thepawandfeatherplan

The Wednesday morning before Memorial Day Weekend I opened my eyes to everything spinning.  "No, no no!" I gasped as I covered my face with a pillow.  I knew it was vertigo, or as in Portuguese, l abarintite, or labarinto en Español   for any language-lovers out there.      Never had I experienced vertigo, but I knew what it was, as my mother and grandmothers have had it.      And I'll never forget the day I awoke with this condition since it coincided with a holiday, and several upcoming scheduled meet and greets for dogs in our care at that moment.  -As of that 'Vertigo Wednesday,' our 6 foster puppies were 8 weeks old and ready to find their forever homes!  -Mommy dog was still with us of course (although she had an adopter lined up thankfully).  -And I had 3 or 4 other adult dogs in foster care with awesome fosters, so I was in the process of: photographing and listing pets for adoption on Petfinder.com, talking with and screening potential adopters, scheduli

  Dear Sweet Pea,     I miss you.       I miss you in the morning~ the act of gently pulling your sheet off of your partially-covered cage and saying, "Hello Pretty Bird," in a soft voice was routine.       I miss quickly working to serve your morning chop, and refreshing your water.  Just like a human toddler, you weren't very patient!     I miss all of the sounds you'd make, even your blood-curdling scream you'd do every couple of days.      I do not miss the stressful moments that sometimes  caused (family arguing- not screaming, just arguing!) , or resulted from, the blood-curdling screams, but I miss the savage nature of the actual screams.      You would scream out when Fabricio or Sam would raise their voices with me.  Right when you felt the tension rising, you'd start.       To the contrary, when I raised my voice with either of them, you would never get stressed.  I'll miss that feeling of always 'having someone on my side' in the hom

 On March 19th, 2022 we drove Sweet Pea 5 hours and 22 minutes away, to a small, rural town called Potosi, MO., to be adopted.  Sweet Pea enjoying the ride     I had envisioned something very different for her.  When we took her in (Dec.), I was set on eventually finding her a home in sunny S. Florida.  -She's an exotic bird, and I would envision her in a grand outdoor aviary, under a large fruit tree, in a tropical paradise of a yard.  -This is what I had most-wanted for her.       And I did request help promoting her for adoption with some of my S. Florida friends, in hopes of making my vision for her a reality. Image of parrot in nice, outdoor area, image from https://flvetbehavior.com     H owever, no one reached out about her from that strategic networking.  -There was one woman in Port St. Lucie, Fl. that wanted her, however upon some basic examination of her life (via social media), I discovered she was a busy mother to a few kids, an owner of 6 Rottweilers, and apparently

  " What makes you think she's egg-bound?" asked Michelle, an avian vet tech at Shively Animal Hospital.     "She's been lethargic, she's grunting, straining, pushing off and on, has had diarrhea, been constipated, and her lower belly is hard and swollen," I answered, holding back tears. Sweet Pea and me last week     I knew this was serious, potentially fatal, to the macaw the rescue took in just 6 weeks prior.     "Dr. Mary Jane wants to know what you guys have been doing at home that could make her want to lay an egg, and become egg-bound," was Michelle's next question.  Sweet Pea on top of her cage, last week     The question could've surprised, and even offended me, had I not already asked myself that very same thing.       Upon suspecting Sweet Pea was egg bound, I quickly took to (reliable sources) on the internet, and reviewed symptoms, causes and treatment for the condition.  I rapidly confirmed she had virtually every symptom

Sweet Pea is doing well.  She loves having company over and meeting new people!     This week (after all of our quarantine stuff was finally over!) my mother, grandmother and sister came over for our son's birthday.  She was the life of the party, and insisted on hanging out on my mother's arm for a while!      She also met a family of puppy adopters, and one of the PAFP fosters, Elizabeth (she sat on her arm too!).      I am delighted that she takes so well to new people.  Birds have a reputation for being very loyal to just one person (my lovebird certainly is that way)...     but all birds are different, and Sweet Pea's proving to be a social butterfly- this should help her when she needs to transition to an adopter's home.  Party Animal, Sweet Pea!      She didn't go to the vet for her injection this past week because Dr. Mary Jane was at a conference all week.  We plan to take her to Shively tomorrow.  During the visit I hope to ask, 'what's next?'

 Sweet Pea continues to interact more with her enrichment items and toys.      Her 1st week or so here she wouldn't even sit on the other perches we had bought her, and would only use the 2 that came with her cage.  She didn't interact with her bird toys, or sit on her rope swing.  She wasn't used to having items in her cage, and this 'stuff to do.'  Sweet Pea stepping out!     This is likely one reason she began plucking at some point- a bird will 'go to its body' to have something to do, with which to interact, to feel they have a job/purpose, when they don't have a lot of enrichment options.  -This is what we've learned from bird behaviorist videos and writings.        T he idea is for Sweet Pea to start interacting with, and enjoying, her environment more, and ideally: plucking less to not at all.  Sweet Pea hanging out on her rope swing     So it's a huge deal that she's playing with her toys... grabbing them, biting them, moving them, d