The "lets get Charlotte healthy!" Thread.

[GraciesMom]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

I agree .. she has that sunbathing happy pose going on

Happy parrot

 

[BeatriceC]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

She let MrC give her scritches!!! I haven't tried yet, but he did, and she let him for about 5 seconds before she had enough.

We only let her stay outside about an hour because of the lack of feathers and the strong Southern California sun, even though she was in a relatively shady area, but she's happily chattering away on her play perch. Poor thing doesn't need a sunburn on top of everything else.

 

[psychocircus91]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

That's great. So glad she found a great home.

 

[BeatriceC]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

I finally got the birdie bread in the oven. Like many pre 1990's homes in my area, we don't have a/c, so I didn't want to run the oven until the house cooled down (it rarely gets above the upper 70's in the house, but adding oven heat could change that). We shall see what she thinks of it in the morning. I used JerseyWendy's recipe in the diet subforum, but added crushed almonds to it. I'm working on her new chop while I wait for it to come out of the oven. I still have about two days worth of the stuff she came with, so I'm planning on doing half old, half new for a few days so it's not a sudden change.

 

[BeatriceC]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

I created a YouTube account just to share videos. I hope I did this right. Here's a short video of me starting to get her out of her cage after breakfast. I didn't realize it cut off when it did, but 15 seconds is better than nothing.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fAaJVCsFYx0

 

[Nessa]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

Ah, she's gorgeous! I've heard that coconut oil is good for feathers, and if you don't want to give her something quite so fatty, I know a lot of birds who like coconut as a treat. Fresh is best, but so long as there's no sugar added, dried or dessicated coconut is good too.

 

[BeatriceC]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

She's already looking a little better. She's playing a whole lot with MrC and a little bit with me. MrC has about 30 years more experience with birds and general, and 15 more years with large birds than I do (I only have about 5 years total with both small and large birds), so he's more comfortable pushing her a little bit farther than I am. She tries to step up on our arms through the bars of the cage, but is scared of trying when she's out of the cage. Her previous humans said she wouldn't try to step up on a person at all, so I consider this a major accomplishment. She loves peek a boo and dancing but freaks out if we try to get too close when she's out of her cage and we don't have our transfer stick in a hand. So I'm doing a lot of dancing, because that's what makes her happy and gets me physically closer to her to build her trust. But overall, this is a vast improvement from a few days ago when we first brought her home. I'm really amazed at how fast she's progressing.

So back to the food issue: She won't touch the birdie bread. She is eating the half and half chop mixture (what she came with and what I made), so she's getting at least some good veggies. She won't touch any fruit but cantaloupe and dried mango. She wouldn't go near fresh mango. She did start eating a few nuts that aren't in shells after we played the yum yum game with her, but she's still a little wary of them. I have a friend on the other side of the country who's father is an avian certified vet, and he suggested I mix some baby food with her chop to get her used to the flavors of new veggies. I did that this morning with squash (something in her new chop) and she ate it just fine. I might try crumbling some of the birdie bread into her chop in a couple days, to see if she'll take it that way.

Goofy, our amazon, however, will not complain if she won't eat the birdie bread. He took two sniffs, a tentative nibble and then wolfed it down like it was the best thing he'd ever tasted. He would be happy with more, but I only gave him a small amount because of how rich it is.

 

[BeatriceC]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

And we are on our way to the emergency vet. The in house vet isn't an avian vet, but they call the actual avian vet when birds come in to either consult over the phone or come in if birds come in. Charlotte fell off her perch during a shower and her beak is bleeding. We can't get it to stop even after following the vets advise to pack it with flour, so we decided to bring her in.

In better news, right before this happened she actually got on MrC's arm without hesitation. So much for that no touch policy we heard about. I think she's going to be his bird. She likes both of us, but she's a lot friendlier with him.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

Oh no so sorry let us hope that all is fine again by the time you see this message?

Hugs all round.

Vets here advise a cold compress just like for us instead of flour btw.

 

[BeatriceC]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

She's doing good this morning. They got the bleeding stopped and offered to keep her overnight if we weren't comfortable managing her. We decided we were comfortable with her at home, and we would bring her back if she started bleeding again. She did bleed a little on the way home but we had some of the stuff they used to stop it the first time, so we reapplied it and all was good again. She sleep well and is eating well this morning. I'm going to keep her on soft foods for a few days to give the injury time to heal. I spoke with her regular vet and he said to keep the Tuesday appointment unless she takes a downturn.

 

[BeatriceC]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

More positive progress.

She now will take food directly from me and steps up onto MrC's hands without hesitation. He no longer needs the transfer stick she came with (though we still have it near just in case she gets moody). He's moved her from cage to perch and back again several times today and she's only growing more confident with him with every transfer. I can see the writing on the wall. He's going to be the favorite human.

On that note, I'm still working on forming my own relationship with her. We've discovered she goes gaga for grapes, so I'm dropping a grape in her food bowl or giving her one directly every time I pass by. I'm still the "bringer of good things", as I'm the one that gets up early to feed all the birds breakfast and feed the bigger birds their dinner. I'm a little sad that she's bonding with him and not me, but in the end the only thing that matters is that she has a happy, loving home.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

Please don't be sad that your hubby is first choice, it is still early days and you still can have a lovely relationship with Charlotte.

My hubby is not ever so confident with Plum and he is my bird BUT he does things for him, morning clean and breakfast in the week, talks to him but hands off approach. Plum now chooses to go to him and he does things with hubby I am excluded from, it takes time so relax and enjoy Charlotte whilst she is processing things.

 

[BeatriceC]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

Thanks. I'm just a little sad. Honestly he's just better with birds than I am. I call him the bird whisperer because I have never seen a bird that didn't respond to him positively. Charlotte does seem to like and trust me but she's just more drawn to him. But this is okay. It's a group effort. I'm better with the mundane things like getting her diet and health needs under control, he's better with the actual handling (for now, it's only been 6days, so lots can change). The most important thing is that she get healthy and have a happy loving home.

 

[BeatriceC]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

Sorry, one more question. The vet told us to take all the hard toys out of her cage and off her play perches to give her beak time to heal. I put some ropes up for her to grab on and chew, but I'm sure those are going to get boring soon. Any thoughts on what I can put up that won't re-injure or slow down the healing of her beak?

 

[jugoya]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

Tie some cross hatches in the ropes And knots as well
My Hans used to go crazy when he saw knots!
Tie things in them..
Hide treats in cups...
Cardboard in fun shapes should satisfy her need a o "chew"
Boxes...
Baskets are good too!

 

[BeatriceC]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

I did tie the ropes in knots. She is playing with them, but it just seems so boring. I will tie some cardboard and other soft things in them as well and try to figure out a way to hang some wicker baskets. Great ideas! Thanks!

ETA: and MrC is currently giving me the side eye for the ever increasing total of my cart on amazon, as I keep adding more toys for her.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

Beatrice... I'm so impressed with your thread. You're a credit to bird lovers everywhere. Wonderful job.
In your first post, you asked if you were missing anything. You already have the thing that makes everything else possible... two things, really. Love of birds, and openness for advice, help, support.

 

[jugoya]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

I just had another Idea
Have you ever made "food" into toys?

I used to cut apples in half and scoop out the fruit to put peanut butter or honey inside for my Hans.
I'd take the rinds of oranges and let them dry with Apple skins and other sorts and make a cup of "dried toys" that would last a day or two.

Old romance novels or phone books in the side of the cage for her to strip...
This is a favorite with my current flock for scratches and tearing.

 

[BeatriceC]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

Beatrice... I'm so impressed with your thread. You're a credit to bird lovers everywhere. Wonderful job.
In your first post, you asked if you were missing anything. You already have the thing that makes everything else possible... two things, really. Love of birds, and openness for advice, help, support.

Thanks! I have another thread where I said that we were considering getting a macaw in the future, but not until at least next year. I wanted to spend more time at the bird store where they house rescues playing with their macaws and interacting with them, as well as volunteering at a rescue just to build up experience before I took one into my home. But this girl was in a desperate situation, and knowing MrC had the requisite experience to back me up, plus knowing that this forum was here, we decided that we could do this. She's such a sweet girl. She's nothing like the bird that was described to us. She desperately wants to play but is still working on trust. I do think the people we got her from loved her and did their best, but it just wasn't enough for her. At least she had a safe home for the years in-between when they saved her from the garage sale to when they decided she needed more than they could give her. I think it was a hard decision for them, but in the end they loved her enough to let her go. It had to be fate, because I was actually just surfing craigslist looking for homemade bird toys for my senegal (the lady that I got his favorite toy from, which he's gone through four of, quit making them, so I was looking for another source). Something compelled me to contact her, and then go visit the birds. I just fell in love with Charlotte at first sight. I couldn't leave her there. She's come a long way in just a few days. I have high hopes for a complete rehab (except flying, which is impossible with only one wing, and the feathers may or may not come back).

I just had another Idea
Have you ever made "food" into toys?

I used to cut apples in half and scoop out the fruit to put peanut butter or honey inside for my Hans.
I'd take the rinds of oranges and let them dry with Apple skins and other sorts and make a cup of "dried toys" that would last a day or two.

Old romance novels or phone books in the side of the cage for her to strip...
This is a favorite with my current flock for scratches and tearing.

*side-eyes all the research materials from MrC's Ph.D. dissertation...from 1978*

No, he'd kill me, even though we have boxes of the stuff and don't really need them, as we have several copies of the actual dissertation and the references are all available online. Oh, well.

I posted an ad on my local nextdoor site asking for newspaper donations to help with the costs a tiny bit, as the vet bills are sure to be high in the first few months, and a tiny help in not having to buy newspaper while I'm shelling out huge sums for initial vet care would be nice. A lady emailed me asking if I had any use for clothes catalogs. I think I will take them now that you've mentioned this idea.

 

[Tsali]

Re: The "lets get Scarlett healthy!" Thread.

Beatrice, your Charlotte story is so inspiring! You truly saved this magnificient creation's life. I have read through all of the thread and am so impressed with your devotion to her. I have little experience with birds - I have only been a parrot parent (CAG) for a little over a year.