Radar's Roost

TAYLOR~

Our eighteen-week-old CAG, Taylor, died suddenly today in my arms. Rest in peace, my sweet boy.  When we got this little treasure about a month ago, our initial vet check disclosed a bacterial problem which we immediately began treating with antibiotics (as instructed by our avian vet). He seemed to respond well, although he had shown no initial underlying signs of any problems.  To the contrary, he appeared to be in much better health than we were accustomed to seeing in pet stores (we bought him from Petco in Danvers, Massachusetts).

A week after we got him home, I gave him his formula in a syringe that was apparently too hot, and he developed a burn-hole in his crop. This was our first experience with an infant bird, and we simply didn't know any better. We got him treated immediately, and after a few days of observation, the opening was stitched up without any apparent ill effects. The site of the surgery closed cleanly, there was no sign of any inflammation or other indication of problem, and he seemed to be settling in with us a happy, healthy bird.

This morning, his appetite was off and he seemed a little lethargic; we attributed this to some extent to the fact that I had been up late the night before watching television, and he probably hadn't gotten his normal allotment of sleep. He ate some, and then went back to his perch and appeared ready to a morning nap.  We went off to do some errands, and were gone for several hours. When we returned, Taylor was on the floor of his cage, again apparently sleeping. However, he was so lethargic and atypically quiet that I was concerned enough to call the vet. As I was getting him out of his cage I found evidence that he had vomited while we were out. The vet told us to bring him in, which we did; they took a blood sample and gave him an injection of antibiotic to stabilize him, and told us to keep him warm and quiet for the rest of the evening. His weight had dropped, from 350 gm to 314 gm, in the week or so since we had stopped formula-feeding him.

We took him home, with him snuggling up against me shirt, his head cradled in the crook of my neck, with a towel over him for warmth. When we got home, I sat in a chair with him in the same manner while my wife got our dogs fed. I was getting ready to have her take over the heating pad duty when I felt him shift.  When I moved him away from my chest, he appeared unable to get his balance; he stumbled across my hands for a second or two, and then his head dropped and he was gone.

We took him back to our vets for an autopsy. I want to know why this sweet little boy died. Then we're going to bury him here at home where he belongs.

I want to know if anything we did - or didn't do - contributed to his death. We will have a place in our home, and our hearts, for another Grey, but I'm going to learn what I need to from this first. Then I'm going to be very much more informed, careful, and selective about where we get our next baby from.

I'm sorry to share such a depressing message with you all, but it has helped me to write this and to begin to come to terms with our loss. I don't anticipate answers or explanations from those here, just an understanding and sympathetic ear.

Thanks for listening.  Kiss your babies for us tonight.

Taylor is Gone

Taylor was a 14 week old Grey sold by a pet store to a man who had never handfed a baby bird. At 15 weeks, he had a burn hole in his crop and chest. At 18 weeks he was dead. He died in the arms of the man who bought him, snuggled under his chin and finally free of pain.

Whose baby bird was this?

Who took this precious Grey, fat and fuzzy, from the nest and sold him into death?

Did the breeder give a thought to the future of this baby when he handed him over to a broker or to this pet store? Did he care?

How many babies were in the shipping crate? Where are they? Are they alive?.......or dead like this little one sold into the hands of a buyer who had never handfed a baby bird? Taylor will have lots of company from other baby birds sold into death. The Rainbow Bridge is getting crowded..

I had a very hard time getting to sleep last night. I thought of my Grey baby sleeping and safe in his brooder. My dream will live. No client of mine will ever hold one of my dreams as he dies from a burned crop.   Never.

This has got to stop. How many babies have to die before the sale of unweaned babies stops?

All of these sellers of unweaned babies transfer the risks - the health problems and the deaths - to the buyer.

The only way this can be stopped is for the buying public to refuse to buy an unweaned baby bird and to refuse to patronize pet stores and breeders who sell them.

Please buy your new companion fully and bountifully weaned from a quality pet store or from a breeder who sells only weaned babies.

© 1998 by Bobbi Brinker
Permission to use this text, or the banner, is given to any site that wishes to assist in the endeavor to stop purchases of unweaned babies.