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HisAngel
01-05-2014, 08:43 PM
Hi everyone!,

New to the boards, and pretty green when it comes to birds, but I'm hoping this place will get me set properly to welcome a bird into the family in the coming months.... I'm no stranger to animals though... Always been an animal lover, and currently have 3 dogs a great dane, a pomeranian and a yorkie, and 6 cats. All of them were rescues, and all of them are so so special and dear to me. I've also owned ferrets, hedgehogs and sugar gliders. I am a horse trainer by trade and consider myself well versed in dog and feline behaviour as well. Worked for years in rescue, and in an animal shelter and have seen and cared for all kinds of animals. Birds have always been of interest to me, I just never had the opportunity to care 24/7 for one. Spent a lot of time with with a cockatoo named Prince in the shelter where I worked, he was an education bird, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time caring for and loving on him. My experience is limited though, and so I am eager to learn all I can before deciding on what type of bird we welcome into the fold here in our home.

I'm excited to get to know some of you :th_heart:

Ax

Honesty
01-05-2014, 09:01 PM
Hello and :pp_welcome:. Thank you for joining us.

What type of bird did you have in mind?

If you do decide on one eventually, just be very careful to keep your Cats and Dogs totally separate from your bird. We have seen some great tragedies just lately on the forum:(

We will all be happy to answer any questions you may have :) Fire away :th_wink:

HisAngel
01-05-2014, 09:21 PM
Thank you Honesty :)

Yes, the plan is to keep them seperated. I dont know if you are familiar with sugar gliders, but they are similar to flying squirrels (so very fragile in the presence of cats/dogs) ;) So we would devise a plan for that for sure. I try and be vigilant in that way :)

I am thinking parrotlet, budgie or cockatiel. Just something small, really. Still reading. :)

Honesty
01-05-2014, 09:34 PM
Ah, they are all good choices :) I have 2 budgies, as well as my Amazon. The budgies tend to do their own thing and are quite happy playing together . They don't like to come out too much.

We have quite a few Cockatiel owners here. They are lovely birds and love attention :)

No, I have never heard of a sugar glider!

Debra
01-05-2014, 09:57 PM
Hello and welcome! You've come to a good place to get information on a new feathered kid for your family. Your choices in what you are looking at are excellent. I have budgies and tiels myself. I love them all! Ask away, if one of us can't give you an answer, someone else will have one.

spiritbird
01-05-2014, 10:13 PM
Happy you joined us here. We have people who love birds and other animals from all over the globe. As part of your learning experience please take a moment of your time to read the new sticky posted today called ANNOUNCEMENT CONCERNING ([Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]). It is about owning multiple pets along with birds. Do you have a special species of bird in mind?

HisAngel
01-05-2014, 11:15 PM
Thanks ladies!

And yes, I did read that. As someone intimately familiar with dog and cat behaviour, I will be taking every precaution to ensure the safety and comfort for everyone in the house. Feathered included :)

I'm still reading, reading reading, but I think I will end up with a budgie, parrotlet, cockatiel or mayyyyybe even a dove. Not sure yet. Just doing lots of reading right now. Im kind of a planner and so I like to be well versed in what I am getting into before getting into it :)

I hope to tap the wealth of knowledge here to help me to decide :)

Blancaej
01-05-2014, 11:57 PM
Hello & Welcome! I've always loved great Danes but I've never owned one. Would love to see pics of your critters. :)

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using Tapatalk 2

kendrafitz
01-06-2014, 01:29 AM
Hi and welcome to the forum!

You have experience with lots of different animals! :). You must have some very interesting stories. I am looking to reading about them.

I don't have much info on the smaller guys. We have one bird, a GW named Rosie. She has decided she is the queen and there will be no other feathered family members. ;) There are lots of members who will have tons of great info for you, so ask away!

HisAngel
01-06-2014, 06:53 PM
Thanks ladies! I will attach a few pics of my babies if I can find some. LOL Ive got lots of stories about all kinds of experiences with animals, some of the heartwarming and wonderful, and some not so great... We surprisingly (to me) had a LOT of doves/pigeons, chickens and turkeys come through the shelter that had been pets... Shelters are so poorly equipped for birds though in general, but thankfully we always found somewhere for them to go. The most memorable bird story I have was the yellow headed amazon that was left in a cat crate outside of our shelter in sub zero temps. I was the first to arrive that day and happily he couldnt have been there long, but I (unknowingly at the time as a newb) reached in and he thankfully came to me easily. He was weak and cold, and the exotic vet was not immediately available.. The only quick solution I could think of was to (gently) stuff him down my shirt. He stayed there a good hour mumbling away to me while I went about my cleaning in the adoption areas. He let me know he was warm enough and done cuddling by nipping on my.. Ahem.. :th_omg: I wasnt long pulling him out and getting him set up in a cage. Im just happy to have kept that particular piece of flesh. :th_LOL: He was known as Nipper (hehe) from then on, and within a few weeks had a perfect check up found a wonderful parrot experienced forever home.

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So my dane and my oldest a couple years ago... My yorkie... My pom and the yorkie, my persian, my pom and our silver tabby blind handicapped cat Alice..

I cant add more pics. LOL

HisAngel
01-06-2014, 07:04 PM
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Ok, got it sorted lol

Butter, who started as my sisters cat and is is now mine..... :/ Sprocket our first of 4 ferrets, Kamorah my special special girl horrible pic. LOL sorry, and one of my sugar gliders <3

Honesty
01-06-2014, 08:06 PM
Lovely pics. I now know what sugar gliders look like :)

kendrafitz
01-06-2014, 09:33 PM
Awesome pics! I had no idea of how cute sugar gliders are! The pic of your son and Great Dane is great. I bet you have that framed somewhere? :)

Great story about the amazon. Nipper was very lucky you found him and thought so quickly on your feet! I'm sure his new family loves that story.

PS - my daughter thinks your Persian looks like Grumpy Cat! ;)

spiritbird
01-06-2014, 09:43 PM
You have lovely pets, especially the cats. Do I see an Egyptian Mau or Occicat?

Turquoise
01-07-2014, 05:44 AM
Welcome to the flock. Beautiful animals you have. Gorgeous colors on them all. I have 8 dogs as well as my birds, so I know what it's like to have furries underfoot! Mine are all foo foo dogs, 2 toy poodles, 2 S hih Tzu, 3 standard poodles and 1 sheepadoodle (Old English Sheepdog/Standard poodle mix). He is no kin to my spoos.

I had a Sugar Glider many years ago when they first became popular as pets. I had a ferret once too even longer years ago. I've had just about every kind of pet critter you can imagine at some point in my life. :)

I look forward to hearing about your new feathered darling when you get one. Tiels, budgies and parrolets are very nice choices for first birds. See ya on the chatting limb.

HisAngel
01-07-2014, 01:46 PM
Thanks ladies!

Spiritbird - no, Alice was a rescue from the shelter where I worked. She was only about 5 weeks old when she came to us. A young couple brought her in claiming they found her, who knows if thats true or not... She was CRAZY in the holding cages, constantly screaming and pushing her face as hard as she could trying to squeeze herself through the bars. Her cage had to be cleaned multiple times through the day because she would destroy it in her frantic attempts to get out of the cage. I couldnt handle it after a couple of minutes and took her out with me. She had been there for 2 days prior (I was off) and other than taking her out nothing worked to calm/soothe her. When I opened her cage door she leapt out into open space... Not normal cat behavior and I knew then she was blind. How the other staff missed it I have no idea. She had a vet check that day and they determined she was indeed blind and that it was a neurological issue. Her eyes dart and circle constantly and she also has an oddly misshapen head that is not obvious immediately. Her heart is also not great. So, I took her home. She cannot be spayed due to her heart and to her brain issues, and we soon discovered she is likely part siamese. LOL She is SO loud when she is in heat. Poor thing. I just did not want to take the chance in spaying and losing her during. Alice is a silver tabby with rust, and very much built like a siamese, lithe and long. She is a very intense cat in all things she does. Pet her and she is immediately standing and smashing herself into you for pets. Her purr can be heard over the TV, and she puffs up like crazy. She cannot handle confined spaces still, and needs little restraint for nail clippings/vaccines. If you try and restrain her too much she loses her mind... Poor thing. She gets around pretty well, but if you so much as move a chair she bumps into every leg before making it around it. But shes gentle and SO sweet. All she wants is to be loved and cuddled and pet. With a 2,5 year old and 4 year old she is perfect lol The rougher the petting the better she likes you. HAHA So intense my Alice is. Anyway, that was a tangent, I apologize. LOL All of my pets are rejects/unwanteds, and that is Alice's story. We dont know how it will affect her life expectancy but we sure love her while weve got her. But no Mau in her at all that we can tell, though it is possible I suppose.

Kendra - Poor Mo. Everyone thinks he is a grouch. LOL Truth is he is the sweetest, cuddliest chattiest cat ever. He just loves a good snuggle, and often crawls into your lap and wraps his crazy long front legs around your neck for what we call a Mo hug. <3 He was 6 when he came into our shelter in the middle of a february snow storm. He was matted and upset.. Poor fellow. I thought for sure someONE was missing him and wouldnt be long coming to get him.. But noone ever did. So, after his vet check determined his heartbeat was irregular and that he had a 3/5 murmur I knew he was going to be ours. I brought hubs in and he too fell in love with him. We named him Satchmo, after a word the kids on the Rugratz cartoon called a snow monster. I said it in jest to husband he got this maniacal grin and said, THATS IT! He is Satchmo! LOL So, thats how he got his name.... Weve been warned time and again that Mo could drop dead at any time, as his heart is wonky, but he's rounding in on 11 now and so far so good. Hes a wonderful tolerant boy and we are blessed to have him as long as he wants to live with us. <3

Ok. Enough proud mama rambling. There is feather reading to do ^.^