My lovebird passed away suddenly a few days ago. He was 15 years, 3 months old. In recent months he was sleeping a lot and had a little trouble moving around. It looked like he had arthritis. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see him pass away since he was older, but it happened so suddenly. He stepped out of his tent that he slept in onto the perch and fell to the floor of the cage. He was on his back and struggled to get right side up. I picked him up and put him back in the tent. He came back out on the perch, fell off again and landed on his back once more. Then he seemed to stretch out his legs and let out a squeal or scream (strange, because he wasn't very vocal) and then died. I couldn't believe what happened. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary before this and I am always checking on my birds when I am home. I had another lovebird in the past that squealed when he died. Does anyone know if this could have been a heart attack or does it signify something else? It is terrible to hear. It sounds like they are in extreme pain.
I always seem to blame myself too when my pet dies. I think there is something more I should have done or something I did that caused the death. That's just me. There was something that I was wondering if it could have contributed to his death. My other lovebird would tear up paper and put in the water dish. I would get it out as soon I saw it. Does anyone know if newspaper is toxic? I have read that it isn't, but it seems to me that it might be. Especially if laying in water. However, the other bird was doing that for a while and I did not see any issues. I miss my little guy so very much. I know he was old, but I still wasn't ready to let go. And like I said, hoping too that I didn't contribute to his death in any way.