She says most of her customers eat it dry, Nike gets it rehydrated with a little fruit juice or coconut water,

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Bill and Nike,

Nike Picture Thread

Freeze dried food can be served either way, as Bill notes.

Higgins sunburst in a pinch is ok. Not great, but you have my blessing for an emergency such as this (not that you need it! :-P)

Thanks, Bill! I've managed to chat with them via Facebook and just submitted an order. Hoping it'll reach in time - they said they'll ship it out asap. It's also a crapshoot if Cairo will take to it or not. He's unbelievably picky, even with the chop I make him.

Cairo is awfully befuddled about receive free-flow TOPs. First meal was perfectly fine (though I suspect he mostly just likes crumbling them to bits). Second meal he was confused, but eventually went to them. Third meal was ignored. Fourth meal I just had to give him chop. But so far, no toe-tapping (we'll see if the chop's ingredients interact with it though). It at least tells me that he can eat TOPs, but that I do have to keep his options open for him.

I'll definitely be making a batch of chop before I leave, but the sitters might only be able to visit once a day (and yes, I'm seriously thinking of getting two sitters just to make sure he's visited twice a day) and I don't want him eating chop that's gone bad from sitting out for too long.


:/ his dietary needs and appetite don't help the stress that the haze is coming again this month! I'm waiting for an air purifier to be delivered, and hopefully that'll relieve my mind if the PSI gets bad while we're away.

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Parront to Cairo (pronounced chai-row, or 菜肉)*!
*He grew up in a Malay-speaking family, so we have to respect his name and preferred pronunciation

@cairothedino on Instagram

Nike is very, very picky as well and the hydrated chop are the only veggies she eats. I give her a large tablespoon (dry) and then hydrate it with a little watered down mango juice so it's nice and sweet.

I know you're hoping for dry but this is my method. Add a little juice, mix it lightly with my finger...the chop is maybe 25% hydrated at this point. Then put it in the microwave for 7 seconds. That little heat totally hydrates the chop.

Some days she chows down on it and some days not. She's a small bird so I get about 1.5 months or more out of a bag and I'm happy that she's getting veggies every day, even if it's not a full meal.

__________________
Bill and Nike,

Nike Picture Thread

Update:

I couldn't find anyone who felt comfortable to take care of Cairo. I had a few friends offer, but they don't know how to handle bird, which is a risk because Cairo get scared if strangers put their hands near him and he's fully flighted. The vet tech was worried about him getting stressed then sick but having no one to keep a constant eye on him, so she declined. And the former zoo employee ghosted me.

So I gave in. Cairo's groomer runs this amazing little place that's a parrot daycare and boarding space. There's a big room full of perches and toys, and they can fly around to their hearts' delight. Like a wonderful indoor aviary space. The birds are let out one by one, just in case they don't get along. The cage they provide of course is nowhere near his current one (if this were the US, I'd say it's a healthy size for a conure, but this is actually slightly bigger than the normal size for an ekkie where we are).

The groomer and his colleague are so kind. They opened up the space in the evening, just so we could visit and reassure myself. They're completely onboard with feeding Cairo his chop. They said we can opt into receiving daily videos and if we want they can arrange video calls too. They're more than happy to bring him across the country (erm, an hour drive) to see his vet if need be.

Cairo was quite chill about the space. He just did his little "Hello!"s to them, then joined in a bit of the birdie chatter. He wasn't displaying any signs of anxiousness. And I know he'd love the play area, but I didn't let him on it because two macaws were hanging out there. And I think, despite his dislike of grooming, he'll get along with two main people there - his groomer looks like his previous owner, and the colleague vaguely resembles me (Cairo is less nervous around people who vaguely resemble me).


I know, I know. Disease is a risk. I really do know that. But in my heart, I couldn't handle the thought of him being caged up for almost 2 weeks with no one to interact with for 23 hours every day, of something happening to him whether because of inexperienced caretakers who can't read avian signs of illness or because no one was around to help him if he got into a predicament.

I was so torn because I've been in denial, hiding away from testing him for diseases (we have to ship the blood sample overseas, so no one in this country has tested their bird). If he is even a silent carrier, I can't bring him to the US if we migrate back (we're discussing it within the next 5 years). And that scares me.

Is this a risk I'm willing to take? No. But I don't see another choice that I can live with.

So I hope he'll be happy and figure out being a bird away from his overbearing human mum. And I know they'll look after him like he's one of their own. So that's good enough for me.

__________________
Parront to Cairo (pronounced chai-row, or 菜肉)*!
*He grew up in a Malay-speaking family, so we have to respect his name and preferred pronunciation

@cairothedino on Instagram

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Aw, thanks for the offer! We ultimately decided to board him where they're happy to feed him the frozen chop I made. We did manage to receive our own shipment of the Texas Natural just yesterday, but I'll keep them in the freezer and save it for later.

__________________
Parront to Cairo (pronounced chai-row, or 菜肉)*!
*He grew up in a Malay-speaking family, so we have to respect his name and preferred pronunciation

@cairothedino on Instagram