***Sorry, this is long... didn't think it would be but that's how much my pet meant to me.***
Thanks to a girlfriend I had years ago, I got hooked on parrots. I wanted a larger one, and we came across an Umbrella Cockatoo. I got a quick education on parrot care and personalities, and truly lucked out with the parrot that I picked up from a couple that sold him pretty cheap. They were abusing and neglecting him, so he wanted nothing to do with people, didn't want to be held, hissed and lunged at everyone. He was beautiful, no plucked feathers, and extremely quiet - very rare.
We "rescued" him and took him home and within about three days we realized we had an amazingly loving animal on our hands. I named him Rocky because the way his white feathers laid across his back reminded me of the rock candy we used to eat as kids. He had been hand tamed (he was a wild caught parrot someone had tried to smuggle into this country), and he had a horrible diet, thanks to the previous owners. He was very affectionate, loved being 'cuddled' and for the 19 years we were together he was 'audible' maybe a couple times a year, and never bit anyone.
For a few years, he and I did educational stage shows at County Fairs, malls, schools, etc. We taught people about care and nutrition, about temperaments, habits, and all the horrible things that people do with parrots. I used to say, "There are two types of bird lovers: people who genuinely love birds, and people who love the attention they get from owning a bird." This bird, as silly as it sounds, was like my kid. Everywhere I went, I made sure he was a priority. Wherever I moved, his cage was always in the main living area, no exceptions... he got interaction all the time, but was never dependent on it.
I took him to a bird show once and learned never to do that again. It was just a local club show, and he won best in show, and a couple ribbons, but he was my pet more than anything, so after one show he was retired from the show circuit. Birds are treated horribly at shows, but that's another story.
Rocky was smart, and he knew when I was in a bad mood - I could tell he was more alert - and it helped calm me down so that I wouldn't make him feel uncomfortable. He actually became part of my logo for my graphics business... he was a huge part of my life. When I bought my home, I bought him a new home, too. It was a huge stainless steel cage and he loved the space and climbing up the play gym I attached at the top.
In the late 2000s, he got an eye injury somehow when I wasn't home and developed cataracts. He went blind, basically, and while he could see shadows or movement he couldn't see anything right in front of him. I worried about his loss of vision more than he did - to him, I simply turned out the lights but to me I feared the worst. But it never stopped him and while he did become more dependent on me caring for him, he never lost a beat and became even more affectionate towards me. If I came home and threw something down on the counter it startled him because he didn't know what it was, and I had to be more aware of doing that.
In May of 2011, he had another seizure - he was prone to seizures and had a few over the years. But this time it was severe, he squawked once and alerted me there was a problem. I ran to him and he was hanging upside down from his perch and fading quickly. I grabbed him and within seconds he was lifeless, and died in my hands. He was just a bird, though, not a real person, right? No... he was family. I cried like a baby for days.
For a few years now, I still have the habit of thinking I'm startling him when I come in and make a noise (I live alone, so nobody here to startle). I still have his cage, dismantled and stored in various parts of the house. And I still miss that little white puff of feathers. People ask if I'll get another, but I can't.... I was so spoiled by him that if I don't find one with the same temperament I'm pretty sure I won't like it. They're known to be loud, destroyers, and dependent - but Rocky was the polar opposite.
So, yeah, I love animals and I got more emotional over my loss of a pet than I thought I would. If you care to watch, here's a video I had put together one year that kind of describes how pets "really need us"... enjoy. -
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