True Love Aviary

Happy Birdday Charlotte! He turned 14 today! We love you, Buddy!

Luna is traveling with us again thanks to some gracious VRBO hosts. He’s getting lots of love from us and our other family members. He’s still pretty fragile and had a very bad night 2 nights ago before we traveled. We are just soaking up as much as we can with him.

Sweet snuggles at lunch time.

It’s a little vacay with our old buddy! We didn’t feel comfortable with leaving Luna with our amazing sitter, so we brought him with us 6+ hours away at our family lake house in East Tennessee. He did great in the car and so far very well here. We never know for sure how much time we get with our buddies, but we are soaking it up!

Our other 2 pictured are hanging out with the sitter!

I know we’re posting a lot about Luna these days but it’s because we are getting to the point that we may be making hard decisions soon. He has declined a lot over these past few days. We’re watching him, loving on him, and ensuring he’s not suffering. Just pray for us as we navigate this. Maybe he’ll bounce back, but we’re struggling with the gut feelings that the end of his precious life coming.

Safety Accommodations for our Old Bird:

As Luna has aged, he has been struggling and falling more. We found he is more comfortable at the bottom of his cage and also have added an extra layer of soft fleece in case he does fall. We’ve been asked on why we haven’t moved him into a smaller cage. The answer is that with an older bird who has a permanent head tilt who can still get around and occasionally can fly, and who is losing his vision in one eye, it is actually safer to keep his environment consistent with what he knows. This is what we did with BeBe and he was still getting around pretty well until the day before he passed.

There are ladders and boings that lead up to cages around the room should he end up on the floor. There are also strategically placed tents for him so he can forage and rest. We put water in the bottom of his cage so he doesn’t have to climb at night to get to his bowl. There are platforms in his cage to make it easier for him.

We are doing everything we can to give him the best last years (we hope) of his life. We do have him on a 6 month schedule for follow ups with his vet as well.

We are hyper sensitive and checking on him often during the day. When we are gone for long periods, for his safety, we do lock him up in his cage.

He’s 18.5 years old and we love him so much. We just want to keep him safe but with some freedom.

Some days this sweetie cannot stay steady enough to not fall constantly (stressful for us all on his bad days). Other days, he traverses the entire room and takes a bath as best he can. I love his sweet kisses.

A couple weeks ago it was annual wellness check day. Everyone is doing well, even our old guy. Luna is showing the typical signs of aging, including being on the lighter side and some cataracts forming, but overall doing great for being over 18 years old. Char and Blazer are also doing great. Happy for healthy birdies!

This is an important reminder that you NEED to invest in your bird(s)'s health. Annual exams aren't really optional just like humans need yearly wellness checks!

Bird butts