thepawandfeatherplan

 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

  We received the call early last week that Sweet Pea does in fact have some sort of bacterial infection.       We took her back to Shively vet for her 1st of 3 antibiotic injections on Wednesday the 29th.  She handled it well enough, but was very tired all evening afterwards.  Receipt from her 'injection visit' at Shively      She ventured out of her cage for the the 1st time on Christmas Eve, this was very exciting and emotional for the family.  We were all smiling ear to ear, just shortly before heading to my aunt's for round 1 of Christmas celebrations.      Unfortunately this is where I picked up covid-19 (yes, we are vaccinated!).  -I fell ill on Sunday night, and am almost 100% well now... and it's the following Monday.      -Christmas break, and being home sick has offered us an ideal time to bond with Sweet Pea.  For better or for worse, she's gotten used to us being here all of the time now due to the quarantine.   Sweet Pea getting some head scratches   

We heard about Sweet Pea while we were still on vacation, in late November.      Her owners had been tragically killed in a car crash on Thanksgiving Day.  The woman had bought Sweet Pea as a baby Macaw from a breeder in central Ky. 25 years ago.       When I spoke with the adult daughter of Sweet Pea's owners, naturally I asked lots of questions.      I found out that Sweet Pea's owner, we'll call her Debbie, had bottle-fed Sweet Pea as a baby macaw.  -Just an interesting tidbit.        Sweet Pea has chronically plucked her feathers for 20 + years.  Sweet Pea's first 'portrait' in our home, 4-5 days after her arrival        When we   found this out from Debbie's adult daughter, we were nervous.  -Could we take this on?       Yes, I do love birds, but the rescue has never had an exotic, large bird, and much-less one with a neurotic-plucking disorder.  I thought on it for a couple of days.  And the same question kept coming up: if we don't take her, who

I remember feeling frustrated at times with how quickly we'd secure foster homes for puppies, or mommy-puppy combos while working at Miami Dade Animal Services, circa 2010.  Reason Being: During my time at MDAS, I'd spend days of intense networking and socializing a number of high-risk, larger adult dogs at any given time, doing everything in my power to get these dogs adopted, fostered, or into a reputable rescue (rescues like Miami Dogs on the Move, or Big Dog Ranch) in time .   This was one of those 'at-risk big dogs' I helped get out, Mega Event, Miami, 2012, thx to Tracy Deering for fostering this guy!      With many, I had success. With others, time ran out, and I lost some dear 4-legged friends to euthanasia.     But when it came to puppies and/or mommies with pups, we had much better luck with finding fosters or rescue fast .  It could be disheartening, working on a specific at-risk dog for days, just to have a pair of cute puppies come in, and be fostered out t

   Part 1 was "Are You a Young Person Considering Re-H oming  Your Dog? Consider This."   - A link to that blog can be found at the end of this post.         In  this  post you'll read an email correspondence between  a PAFP  adopter and me.  I've simply copied and pasted the emails here.  - Of course  the adopter's name and email address are omitted for her privacy.        For the reader's reference, the dog this email refers to had been confiscated by a county shelter due to neglect.  The dog then spent nearly 1 year in that shelter's custody until the owner's court case concluded.       Then our rescue took her in, she spent approximately one month in foster care, was adopted out to a lovely lady, returned to us within 24 hours, then about a week later, was adopted out to the person that sent this email.  -She's a gorgeous hound dog.        -Sharing this could help someone else. 😊           ------------ Wed, Oct 6, 1:11 PM to me        Hi Jess