A Close Call
Sonny's Injury 
Sometimes in life, there is a moment so horrific that it makes you appreciate everything you have. That moment happened to me on Saturday night. Not to be too dramatic or anything (probably too late for that), but one of my parakeets almost bit the big one. How could this have happened you ask? Well, let me elaborate…
I have a nightly birdie routine that I do with Sonny and Cher. Around 9:00 P.M., I clean their cage and change out the food. Being the thoughtful mom that I am, I noticed that there was pooh on top of one of their toys and I opened the cage door to wipe it off. Well, Sonny freaked out and flew out of the cage. Now, when I bought my ‘keets a few months ago their wings were clipped and they could not really fly around. They have since both gone through a molt, so their flight wings grew back and Sonny was flying around like a possessed bird, crashing into walls and hitting her head (repeatedly) on the ceiling.
There is really not a worse sound than a bird hitting a wall. This continued for a couple of minutes and I could feel my blood pressure rising because I couldn’t get a hold of her and was certain she was going to break her neck/beak/wing from crashing. I FINALLY got a blanket thrown on her so I could pick her up and get her back in the cage. She was FREAKED OUT. She was breathing really hard and I was trying to remember if birds could have heart attacks or not.
She also scraped the feathers off the top of her head and I can see her skin. It looks like someone took a tiny pair of buzzers and shaved off her feathers. At least she wasn’t bleeding. My next thought was that her brain would swell and she would suffer a Natasha Richardson-type death. I watched her closely all night and soon enough she started acting normal again.
I was VERY relieved this morning when I took the cage cover off and she wasn’t dead on the floor. They will both be seeing the vet this week to have their wings re-clipped and an over-all birdie wellness check-up. I think Sonny is still pissed at me, so I will do what any good mother does and buy her love with new toys! Although, I should really give her a spanking for scaring the crap out of me like that.
ah man, i feel for ya!! it’s all scary when something like that happens to your baby. glad to hear she’s okay.
Long ago and far away, I managed a pet store. One of the services we offered was bird wing clipping and I, being the boss, was the designated clipper. In order to clip small birds wings, the procedure is to hold them back down on you palm and form a “V” around their neck with your index and middle finger, then clip away with your other hand. Did this hundreds of times with no problem until this one cockatiel freaked completely the fuck out on me… you know the routine probably: screaming, flapping, clawing, and generally acting like the end of the world was nigh. So, as I had always done before, I talked soothingly, loosened my grip a bit and waited for him to calm down. BIG mistake: gave him just enough room to flop his head wildly around and break his own neck on my index finger… Worst part was, he was the only dependent of this couple and they pretty much thought of him as their kid, man I felt like the worst shitheel that’s ever lived ugh.
Moral of the story is: life’s fragile, gotta be real careful with it and value it. Nobody’s more aware of that fact than bird owners, I think, because birds seem to be especially fragile… now that I think about it, most of the animals that got injured or killed under my care were birds. If they get out they fly like crazy into anything and everything and generally beat the shit out of themselves and work themselves into a mad hysterical frenzy. Not to mention the smaller varieties are prey to almost every other creature out there. Guess I’ll stop now that I’ve soothed your nerves ha. Glad your keet’s mostly ok…
Hey, at least, you got a blog post out of it, right?
But quickly adds: glad she’s all right.
Foxy- Thanks! She’s doing really well and I am taking them both to the vet on Wednesday to get their wings reclipped.
Rick- What a horror story! My birds are NOT hand tame at all so we’ll see how their vet visit goes. Should be interesting…
Unfinished Rambler- Yeah, I did get a post out of it, so I guess that’s looking on the bright side.
My oldest daughter is grrrrreat with all animals, esp birds. She had 2 cockatiels that would sit on her shoulders, eat from her hand, fly to her etc. etc. Hard to get em trained to that level though…
Why is that stupid R Kelly song stuck in my head now?
I beeeelieve I can flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
I beeeleieve I can hit my head on the ceiling…. repeatedly until I have male pattern baldneeeeeessssss.
Be careful when visiting the vet. He/she may call Parakeet Protective Services on you.
Thank goodness she’s okay. I couldn’t stand to see Sonny and Cher break up the first time.
Sonny’s is starting to get pin feathers on her head now, which means they are growing back! Yeah!! And…her cere just changed color to a dark brown which means he’s a girl! Cher is still a little too young to tell.