Last year's less adoptable pets

This concludes our "adopt a less adoptable pet week" series. Let's hope it helps some of our less adoptable birds find new homes. They are safe at CARE, but are used to living in a home environment, and most of them would prefer to be in a home, where they can get more attention.

I thought it would be interesting to revisit last year's less adoptable birds, to see where they are now.

2010's less adoptable birds:

• Olive, a quaker, was adopted. Yay!


• Tango, a severe macaw, was adopted into an amazing home. He is thriving and very much loved. Yay!


• Lola, an umbrella cockatoo, is still up for adoption.


• Budgies, though these particular budgies have been adopted, we always have many budgies looking for homes!


• Peanut, a nanday conure, is still up for adoption

Meet Lou

Meet Lou, an approximately 20 year old male blue and gold macaw. He's featured on our adopt a less adoptable pet week because he is a very challenging bird. He is very picky about what people he likes, and if he doesn't like you, he tries to intimidate you and threatens to attack. Most people are unable to properly address such behavior issues in such a large bird. We need to make sure he'll be adopted into a home where he will be a loved member of the family, and not stuck in a back bedroom due to his aggression.
Lou's been with us almost a year now, and no one has seriously thought about adopting him. Like many birds, he chooses the people he likes. When he likes someone, he is incredibly sweet and friendly; when he doesn't like someone, he tries to intimidate them by showing how big and scary he is and by threatening to bite. However, while in his cage, he will sing and dance with those he doesn't want to be around, so there is hope that in a home, with understanding people and lots of patience, we may seem him warming up to more people.
Lou needs an experienced macaw owner to adopt him. We feel confident that he will blossom in the right home; the trick is finding that home for him.

Meet Biggsie

Meet Biggsie, a blue-front amazon who's in his late teenage years. Biggsie is considered less adoptable as he is very picky about who he likes and who he doesn't like. This is definitely the occasion where the bird picks its human, rather than the other way around!

He doesn't really like to be handled much. He'd do well in a home that would let him out to hang out on top of his cage, and who wants to verbally interact with him, but who wouldn't insist on physically interacting with him.

Biggsie has an old, improperly-healed wing injury. This does not affect his day-to-day life.

We were told that Biggsie's owner suffered through a house fire last year, and the other bird who used to live with him died in that fire. However, Biggsie survived. Now, he's hoping to thrive, in an understanding home that will let him decide how long to truly come out of his shell.

Please stop by if you'd like to learn more about Biggsie.

Mork Update

We've posted about Mork on this blog before: here and here. We don't understand how a bird with Mork's personality can possibly still be looking for a home, several months after being surrendered. The reasons he's included in our week of less adoptable pets is due to his age (30, around the life span of a conure) and the fact that he is extremely plucked.
We're really hoping that we can find Mork a retirement home, where he can live out his last months or (hopefully) years. He is an incredible delight to be around and there are many volunteers who would snap him up if they had room in their homes.We know the right home for Mork is out there; the challenge is finding it before it's too late!

Puzzle Update

We introduced you to Puzzle a few months back, here. He's still with us, and still looking for a home. It appears as though we never updated the blog on the health problems Puzzle faced during the intervening months.

Lories require a special diet, but we've found that most people who surrender their lories to us are not feeding this. That was the case for Puzzle. As a result, he was very sick for a while. However, under our care and the supervision of his vet, he has mostly bounced back.

For a while, our vet thought that Puzzle might have permanent damage to his liver due to malnutrition. However, this does not appear to be the case. He does have to eat milk thistle a couple of times a day to help with his liver function, which is why we're including him in our week of less adoptable pets.

This isn't a huge deal as you just squirt it on his food and he eats it. And, Puzzle has such a charming personality that it's more than worth it!

Puzzle loves coming out and being with people. He chirps, sings, and whistles around his favorite people. He loves to play with toys, and has a joie-de-vivre that is quite infectious!

He's been through a lot in his young life, and we'd like to ensure his happiness in the future, in a home that understands the special dietary restrictions lories and lorikeets have. We can help educate you on this subject.

If you think Puzzle might be the bird for you, please stop by to meet him!

Lucky Update

It's been a while since we've talked about Lucky; the last time was here, in March 2010. His original story was posted here.

In 2007, when we introduced you to Lucky, we mentioned that he was the adoptable bird who had been looking for a home for the longest time. Four years later, he still is looking for a home.We still don't understand why so many cockatoos have been adopted out during the time that Lucky's been here, while he hasn't been. For that reason, he makes an appearance during the week when we are featuring our hard to adopt birds. It's a mystery why he's on this list, but the fact that he's been waiting so long is enough.

He's about 17 years old now. He tends to prefer women, as he was physically abused by a man in his past. He loves playing with toys, and we are constantly giving him new wood to play with. He is incredibly smart and quickly learns tricks.

Although he has settled in to life at the Center, he is hoping for a home of his own, where he can receive more attention than we can provide here. The last time we wrote about him, we'd hoped that 2010 would be the year that he found this. That didn't come to pass, but maybe 2011 will be the magic year when Lucky's life lives up to his name.

Meet Rudy

Petfinder has declared this "Adopt a less adoptable pet week" and, like last year, CARE is participating! This week, we will feature some of our special-needs birds; those that are having a tougher time finding a home. Perhaps one of these beauties may find their perfect home this week -- we can only hope!

Meet Rudy, an approximately 19 year old maroon-bellied conure. Rudy was owned by an elderly couple who became sick. The wife died a few years back, leaving Rudy with the husband, who Rudy didn't like very much. As a result, he hasn't been out of his cage very much recently.

He's a bit nippy here, due to recent lack of companionship, but once he's out and with someone he likes, he's very sweet. Part of the reason Rudy is considered less adoptable is because he's plucked his chest so much, to the point where the feather follicles have been damaged and it is unlikely he will regrow feathers.
Rudy hopes that people realize that feathers don't make the bird, and that there's a special someone out there willing to overlook outside appearances. That person will be rewarded with a loving companion.
As always, stop by CARE if you'd like to meet Rudy.

Adopt a Less Adoptable Pet Week; Olive Update

According to petfinder, today starts Adopt a Less Adoptable Pet Week. In honor of that, we'll feature some of our less adoptable parrots: those that have been with us a long time, or require special care.

Today's featured hard to adopt pet: Olive
We first introduced you to Olive earlier this year. Olive is now off of medical hold and searching for her forever home!

It does not appear as though Olive will have any long-term effects from her former mutilation; however, it's important that Olive's new home provide her with the best living situation, including annual vet checks, to make sure she stays in optimal health.

She can be a bit nippy, but once she has the stability of a permanent family, she will settle down quickly. We'd love for Olive to finally be able to live the life she deserves. If you have room for her, please stop by to meet her!