Gloria's first night home

[kozykitty]

Gloria came home late yesterday afternoon. Gloria is a 30 year old BFA and her mom went to a nursing home. The son took care of her for a little while but decided to rehome her. One of the caretakers at the shop picked her up and put her in the carrier. She was angry--tail fanned out and screaming. She quieted down within a minute and was very quiet for our short ride home. I sang to her the whole drive. She seems fairly mellow. She went right into her cage and was fairly quiet--mumbling and saying a few things. I noticed that she is contact calling. She keeps calling "mother" which makes me think that she recognized her cage (even though it's gotten serious upgrades) and wants to see her old mom. I answer her every time she calls--which often happens when I leave the room. I've been talking to her a lot.

We have cats who have been somewhat curious. Yesterday they walked over to the cage (not all at the same time) and she would just be still so they would just walk away. She's made some loud whistle noise which seems to frighten them so they started just looking from afar.

I put a black cloth over her cage at bedtime because I didn't have a fitted cover (making one today) and she stirred around for a while but must have felt threatened because I heard all of this flapping --like violent flapping --when one of the cats was a few feet away. I lifted the cloth to find her standing on the floor of the cage looking like a maniac. I figured she could actually see them due to the loose drape of the cloth and was either frightened or trying to scare them away so I used paper clamps to tighten the cloth up and she went to sleep. I shut the cats upstairs for the night with us. My thinking was that she might feel defenseless if she can't really see them but knows they're there.

This morning, I found 4 large feathers in the bottom of the cage and later, one in the food dish. Then I saw her pulling at her tail feathers. I was alarmed by this. Is this something I need to worry about? If so, what should I do? She's been exploring--climbing around the cage and she's been chewing on one of the natural wood perches. She hasn't really discovered her toys yet. She doesn't seem alarmed. She's been eating and I gave her some cut up veggies, a cut grape and some banana. She seems to really like sweet peppers and broccoli because I see the broccoli fronds stuck to her beak. She will take food out of my hand.

I know it's easy to want to rush things and I know I need to take things slowly. This has been a major life change for her. I know she was well loved but I don't know how much out of cage time she got or anything like that. She's been in the shop for about 3 - 4 weeks and they said that she was very quiet for about 3 or 4 days when she first went there. I'm just a little freaked out by seeing her pull her tail feathers out! Her tail looks completely normal closed up--however I haven't seen it fanned out since yesterday!.

I have to put my hand in the cage to retrieve her bowls and she's not aggressive. If I try to get her to step up, she backs up. I just figured I'd start at least putting my hand in and saying step up with a treat that she can see in my other hand--which she will get if she steps up. I don't want to let her out of her cage until I know she will get on my hand.

I feel she needs a bigger cage and I'm looking at bigger ones with play gyms on top where the cats can't reach her. I fairly confident that the cats won't bother her but I'm going to shut them upstairs for a few days or weeks when I go to work until she settles in. I've been monitoring them all closely and the cats just sleep all day. I plan on leaving the classical music station on the radio for her while I'm at work.

She's been quietly mumbling and contact calling today and took a short nap. Basically she's just been quiet in the cage with some exploring. I assume this is normal for the situation.

Any advice would be appreciated. I don't want to alarm her and I know it will take her some time to recognize me as her new mom. She's a sweet birdie and I want to give her a happy life.

 

[Terry57]

Welcome to Gloria, she is a beauty!
Has she been around cats before? She may be very stressed by them in addition to her move to her new home. I think that was a good idea to shut them upstairs for the night last night.
It may take her a little while to settle in, lots of changes for her recently and her head must be reeling.
I'm so happy you added her to your family, and look forward to lots of updates
(I added the "L" in Gloria for you in your thread title )

 

[kozykitty]

Thanks for the spelling correct! LOL As a parrot newbie--should I just talk to her and not try to get her to step up for a while? Should I worry about the tail feathers? She's been so quiet which isn't what I've seen with most BFA's but then I understand that this is probably traumatic. She was like this when she went to the shop.

I don't know if she's been around other animals. All I know about her past is what I wrote in the original post. She's not an aggressive bird --probably because she's never had to be so I'm guessing she hasn't been around cats and dogs. Everyone here who has cats or dogs has said that their zons let the furry guys know who's in charge. The caretakers at the shop said she never tried to bite--even when they had to get her to clip her nails and wings. She didn't bite yesterday when they had to catcher to put in the carrier. She screamed and was clearly angry.

Thanks again.

 

[Amanda_Bennett]

Zilla was 28 when she came to me 16 months ago. She had bounced around in her younger years due to an owner who couldn't keep himself on the right side of the law. Then she had a stable home for about 6 years, then was given to a friend of mine who only kept her for 8 days, and then she came to live with me.

It took her a bit of time to adjust and trust I wasn't going to leave her at the vets or the Bird Hut where I take her for grooming, but now she knows and is completely bonded to me!

It takes a bit of time, but it does happen.

 

[JerseyWendy]

I agree with Terry that the sight of your cats may have massively scared her, especially if she’s never been around them before. I see you have her cage partially covered. I’d uncover her completely during the day and let her watch and get used to her new surroundings/home. Quietly sit by her, talk to her, sing to her, and you can try feeding her tidbits by hand.

I wouldn’t push the issue of ‘step up’ just yet. Let her acclimate first. Amazons are usually pretty resilient and many get used to new homes rather quickly.

As for Gloria pulling out her tail feather, that could have been a fear reaction. Wait and see if you see her pulling out any more.

Last but not least: WELCOME HOME, GLORIA!!!

 

[kozykitty]

Thanks. I suspected that the feather thing could've been a fear response. I had her partially covered yesterday when she first came but I uncovered her completely today. She doesn't really react to the cats during the day. It seemed that the combination of being covered and possibly seeing them then might have triggered the response. She pulled out a total of 5 feathers. There were 4 in the cage this morning and 1 in the food dish a little later. I'm assuming that she pulled them out as I saw her pulling at her tail after finding the feathers. She seems to like sitting high on her java wood perch but likes to go to the other side of the cage by climbing up over the top. She's been chewing the bark of of her bottlebrush bark perch. That has been keeping her busy. Since I'll be out all day tomorrow, I did put a foraging toy and a busy type of toy with manipulative stuff on it as well as something to chew. It may take her a while to use them, but I wanted to make sure she had something to keep her busy.

 

[torrap]

What a great thing to do of you to take home a bird that needs a new home.
It's a lot of challenge but it's rewarding too, just have patience.
The feathers could be from her violent flapping not only from plucking.
Wait and see.
Talk to her all the time, let her get adjusted to your voice. Give her some space to get familiar with her surroundings. Singing and dancing always makes zons to want to participate......

 

[kozykitty]

Thanks. I figured the ones at the bottom of the cage may be from the flapping. The one in the dish that appeared later was probably one she pulled out. She seems amazingly calm. She's napping right now.

 

[torrap]

You are probably right, but it could be because it got wacked in flapping and was not attached properly, so it was bothering her and she pulled it out.
But, just like JerseyWendy said in her reply, Amazons are usually the best candidates for re-homing. My DYHA didn't eat almost anything for the entire her first week in my house even she knew me for 6 months prior to bringing her home. It's their new surroundings they have to deal with.

 

[kozykitty]

Thanks. Now that you mention it, when I peaked under her cover when getting her up, one of her tail feathers was separated from the others and sort of hanging down. She probably pulled that one out. She's been eating all day! That certainly hasn't been an issue. I'm giving her things we eat and we eat in the same room so she can see that.

 

[torrap]

You can get concern with her diet later of course after she is familiar with everything around her. But watch for salt, sugar and fat if you sharing your meals with her. It's the best thing for the bird to do for bonding to eat with her flock, but try to share healthy things, which you probably do anyway.
P.S. No-nos for birds - avocado and chocolate.

 

[kozykitty]

Thanks. I make "Gloria" versions of what we eat. For example: We have veggie omelettes on Sunday so before I cooked ours (which had onions, tomato and spinach), I just scrambled a little egg with some crushed shell and gave it to her with some spinach leaves and bell pepper so she had her own version. We're having veggie pizza tonight so I'll probably just break off a little crust and give her some veggies with that. I hear dairy isn't good so I'll have to get her some soy cheese. We generally don't eat much sugar or salt except in prepared foods which we don't eat very often.

 

[Ginnybird]

Hope all's going well!

My cats are big, young and active, and have taken more interest in Ginny than most other cat owners describe for their cats and birds, so Ginny stays closed off behind a door whenever she's unsupervised. She's in my office by day and sleeps in her cage in the guest room at night. (My Siberian cat will even jump to the top of her cage, even though it's over 5 feet up. They're known for being jumping beans!)

When she's down on the main floor with them, she's up on a playgym and closely watched, but I also found it helpful to attach double-sided sticky tape around the perimeter of the playgym skirt. Kept them from getting their paws up on it, because at first they were super curious about it all. They still occasionally want to sniff her if she starts to get close.

But for the most part, now they will eat on the floor while she screams to music from the playgym above them -- each acting as though the other doesn't exist. So I finally took the sticky tape off, and no problems there. It was a deterrent during the curious period...

 

[JerseyWendy]

How are things going with pretty Gloria?

 

[kozykitty]

She's been doing quite well. I got her fitted cage cover made and she went right to sleep. I've been sharing food from my plate (stuff that's safe for her to eat) with her, standing by the cage and eating and she seems to love that! Last night I had some leftover homemade pizza and I tore off pieces of dough and bell pepper and she was in heaven! She loves being sung to so I've been doing that a lot. I'm trying to develop routines and then I want her to be able to get on my hand before I let her out. I feel that with cats in the house, I have to be able to put her in the cage quickly if I need to for her own safety--though they've not been terribly interested in her so far.

 

[JerseyWendy]

That is such an awesome update!! Sounds like things are going REALLY smoothly!

Most Amazons truly LOVE music. Depending on what plays on the radio, if I turn up the volume and start 'rock'n' and/or singing, my Amazons are guaranteed to join me.

You must be so happy!

 

[kozykitty]

I learned about the music thing years ago. When I was growing up, we would care for my aunt's BFA when they would travel. He would come to our house. I remember when I was preparing my college audition on the piano which meant hours a day of practice. Lauro had very definite preferences. He loved Mozart and would sing with this operatic type of voice. Bartok, on the other hand, was his least favorite and he would scream every time I played that piece. It was interesting to me to see how consistent his responses were to the same pieces of music. I left the Stage and Screen favorites cable music station on for Gloria while I was at work yesterday. I may try the Classical favorites one tomorrow.

 

[kozykitty]

Here's Gloria singing along with her signature song. Usually I just make songs up that incorporate her name. [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI_3ApNU-Dw"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI_3ApNU-Dw[/ame]

 

[torrap]

Gosh, it's so cute!
She sure responds to your voice.
You'll be doing performances pretty soon, don't forget to post it......

 

[JerseyWendy]

That was SO sweet! She even gave you kisses at the end. LOVED IT!