passed and he passed so quickly. It was only 2 days. I learned a lot from losing him. Learned a lot about caring for a bird and how delicate they are. Loki we take her to the vet every 3 months, I am very conscientious of her and get very worried if she doesn't act herself and we clip her wings on the suggestion of the vet for safety reasons. There have been several times when she could fly she came so close to flying out the front door and outside. Why? She was trying to follow me. One of those times I was outside coming in and had opened up the door. Before I knew it there she was clinging to the half-ajar door. We have outside cats and it would be devastating if she flew out the door and they got a hold of her. Coming in or going out the door would be a feat.


In my eyes, Loki is not a replacement for Shade but instead another adventure. I really do believe it was better that I got her and not that other cockatiel. My family was probably right. They thought I'd expect the cockatiel to be like Shade and when he wouldn't be I'd be disappointed.

I got Shade the same way. I wanted another cockatiel but she was taken so dad came home with him instead.

I truly think things happen for a reason.


Here's a photograph of my baby boy Shade.

My sister made this for me. It hangs above my bed.