Do you ever stop worrying?

I guess we've had Scooter three years now. I had read up about birds quite a bit before we got him as my husband was into birds and we anticipated inheriting the 'zon his Mom "stole" from him. At first, every morning I would open the door with great trepidation, half expecting him to have gone toes up in the night!

That did eventually wear off, at least mostly. And by some people's standards I'm probably incredibly slack in some ways. OTOH, whenever there is a new "threat" in the environment, I get very uncomfortable.

Today's crisis was the beginning of some landscaping work in our backyard. We moved to this house in May and the previous owner had done exactly nothing with the back yard, so it was a big patch of desert dirt. We're having it graded and Xeriscaped a bit so it still looks like desert but semi-kempt desert. Anyway, between the noise and distrubance outside and the gasoline-smoke belching grading machine, I had a hard time leaving the birds behind in the house this morning. I did sit with them for a while and while they were clearly alert and on edge, they weren't freaking out. The fumes weren't getting into the room noticeably at all, so I eventually decided to go ahead and close the room door (cats or fumes? devil or deep blue sea?). But I really was tempted to call in sick....

Am I nuts or a "normal" parront?

Heheh nope you never stop worrying. I was staying with my friends in NC and went down one morning and Tom's blue front Zon was as you said toes up and I knew Tom would be devistated so I texted his partner instead so he could break the news and my text was (Eric Barney's dead!) little did I know Eric's step father's name was Barney.
Ok so freak out ensued despite good intentions.

Sound pretty "normal" to me, hehehehe

Haha, Deb, I *still* go into Kazi's room in the morning if he hasn't woken up by 11am and expect to see him dead or nearly so. So far all I've found is a grumpy, disoriented bird from being woken up.

I also spend an inordinate amount of time inspecting bird poop because I'm sure he's going to develop some awful illness in record time.

So basically having a parrot has turned me into a poop inspecting worrywart.

WHew, glad to know I'm "normal" (don't tell my hubby, he'd disagree I'm sure!).

Lizardsoup, that's terribly funny in a very black way. Lizard, glad I'm not alone!

We are currently in a similar situation. I've started a remodel in the house, starting in the kitchen. No fumes but more noise than normal.

I had to fly my wife to NY (she is the primary caretaker) and I'm home taking care of Mac.

Mac is used to being out of his cage most of the day on his play perch. He currently shows little interest in coming out of his cage.

I go in around 11 AM and peek under the cover, afraid of what I might find.

friedsoup said:

Heheh nope you never stop worrying. I was staying with my friends in NC and went down one morning and Tom's blue front Zon was as you said toes up and I knew Tom would be devistated so I texted his partner instead so he could break the news and my text was (Eric Barney's dead!) little did I know Eric's step father's name was Barney.
Ok so freak out ensued despite good intentions.

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Wow, what a fiasco and freak out that must have been!!

Why do you worry? Is it a baby?

I think worry is normal, always. It's always in the back of my mind, thinking that I might wake up to a toes up bird! I hope they outlive me, on one hand, on the other, I know they have a wonderful life, now, not being there to be sure it's still wonderful when I'm gone, makes me worry!

MaraWentz said:

Why do you worry? Is it a baby?

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In our house, yes!

MaraWentz said:

Why do you worry? Is it a baby?

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That's a bit snotty! No, they aren't babies, but I do care deeply about them. I just care about them as birds, not humans. I'd be devastated to lose them, I'd be heart-broken. I love them. I feel the same way about my cats, I just don't expect them to keel over without warning.

I never said not to care about them on that other thread, did I? I just said that expecting them to behave like humans could cause problems.

DebsFlock said:

MaraWentz said:

Why do you worry? Is it a baby?

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That's a bit snotty! No, they aren't babies, but I do care deeply about them. I just care about them as birds, not humans. I'd be devastated to lose them, I'd be heart-broken. I love them. I feel the same way about my cats, I just don't expect them to keel over without warning.

I never said not to care about them on that other thread, did I? I just said that expecting them to behave like humans could cause problems.

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Snoty? No. Sincerely asking if it was a baby bird yes. I dont see why you worry about your birds being dead every morning or night unless its a newborn bird. Is there areason to expect them dead? I love my erinnto death but i dont go check on her in the morning dreading to see her toes up. I have jo reason for that to cross my mind.

Hmmm Lizardsoup? that is very different from where the name came from it's really short for [Deep Fried Chicken Soup]

MaraWentz said:

Snoty? No. Sincerely asking if it was a baby bird yes. I dont see why you worry about your birds being dead every morning or night unless its a newborn bird. Is there areason to expect them dead? I love my erinnto death but i dont go check on her in the morning dreading to see her toes up. I have jo reason for that to cross my mind.

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I actually thought you were referring to a thread a few days ago where we disagreed about people thinking of their birds as their "babies" in a very real sense. Apologies for being touchy.

There are about 10,000 ways to wind up with a dead pet parrot -- compared to most other animals we keep in our homes, they are quite delicate. My husband has lost several birds: PBFD, egg-binding, unknown causes and my MIL's amazon went to the vet for a routine examination, went into respiratory arrest in the waiting room and died. MIL was very ill at the time so a friend took the bird, but we never knew what happened. Autopsy inconclusive. The toxic lists are a mile long and inherently contradictory. Folks claim they can be killed by candles, paint, perfume, cleaning agents, deodorant, new carpet, new furniture.... you mustn't let the food get too old, or the water too dirty or the cage too unkempt... it can't be too cold... or too warm... and the cats will surely eat them. And if not, they'll get out of the cage and be stepped on, slept on, fall into water and drown. Oh, and their toys or happy huts might kill them...

Seriously, why worry? How NOT to worry is more the question. Some birds seem to manage to live 50 or even 100 years, but the statistics don't indicate that most of us can expect that. I've read a lot of bird obituaries and not but one or two of them died of "old age".

I worry every day. Very normal Lol!! And in response to the "Why worry" Birds hide any kind of sickness so most likely you wont get a warning if something is wrong with your birdy, just find a dead bird in the bottom of the cage!

I had a friend of mine who had an eccy, she was 3 years old and had a recent vet check and blood work and was Healthy and well. She came home one night to find her beloved bird on the bottom of the cage, passed away, at just 3 years, and she will never know why. Very sad, she doesn't have children so her bird was her child

Debsflock I could not have said it better as you did in your last post, and I am glad I am not the only neurotic parront. I've been looking at parrot toys and baby toys then I think are the rings on them too big could get head caught, too small an opening could catch toenail caught, little unpainted wooden cars, woops what kind of wood is it, popsicle sticks in the craft dept of walmart made in china woops it doesn't say food safe, again is it a safe wood

I was at first but have finally started to calm down. I just do the safety precautions I've been doing, has worked well so far Maybe because I'm worried about everything else in my life, I can finally relax about the birds! Lol

Just do you research and KNOW the birdie no nos amd stick to avoiding them. If its some freak accidents due to genetics or something you could worry but if you do everything right and are in tune with your birds it shouldnt be a problem. The only thoughtzs that cross my mnd when I go to see Erin in the mornig is will she be awake already will i get a kiss and will she need more food. Unless a bird is sick, old,mor a baby (all susceptible to the worse happening) then I dont see why youd worry if yiuve done all your research unless youre worried of a freak accident which would make me depressed and manic. Itd be like me worrying abiut if im gong to die in a car pile up in the way to work. Its notna thouhht that crosses my mind because its not too likely to happen if i know how to drive and watch others around me. It could, like a bird can die of genetics or disease, but its not common so why even bother with the thouhht? Id never drive or buy a bird if expecting the worse was what the normal thjng to do was everyday. It would drive me bonkers to imagine my bird dead or even give that a thought.

MaraWentz said:

Just do you research and KNOW the birdie no nos amd stick to avoiding them. [...]It could, like a bird can die of genetics or disease, but its not common so why even bother with the thouhht?

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Well, I will say that you seem to be in the minority in being so worry-free!

While I wasn't really suggesting we should all be paralyzed by fear, and I was to some extent poking fun at myself with the original post, there is quite a bit to worry about. People handle these things differently. I've met plenty of horseback riders who felt that they would never have a fall because they did X or Y or because they were so damn talented. Then one day something went wrong and they did hit the dirt -- and completely lost their confidence and never rode again. I always knew falls were a possibility, so I did my best to minimize the risks, wore a helmet and tried to make sensible decisions about what I was doing. Different strokes for different folks.

Have you, in fact, ever had a traffic accident? Because even the best of drivers can find themselves momentarily distracted. Or can find themselves coping with a couple of looney tunes texting at 85 miles an hour. Again, I don't spend all my time obsessing about it, but it would never occur to me to believe that because I am a good driver and am careful, that it can never happen to me.

And I think birds turning up dead with no warning is a lot more common than cats or dogs doing so. If it happened with a cat or dog it would truly be a freak thing, but I don't think that's so with parrots. It's basically already happened to me once with my MILs bird and I've only been involved with them for a few years. Sake was in his late teens or early 20s at the time and had been excruciatingly well cared-for.

There is also the fact that we pretty much know bugger-all about birds. I have had experience with a fair number of creatures including horses, who have their own special requirements, and I think I can safely say that what we know about keeping birds healthy and safe is a tiny fraction of what we know about other companion animals. You can say "just follow the rules and nothing bad will happen" but it's actually not all that clear what the "rules" really are. Half of what is said on forums like this one is based on the most tenuous of anecdotal evidence. A lot of it is contradictory, some of it is almost certainly wrong, and a vanishingly small amount is actually backed up by solid scientific evidence. It is difficult to find a decent avian vet, and what can be done for a bird is still far, far less and far, far more risky than what can be done for a cat, dog or horse.

Loving any companion animal is pretty much buying into the fact that you will almost certainly eventually lose them and feel all the pain that goes with that. With the birds, I think that one is also taking a much higher real risk of losing that companion too early and with little warning, which is a bit disconcerting in the beginning. YMMV.

I agree with you Deb. I definitely don't spend my life depressed worrying about Audrey. I worry about her health and well being the same way I worry about my daughters health and well being. Because I care and love them both, I want them to be in good health!
I have been especially paranoid about Audrey's health since the sudden death of a friends seemingly healthy bird though.