Taking care of birdie when you're away.

Hey everyone!!

I’ve had Zazu my sun conure for about 3 months now, and he’s just the cutest little boy EVER!

My boyfriend and I are going away for the weekend, from Friday to Sunday, and it’ll be the first time we’re away from the house for more than 1 night. We’ve got someone stopping in on Saturday to top up everyone’s food (we’ve got 2 cats too), and we’ll leave the radio on for them, but is there anything else we should be doing for them while we’re away? Zazu and one of the cats, Tigger, seem to get along really well. They’ve come nose to nose a couple times and neither of them have shown any aggression. Tigger likes to sit in the window sill next to Zazu’s cage and they look out the window together. Do you think they’re becoming friends? Will this provide him with some company, or do you think he’s scared? He doesn’t act scared. He flies down from his cage often to the ground where the cats are (I think he’s tried to land on them a couple times, but they run away when he gets too close) and they stand up and look at him, sometimes go to smell him, but they’re never aggressive or do anything that makes me scared for his safety (we ALWAYS watch, just in case). He doesn’t look to scared, he sags his wings a little (I think he might be trying to look bigger) and then just walks around, normally to a person to get picked up, but sometimes he just walks in circles like he doesn’t care.

Anyway, enough rambling, what do you guys do when you go away to make sure your birdies are happy?

Thanks,
Laura

I haven't had to go away yet but when I do I plan on having family and friends stop by and spend some time with my gcc. Even if it's only to have him out for a little while I figure it's better than nothing. Also, we leave the radio on for him during the day so I would ask whoevers caring for him to be sure to turn it on in the morning and off at night.

I'm doing pretty much exactly what's been mentioned above. We have a small clock radio and thankfully my mom has birds, loves Pumpkin and lives next door so she will care for him anytime I have to go out of town. She always comes to visit him anyway, so he will be used to her and she's already been babysitting my pups the last few years when we leave town.

The longest I've been away was once from Friday afternoon to Sunday early evening, and my birds were totally fine. Needless to say I was very worried for them! I put all the cages close so they could entertain each other, left plenty of food and water, and left the evening lamp on timer.
We leave them for two days and one night pretty often (like once a month) and never had any problem with that. If you have a lone bird maybe you could run a birdie video for her on timer?

I went on a field trip with my daughters class for a week. We had just gotten our GCC, only had him for a couple of months. I asked my neighbor if she could take him for a week. I had her come over a few times and just sit and visit so when I did drop him off there his sitter wouldnt be a stranger. I made sure that he wasnt to be let out. She did a great job keeping him company and keeping him fed and his cage clean.

Your cats may be fine with the bird while your home, but I'm not sure if I'd trust them if your away. A weekend isnt to long, maybe a friend would come and house sit.

This is an interesting topic to stumble on! Perhaps it's due to my schedule - vet school: the dream, the struggle - but when I am gone it's for a week+ so when I plan my trips Kiki goes to a boarder (The Parrot Hotel, Milton ON - they are wonderful!). I do have a weekend trip coming up in March (Cornell Special Species Symposium, so excited ) and I already have her booked for the board - didn't even think about the possibility of leaving her at home! Her cage is accommodating in size, maybe I could.

For those of you that feel comfortable leaving your birds for a couple days did you do any prep for it or just stock their cage with toys, treats and food? I guess my concern would be that with noise from roommates (she lives in my room as there are 3 dogs throughout the rest of the house) and such she would feel left out and start hollering. Maybe a couple hours of a friend stopping by and hanging out with her would help this!

Yea, my partner’s bother or sister-in-law will stop by to top up food, perhaps they can stay and have a cup of tea and give Zazu a cuddle.

I’m not worried about the cat’s terrorizing him. When we first got him, we moved his cage to the bathroom every night and when we were out because we were worried the cats would try to get him through the cage, but after a few weeks of the cats showing no interest in him, we started leaving him in the living room at night, and then eventually, all the time. The cats don’t bother him. Like I said earlier, Tigger likes to be around him, I think for company. She’s a strange cat. She’s very friendly to everyone, but hates being picked up, and refuses to sit on laps. But she likes company, so I think that’s why she hangs around with him. My other cat is just a fatty, all she cares about is if her food dish is full!

Thanks for your help guys!