Dancing Amazons

One of our volunteers made this video of two of her amazons dancing, singing, and whistling.

A nice reminder to take some time out of your day to enjoy and have fun with your parrots!

Their owner was diagnosed with alveolitis and had to rehome some of her birds. CARE helped to find a few birds homes with volunteers. Rio boarded with us on a long-term basis until Rio went to a sanctuary.

Millie update

Our string of bad luck continues. We hope to soon have happier reports to make on this blog.

Millie was euthanized today. We noticed that his lower beak was protruding in a way that was interfering with his ability to eat and play. He'd previously had three non-cancerous growths surgically removed from under his chin, and had recovered quite well, with the help of Cleo.

This time, the growth in his mouth went from under his tongue to down his pharynx -- there was no hope and he was euthanized while under anesthetic.

Cleo, his companion of about two years, is grieving. They were together constantly and got along famously. We're hoping that we can work to introduce Henry to Cleo and that those two conures can begin a similar relationship.

We're also hoping that things start to improve. We've lost too many special birds lately.

Peaches

Peaches, a male M2, recently went to the vet as we were troubled by the fact that he hadn't been eating much. Our vet did a barium series and found what we suspect to be two masses. He will have surgery tomorrow (we'll keep you updated).

Peaches is just the latest Center bird that has had relatively severe medical problems in the recent past. In addition to Peaches, the following birds have had surgery in 2009: Millie (mitred conure), Charlie (B&G macaw), and Louie (U2).

Additionally, three birds have been surrendered to us with aspergillosis. Each bottle of medication costs us $125. These extraordinary vet costs are above and beyond the well bird checkups that birds receive while in our care, and our outstanding balance at the vet has been averaging around $2,000.

We are very fortunate that our vet gives us a huge discount on her services; otherwise, we would have had to shut our doors long ago.

If you are able to make a tax-deductible donation to help us defray these medical costs, we would very much appreciate it. You can mail a check to us at:

CARE
3053 Beechwood Industrial Court
Suite 1
Hubertus, WI 53033

If you'd prefer to send a check directly to our vet's office, please contact us through our website and we can make that happen as well.

Thank you to everyone who has donated time and money to our organization over the years. The birds really appreciate it, even though they may not always express it!

Mango update

We have some very sad news to report regarding Mango, the Ducorps cockatoo whose story can be found here.

Mango was found this morning profusely bleeding by our feeding volunteers. Lori rushed her down to the Center's avian vet. Sadly, she had mutilated herself to the point that we could no longer help her. The osteoma had just grown too large; it was the growth of this osteoma that most likely was the catalyst for her latest mutilation. So we made the humane (but still tough) decision to euthanize her.

It's a sad, sad day, but at least Mango's last couple of years were full of love, good food, wood toys, and attention. We will all miss her terribly, but she will soon be back in the boarding room on our shelf of dearly departeds.

What makes this even tougher is that she'd been making such progress and was such a happy parrot. During her time at the Center, she'd found her way into the hearts of many of our volunteers and clients, where she'll always be.