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French parrot needs translator

As you might recall, my double-yellow-headed Amazon parrot, Kazoo, came to me at the age of 13 from a Francophone family. Although she has a fairly limited vocabulary, she’s a very, very expressive bird. She can say Hello like a harried mother, or like a kid getting home from school, or like a sultry sex […]

What the parrot told me

Just a quick update.

1. Oboe’s still making progress. Little baby steps. Today was the first day he didn’t weigh less than the day before. 44 grams, same as yesterday. He has lost 20% of his body weight in nine days. But he’s starting to eat more on his own, he’s much brighter, he spends […]

Duncan's business trip

I think Oboe has turned the corner! He seems a little brighter and livelier today, and he ate a little breakfast on his own. He’s still spending all his time sleeping in his cave, and he’s still breathing hard and can’t fly, but I sense that he’s stronger and happier today. I’m feeling guardedly optimistic. […]

The art of worrying in the middle of the night

It is 1:53 in the morning and I am up worrying. I got tired of lying in bed worrying, so I got up.

Some people are prone to worrying in the middle of the night. I am not usually one of them, so I find it interesting in a frustrating sort of way.

For starters, I’m worried […]

Good news!

We went to visit Oboe in the hospital again this evening, and he seems to be improving. His breathing still isn’t great, and the vet says it might be a punctured air sac. She’s hoping it’ll resolve itself over time. She says we’re basically keeping him alive and buying him time so that Mother Nature […]

Oboe update

He’s still in the hospital. He’s not out of the woods yet. The vet wants him to get a little better on his own before she treats him, because she doesn’t think he’s strong enough or stable enough right now to survive stressful treatment. For example, she’ll need to anaesthetize him in order to x-ray […]

Everybody wants a piece of Oboe

Duncan tested negative for hyperthyroidism, so now we’re treating him for irritable bowel syndrome. If he responds well to the treatment, then that’s probably what he’s got. If not, we’ll be looking at lymphoma, which is a kind of cancer. (It killed my last cat, Flea, but he was 19 years old. Duncan’s only 11.)

I’m […]

Oboe and the ceiling fan

Ceiling fans are one of the leading causes of death among pet birds. It’s so common, there’s even a term for it: shredded tweet. I only have two ceiling fans in my house: one in the bedroom, one in the sewing room. They are almost always turned off, and the birds rarely go in either […]

The family that showers together...

Here’s a video of Kazoo, Simon, Oboe, Duncan, Logan and me happily sharing a shower on a hot day.

It's a zoo in here!

Here is Duncan and Logan’s first joint project. That’s the foam meat tray from the stewing beef, which I had left in the garbage. When I got home, Logan at least had the decency to look guilty, whereas Duncan just looked satisfied.

And then there’s Kazoo! Up until recently, Kazoo had a few spots […]