When a person without bird experience goes into a pet store, it is easy to fall in love with the young, interactive and beautiful parrot on display. She may fall head over heels in love with you, and you with her, and may call loudly to you when you leave making your heart feel heavy. She might remember you when you come back into the store for dog food weeks later, and do everything in her power to get you to return to her cage side and all but ...

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Rose breasted cockatoos

Just a quick reminder… It is fall and a time of year when birds will exhibit some hormonal behaviors.  I have been noticing that Linus, my umbrella cockatoo, has had trouble lately sleeping through the night.  This is always a sure sign that he is hormonal.  The good news is that this is a milder version of the peculiarity that we see so often in the springtime, so not to worry.

Hormonal behaviors are brought on by the changing seasons. Spring behaviors come about when warmer temperatures ...

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A while back, a friend and I were talking about some of the behavioral oddities of my umbrella cockatoo, Linus. I call them Linusisms. I was explaining to her that he has this thing about me sitting on the floor. He doesn’t like it. If he is out of his cage when I’m on the floor, he will always make his way over to me, usually thinking evil thoughts. She asked me how I handled this, and I told her...

Here it comes!  It’s only January!!  Normally, I wouldn’t see some of the behaviors I have been noticing until well into February.  Perhaps it is because of our change in location, but all the signs promising a very hormonal season are in place with my birds.

I took Theo, my goffins cockatoo, in to watch a movie with me the other day.  Normally, she would be preening herself, preening my hair, untying my shoes and hopping up and down the length of my body while I try to ...

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Mitred Conure

I took my umbrella cockatoo, Linus, to the vet last week.  His poops were runny and just generally not right.  I have to watch him closely because he contracted AGY (avian gastric yeast) last year, and it took almost a year to get rid of it.  It started out with the same symptoms: runny poops and a bad attitude.  I didn’t want to take any chances, so I had them run the tests, which all came back negative. Problem was, his poops still weren’t quite what they ...

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Congo African Grey Parrot

Veterinarians say that obesity is the most common health problem they see in companion parrots today.  Many experts say that owners tend to overfeed their birds, offer too many snacks, or are just poorly educated about nutrition.

Parrots suffer from the same ill effects from obesity as do humans. An obese parrot is predisposed to cancer. They are at risk for  atherosclerosis, where fatty substances are deposited on the walls of thick and hardened arteries, including the ones leading to the heart.  This can lead to collapse ...

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