David's Story Part 27: A Death

5/6/04
Mary,

Queenie (the dog) has stopped harassing the cockatiels. We put down a scat strip which gives her a nasty carpet shock when she touches it and attached balloons to the seed tray thingy that surrounds the outside of the cage. (Hubby took Queenie into a different room and popped some balloons so as to show her how very terrifying they are).

Even when David moves the birds from their big play cage in the living room to the smaller sleeping cage in his room Queenie stays calm. Someone just puts their hand on her collar, but it feels like it is just a precaution. Queenie sometimes doesn't bother to watch.

And we let the cockatiels wing feathers grow out. The usual advice is to clip their wings so that they don't fly out the door but to let them grow if there are predatory animals in the house to that they can fly UP.

All good in theory, unless you have a particularly stupid bird who flies TO the predatory animal. Queenie did what any self-respecting dog would do if a bird flew to her. She knocked it out of the air and grabbed it. She had Angel by the wing and it took Hubby a while before he got her to let go.

Anyway, we took Angel to the vet's this morning. Her wing is severely fractured and they will splint it. She will have to go back to the vets regularly to have her splint and bandage changed for a while, but she will live. She will not fly again, but as the vet said, flying is what got her into this mess.

5/7/04
Mary,

Angel died in the night.

We brought her back from the vet with her wing bandaged and antibiotic drops to put in her water. She was very sedate, but I was hoping that was just because she was in pain. David said that he had seen her eat and drink, so I took that as a good sign too. But in the morning she was dead.

I wrapped her up so that we can bury her this evening.

5/8/02
Mary,

Al (the remaining bird) was moping. We got him a mirror but that did not seem to help all that much. I told David that I would let him spend some of his savings on another bird if he wanted. He decided to and today we got another lutino, like Angel, only male. They hit it off right away and are now both in the cage—making lots and lots of noise.

Angel was buried in what we have begun to call the "pet cemetery." Between the driveway and the fence there are now buried half a dozen rats and two birds.

David's Story Part 1: The Beginning
David's Story Part 28: A Health Issue