Sorry to resurrect an old thread ... but hoping some parrot owners can provide input. We have a wonderful 27 year old African Grey that was just diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in a leg. We had noticed her limping the last few months and finally took her for a CAT scan that revealed the tumor.
The vet is recommending amputation to potentially prevent further spread of cancer. No guarantees it will save her but increases the odds. Wondering whether anyone has experience with amputation and/or quality of life for one-legged parrot. We are leaning towards the amputation but wanted to see if anyone has gone through that. Thanks!

“She is not refined. She is not unrefined. She keeps a parrot.”

? Mark Twain

Anonymous wrote:More stories, please. I really want one but have a dog so guess I can't.

NP here; don't own any parrots or birds but my twin sister has four dogs, three ferrets and sixteen birds -- yep, sixteen. Mostly cockatiels and about four or five conyers.

It's fun when I visit because the birds know someone "different" is in the house and squawk up a storm and when I approach their cages they all give me the stink eye and move to the back to get away from me.

THeir oldest right now is 19 and they've lost a LOT througout that timeframe. Not sure if they'll continue once the last is gone but I agree with everyone so far that birds are fascinating yet you have to approach them differently than what would be considered "normal" such as dogs and cats.

FWIW I remember when she first got some of her cockatiels and they would poop on her shoulder, everywhere, etc... I wouldn't go to her house for the longest time because I found it disgusting. These days the birds are in a separate aviary so not an issue but you have to be prepared for that to happen if you want a Free Bird in your house.

Thanks for starting the discussion! Next up, Ferrets! lol, just kidding.

Anonymous wrote:I always figured that a parrot potty trained the person, not the other way around. And they poop every 10 minutes, so there's that.

I had a small parrot and a cat at the same time. The cat would occasionally stalk the bird (who liked to walk around on the carpet and pull on loose threads), but never caused any harm. I always made sure to leave enough flight feather that the bird could get a little air if he needed to. My favorite thing was to eat together. He loved pretty much everything on my plate, so I would make him a little plate of his own, on a saucer, and we would sit at the table together. He mimicked speech sounds while we ate, as if he knew he should be conversing with me. Loved that bird.

As soon as my pet man dies, I'm getting another. Unfortunately, he ALSO has a longish life expectancy (90 years or more, can you imagine??), but is incompatible with a pet parrot...

I think with the proper behavioral modifications, your pet man could adapt to living with a pet parrot.

OP here. My bird is on my shoulder now while I'm cooking dinner. (No teflon, bad for birds!) We're another house that likes to have the bird out almost all the time we're home.

Anonymous wrote:I love that one I always see at Reston Town Center in the summer. He rides along on his remote control car, zipping all over the place. That bird sure does have the life. I think it requires THAT kind of commitment.

I hear they get jealous...like they attach to a "mate" and get upset and jealous of others. Is this true?

19:14 here. Some parrots do get jealous. Mine certainly does! I am "his" person and he was VERY jealous when we had a baby. If he has a choice of either my husband or myself, he generally picks me. Sometimes he will wander over to my husband for some snuggles. Yes, some parrots like to snuggle! He also has a perch in our shower since the humidity is good for their feathers. He will make kissy sounds and happy clicking sounds at our DC. DC knows that he cannot touch the bird unless I help him pet our parrot. Other than that, he knows he can blow kisses and wave at him. He also helps get his greats and refill his food bowls.

We definitely potty trained our parrot, not the other way around! He waits until we take him out in the morning to poop in the trash can and he'll hold it in during the day so he can poop in the trash can when we get home from work bid he's hanging out with us, he can go at least 30min between "potty" times.

They are definitely high maintenance. His cage is cleaned at least once a week, sometimes twice. It gets a heavy duty cleaning once a month with a steam cleaner. I do bake him birdie bread and he usually gets some sort of fresh/dried fruit mix everyday. He's a big fan of certain types of people food, so sometimes he gets a little bit of whatever we're having as long as it's a safe food.

He needs a good amount of human interaction time, so he's out with us when we're home. Most times he will just sit and chill on my shoulder or lap, or preen my hair or fingers

They definitely aren't a pet for everyone!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think I would be down with everything except for the pooping outside the cage, on other objetcs, etc.

It's the original "whitewash." We've thought of starting a home guano industry to put the kids through college.

I should clarify. We do clean up right after each accident. So it's not like you'd walk into our house and run out holding your nose. But it's one more thing to keep on top of.

70 years. Welp, that's another item onto the list of things that I am too old to care about.

Anonymous wrote:I think I would be down with everything except for the pooping outside the cage, on other objetcs, etc.

It's the original "whitewash." We've thought of starting a home guano industry to put the kids through college.

I think I would be down with everything except for the pooping outside the cage, on other objetcs, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Love, love, love this thread. Parrots high maintenance much?

Yes, I have to confess, some of them are a bit high maintenance. I probably wouldn't recommend them if you have babies or toddlers in the house, because it's basically like adding another toddler. Unless you're already a bird person, and you know what to expect and how to deal with certain behavioral issues that can crop up. Just like dogs and cats have their own behavioral quirks, parrots do too. (Parrot teenage years, anyone?)

And then there's the undeniable mess. The poop, of course. Some of the larger parrots may gnaw on your furniture. Lovebirds spend every waking minute shredding every bit of paper they can find, stuffing it into their tailfeathers and flying back to their cages to work on their nests. As a kid I had to tell teachers, "the bird ate my homework" to explain the shredded corners.

But they make loving and wonderful pets, and it's rewarding to have a relationship with something so different from you. Cockatiels and budgies are pretty low maintenance and make good "entry level" birds for that reason. But you do have to give these guys attention and let them out of the cage, too.

Anonymous wrote:I love that one I always see at Reston Town Center in the summer. He rides along on his remote control car, zipping all over the place. That bird sure does have the life. I think it requires THAT kind of commitment.

I hear they get jealous...like they attach to a "mate" and get upset and jealous of others. Is this true?

Some parrots do get jealous. It depends a bit on the species. My cockatiels have been really adaptable and mellow, sort of the labrador retrievers of the bird world. Conures and Quakers, on the other hand, do tend to pick a person to bond with. It's sort of the case with my little parrot now--I can't figure out if she thinks I'm her mate or her mom. She's friendly with DH and DD because they feed her and fuss over her (scratching her head is the way to her heart). But she's not a big fan of DS, and the feeling is mutual, because neither tries very hard.

Love, love, love this thread. Parrots high maintenance much?

Yes!!!!!! I have read the book about Alex the parrot and it was AMAZING. Absolutely incredibly. I was soo very moved.

http://www.amazon.com/Alex-Me-Scientist-Discovered-Intelligence/dp/0061673986

PS It made me think, why do we have the expresion "bird brain" to describe someone who's not very smart, or who is kind of flighty? Birds are SUPER smart. Humph.

I love that one I always see at Reston Town Center in the summer. He rides along on his remote control car, zipping all over the place. That bird sure does have the life. I think it requires THAT kind of commitment.

I hear they get jealous...like they attach to a "mate" and get upset and jealous of others. Is this true?