Here's a fine, feathered tale from Margaret and
Jeff in New York:
We found Petfinder after seeing a commercial on Animal Planet. We put in our information and selected two lovebirds that were at Companion Critters, Inc., in Clark, N.J.
We later found out that they had been rescued from a hoarder's house, and it made us even more inclined to give these birds the happy home they deserve.
Let me tell you, they are spoiled rotten now. They have a bird pool connected to their cage and all the fresh fruit and veggies they could want. We keep one of those musical birthday cards next to their cage because they just go crazy when they hear the song "The Chicken Dance" when it's opened.
We named them Sweet Pea and Mister Mister. They were identical and now, after having them with us for four months, we know who is who!
Sweet Pea is the shy one and is consistently tearing paper. She loves printer paper and bites off a piece from one side to the other (like a typewriter) and sticks the piece under her wing.
Mister Mister is outgoing and will take the paper from my hand and do his cuttings. He is also the first to talk to you when anyone comes in the house. He gets so excited when he hears the front door open. He loves new voices.
It is great to read these stories of caring people. We have about 85 birds-- mostly cockatiels, but also love birds, parrotlets. and assorted parakeets. We are both retired and have a vet. tech who comes in and looks after our birds when we need to be away. Many of our birds are from people who didn't want them or could no longer care for them. We do some limited breeding and try to stay in touch with the new homes our babies go to. We accepted a pair of lovebirds (Black Masked and, perhaps, a hybrid Fishers) in trade for one of our baby peach face. When we got the new birds home, the Fisher's feathers didn't look right, so we tok her to the vet and found that she had ringworm. The vet prescribed an oral med which we have both birds on. We don't know the conditions under which these birds had been kept and could feel we were duped. However, we feel few other people would have sought out treatment at the cost of hundreds of dollars so we feel that we did th right thing. We also have a cockatiel hen who was born here six years ago with leg deformities. Unsuccessfully vet treated, we found a way for her to thrive without useful legs. We take her along on all of our trips so we can give supplemental feeding to keep her weight up. She has rewarded us with her response and is a real trooper. We could go on with story after story that, we're sure dedicated bird owners can echo.
Thanks for the great story Daniela! You are a true hero. I hope the "slightly irregular" cats find a wonderful home.
I also love the fact that this blog has allowed former foster parents to see how well the pets they cared for are doing in their adoptive homes! As a foster mom myself, I know how good that feels.
I am the lovebirds' former foster mom and just found out they were being featured on today's Happy Tails - how exciting! Thought I would give some more detail so you can fully appreciate where they are now versus where they have been...
On a cold night last December, animal control called to ask if I could help with a hoarding situation. I arrived at the house and was warned by all of the men standing in the driveway choking and gasping for air, that it was bad, really bad. You've seen the hoarding raids on Animal Cops but you truly cannot appreciate the stench until you experience it in person. There were 112 animals crammed into this small Cape Cod house. Urine and feces were everywhere. The animals were flea infested and most had ringworm. There were 64 cats, 13 birds, 11 dogs, 9 chinchillas, 9 guinea pigs, 4 rabbits and 3 ferrets. The birds were in filthy cages in the dark basement along with cages and cages of other small animals. I left my car running with the heat blasting and brought the birds out cage by cage, having only wee wee pads to cover their cages in an attempt to keep them from getting chilled outside. But they were all fine and made it to my house where they all got new, clean cages and stayed until they were adopted. Most of the birds were adopted by a wildlife rehabber whose second passion is birds. The two other lovebirds were adopted locally and I run into their dad all the time - they are doing very well. The cinnamon lovebirds were the last to be adopted by Margaret and Jeff and wow, aren't they doing great? Most of the other animals went to a boarding kennel that night (some went straight to rescue) and we were eventually able to get them all farmed out to rescue groups. Sadly, a few of the cats were in very bad shape and did not make it. To the best of my knowledge, all of the others have been adopted into homes now where they are living the life they never knew before. In fact, I think the only two that haven't been adopted yet are two of the cats I am still fostering. I had taken the not-so-perfect ones, the cat with one eye and the cat with the cauliflower ear. They love each other and need to stay together so until a home comes along where they can live together forever, they'll be here. Someday they will have their own Happy Tail!
What a cute picture. A lovebird flew into my home a few years ago. He was young, and all bill, so I named him Bill. Starting to feel sorry for him because he is not paired with anyone!