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And Then She Was Gone

Submitted By: Margaret Tanzman Artz, Utah.

Published in Original Flying Machine, Issue 4: Jan-Feb. 2001

I’ve been a writer most of my life . . . all fourteen years of it! But, I never thought I’d be
writing this true story. You see, I am by nature a careful person and so I never expected to be
involved in such a horrible mistake that nearly cost us the life of our precious Alexandrine
parrot.

Veda is three years old and we’ve had her since she was weaned. We all help taking care of
our birds but Veda and I have a special closeness. Wherever I am, she finds me and although we
keep her flight feathers clipped, she flies well enough to reach her favorite perch…my shoulder!
She always flies straight to me and never away from me … until this time.

It had been a hideous day at school and I arrived home exhausted. I threw myself on the
couch and welcomed Veda to my shoulder. Then I realized that I left my backpack in the car.
With Veda hanging on I shuffled to the garage. The thought crossed my mind that the garage
door was wide open. In one of those split second conversations with myself I thought, “Should I
leave Veda inside? Naaah, she always flies to me, never away from me! Besides, she’ll be too
scared to leave my shoulder.” I decided to take the risk.

As I slammed the car door Veda launched off my shoulder and flew out of the garage
heading into the field next to our house. I ran after her calling her name but the truth is I wasn’t
really worried. I knew she would flutter to the ground a few feet away. Besides, Veda always
flies to me…never away, remember? What I hadn’t counted on was her long tail and her instinct
to keep flying. In a panic, I turned to yell for my sister; and then she was gone.
Within seconds my sister, parents and grandparents were calling and searching. Every
tree was checked and rechecked. We looked everywhere for hours. That’s when it hit me. The
impossible had happened. Veda was gone (and it was my doing). As it grew dark we were
forced to wait until the next day to continue our search. Mom tied the door of Veda’s cage open
and we vowed not to close it until she returned.

The next day we swallowed our sorrow and prepared for action. Dad started searching
before dawn; we put Ricky, our Severe Macaw in a cage outside hoping his calls would guide
Veda back to our house; we blared tapes of our other birds’ voices; we called all the vets, the zoo
keeper, the animal control officer, all the pet stores and we put a big ad in the newspaper. We
decided that our best searchers would be children because they spend more time outside and
would believe their eyes if they saw a tropical bird fly by, so we talked to the kids at our
elementary school and posted pictures on all the doors, inside and out. We told them that if they
ever dreamed of being heros, the time was now.

On the third night, I have to admit that I had lost hope of ever finding her. We drove
around slowly, calling her name over and over, hoping she would make just one single sound so
we could distinguish her little green body and pimento beak from the thick foliage around us.
The weather had turned cold and it started hailing. We were beside ourselves with sorrow and
decided to drive home. Just then, Mom’s cell phone rang! For a moment my sister and I clutched
each other tightly, certain Veda had been found dead. My mom got off the phone and stared at
us in amazement. “She’s alive!” she cried.

Veda had been spotted on the church roof almost 2 miles away, by the Boy Scouts who
had heard her squawking. As the boys tried to coax her down, she flew to the shoulder of a
small red haired girl, named Amanda. We headed to the church, sobbing with happiness and
relief. On our way we passed a van going in the opposite direction. In the front seat was a little
boy with a bird perched on his shoulder! WAIT! It was Veda ! They were bringing her to our
house. We backed up waving wildly to flag them down. Finally, the driver stopped and started
rolling down his window to talk with us. “NOOOOO!”, we screamed frantically, “Close the
window!” Can you imagine if she flew out of his car window and we lost her again?

I jumped out of the car and cracked open the van door just enough to reach in for Veda.
Completely exhausted, she used the last of her energy to step on to my hand. I wrapped her
safely in a sweatshirt and stroked her soft green back. She was limp, hungry, thirsty and tired
but she was not hurt in any way. I could not believe my eyes. This 48 hour nightmare had
finally ended … and happily.

I hope that you can learn from my experience. It is true that we all take risks, sometimes
we win and sometimes we lose. But why take this risk when the price of losing is so high? Now
I know that given a chance, even pets birds can fly away. I had no idea how much I would miss
Veda until I came so close to losing her. In the words of Antoine de Saint Exupery, “You
become responsible forever, for what you have tamed.” That’s a responsibility I won’t take
risks with again.

Parrots in Temporary Shelters:

The Groundwork for Empowerment and Trust
Author: S.G. Friedman, Ph.D., Utah State University

The unfortunate increase of parrots in temporary shelters provides a unique challenge for
those who work there. This challenge is made especially demanding partly due to our
relative unfamiliarity with the general nature of parrots. Basing our expectations for
parrot behavior on our vast experience with dogs and cats often results in an intrusive or
forceful style of interaction that fails to help parrots settle and feel comfortable with the
humans around them.

Parrots tend to be extremely wary of new people, places and things and caregivers often
expect too much interaction too soon. In an effort to gain some control over their
circumstances parrots are often quick to exhibit problem behaviors like lunging, biting
and screaming. Although these problem behaviors can be resolved over time, the short
term stay of most shelter placements requires that we realistically prioritize behavioral
goals for both staff and parrots, and gain some basic knowledge about how to meet them,
as well.

In a nut shell, my recommendation is that shelter staff works to reduce parrots’ stress to
the greatest degree possible while the birds are in their care. This approach will lay the
groundwork for empowerment and trust that can hopefully be taken over and further
developed by a more permanent placement with a family.

Highly Intelligent: What Does It Mean?

It is said the one thing we can rely on in life is change and that is certainly true for our
long-lived parrots. It is the ability to learn that is the biological mechanism by which all
animals cope with life’s ever-changing circumstances. When we say parrots are highly
intelligent we mean that they are extremely flexible learners, that is, they readily change
their behavior based on experience. You can count on the fact that parrots learn
something from each and every encounter with humans. This is good news because, to a
large degree, you control the parrot’s experience when it1 encounters you. With some
basic behavior analysis skills you can arrange experiences that add to each parrots’
bank account of positive interactions with humans.

Power and Trust: Essential Building Blocks for Behavioral Health

An empowered animal is one that is enabled to influence its own circumstances.
Research has shown that animals repeatedly exposed to aversive events without
opportunity to escape eventually give up trying. Later when escape routes are made
plainly available, they don’t act to help themselves, remaining as if helpless in the
aversive situation instead. The power to behave in ways that affects some self-determined
end appears to be a critical building block for behavioral health. Enabling sheltered
parrots to make choices whenever possible, such as where to go, or where to remain, is an
important step toward empowering them. Empower rather than overpower.
Trust is the result of a behavioral history made up of past positive experiences with
humans. Building a positive history is a matter arranging the parrot’s environment so
that positive behaviors are made easy and always result in desirable outcomes for the
bird. When you make a request of parrots make sure there is something in it for them.

Facilitate rather than force.

Astute readers will notice empowerment and trust are the antithesis of old-fashioned
dominance strategies in which caregivers are encouraged to establish themselves as the
“alpha-parrot”; “show them who’s boss”; and “keep the upper hand”. Instead, empower
parrots to make choices and provide trust-building experiences by reinforcing the right
choices. Transform “have to” confrontations into “want to” opportunities by providing
a clear reason why complying with a human request benefits the bird.

Understanding Behavior

Although most parrots are surrendered from pet situations it’s reasonable to assume they
will have a hard time adjusting to the unfamiliar shelter environment and staff. In spite
of their history living among humans, success or failure, the best image to hold in your
mind while working with a parrot is one of a wild animal. This will hopefully facilitate a
slow and forgiving interaction style. Always allow the pace of every interaction to be set
by the parrot.

Parrots in captivity actually have a very short list of possible “misbehaviors” (from a
human point of view) but those they do exhibit are very difficult for humans to live with.
In addition to the natural need to chew with their beaks and habit of doing so
indiscriminately, these behaviors can be loosely grouped into two classes: 1) Behaviors to
get you to go away, such as biting and refusing to come out of a cage, and 2) behaviors to
get you to come back such as continuous screaming or sticking to you like Velcro. It’s
important to realize that no behavior is performed willy-nilly or randomly. Parrots learn
to bite, scream and refuse requests because doing so serves the function to either escape
or remove something aversive to them, or get something of value.
Also, behavior is not performed in a vacuum. Antecedent cues and conditions set the
occasion for (trigger) behavior to occur; and, outcomes (consequences) provide feedback
about whether to repeat, modify or suppress a behavior in the future. These are the
building blocks of learning and behavior – the ABCs: antecedents – behavior –
consequences. By identifying antecedents and consequences three important objectives
are accomplished. We can better 1) understand the function of particular behaviors for
individual parrots, 2) predict future behavior, and 3) determine ways to change the
environment to change behavior.

Here is an example of relationship between antecedents, behavior and consequences for a
particular parrot–human interaction, changing food bowls.

A: Caregiver opens cage door to remove interior food bowl.
B: Parrot bites hand.
C: Caregiver leaves bowl and retreats from cage.

Prediction: Parrot will bite more in the future to remove caregiver from cage.
A dominance solution to this problem is to try to ignore the biting. However this
roughshod approach teaches many parrots that they have no control over their
environment (their communications are unheard), that you are not to be trusted, and that
you require harder, more vicious bites to get you to back off. Where parrots are
concerned, force and coercion typically result in lose-lose situations.

Instead of ignoring or forcing, we can change the antecedents that precede the behavior
and the consequences that reinforce the behavior, in order to change it. For example,
antecedent changes include fitting cages with outside access to food and water cups to
avoid unnecessarily stressing birds when our hands are inside their cages. Consequent
changes include adding a special treat food (e.g. a few corn kernels or a sliver of almond)
in the first bowl to be changed so that feeding time becomes associated with a treasured
treat not available at any other time. While the bird enjoys the treat at one bowl, you can
be changing the others. Avoid setting the occasion for your parrots to practice stressful
or unwanted behavior. Take every opportunity to reinforce desirable behavior.

Building Better Behavior: The Basics
• Behind every parrot behavior is a reason.
• To discover the reason look at what happens right after the behavior called the
consequence.
• Parrots maintain or increase behaviors that result in valued consequences
called reinforcers.
• The tricky thing is that every parrot is an individual — a ‘study of 1’– and
decides for itself which consequences are positive reinforcers.
• To learn what a particular parrot’s positive reinforcers are, carefully observe
its favorite activities, people and food treats.
• Most problem behaviors are the result of inadvertent reinforcment; you get
what you reinforce so catch `em being good with praise, treats, and favorite
activities, as often as possible.
• Behavior is triggered by antecedents, cues and conditions.
• Thoughtfully arranged antecedents set the occasion for cooperative behavior
and reduce the need for force or coercion.
Replacing Force with Facilitation: Teaching Tips

Stepping up:
1. To teach a bird to step up, reward small approximations toward your hand rather
than withholding reinforcement until you get the final behavior.
2. Parrots generally prefer to step up rather than down; position your hand for
success.
3. A bird who wants to step onto your hand will signal you by raising its foot in
anticipation.
4. For many birds, the most valued reinforcer for stepping up is to be put right back
down again. Repeat this several times a day if possible.

Perching Calmly:
1. To teach a bird to stay calm when you approach its cage, advance only as far as
the bird’s behavior remains ‘unruffled’. Advance one step closer only after all
previous steps to that point are met with calm behavior from the bird.
2. For many birds, the most valued reinforcer for staying calm as you approach their
cage is to take a few steps back away from the cage. For frightened or aggressive
behavior, stand still where you are neither advancing nor retreating. When the
bird calms, step back away. Then try one step closer again.
3. Pair your retreat with praise to make praise a reinforcer by association.
4. Drop a favorite food treat (one that is not available at any other time) every single
time you pass by the bird’s cage. This will make you a reinforcer by association.

What Exactly IS A Parrot Behavior Consultant??

The “Pet of the 90s”

Parrots are incredibly popular these days. Humans have kept parrots in captivity for thousands of years, but it is only in the recently that they have become increasingly common pets. This popularity coincides with the appearance in the pet trade of large numbers of domestic bred, hand-raised baby parrots, which happened about 18-20 years ago. Wild parrots can be quite formidable, since they tend to scream and throw themselves around their cages at the sight of a human. Not so with hand-raised babies! Instead of being terrified or aggressive, domestic bred babies perceive humans as their friends, and few people can resist a warm, fluffy creature that toddles cooing into their arms.

So people buy them like crazy, often without learning anything at all about this wonderfully loving, totally complex and alien life form. Things have improved slightly from the old days of feeding only a seed mixture called “parrot food.” Knowledgeable bird owners know that a total seed diet is inadequate. (Actually, an all seed diet is the nutritional equivalent to a diet of potato chips.) They may also know that birds in captivity need good yearly veterinary care just like dogs and cats, but from an avian veterinarian.

Tick, Tick, Tick….

However, even these more knowledgeable people may not understand that these baby parrots are creatures with complex psychological needs. Most buyers have no information at all regarding the psychological development and growth of young parrots. Some unethical pet stores and breeders tell prospective buyers that domestic bred, hand-raised parrots will never bite at all — as if being born in captivity automatically insures manageability — and unhappily, they are often believed. The reality is that without proper training, that cute toddler is actually a ticking time bomb.

Since these domestics are so recent, we really have limited experience dealing with their behaviors. Most information about parrot behavior came from working with imported wild adults, and domestic babies are very different. Consequently, serious problems are developing with them, because they do not stay babies. When purchased, they are in what I call The Bassinet And Goo Stage, and for some idiotic reason we believed they would always stay that way. Boy, were we wrong!

Long Life and Lots of Changes

Parrots are extremely intelligent and potentially long-lived creatures. Thanks to research done by Dr. Irene Pepperberg, the intelligence of parrots is now ranked with chimpanzees and dolphins — approximately that of a five year old child. Even budgies (the perky little birds that Americans are still incorrectly calling “parakeets”) are capable of living longer than many dogs. In their long lives, parrots (and their owners) experience various developmental stages that are quite similar to many that children (and their parents) encounter as they grow and mature. For example, most parrots seem to get stuck in The Terrible Twos for most/all of their lives.

In the many years I worked with avian veterinarians, I saw the same thing repeatedly. A sobbing owner would bring in a sick parrot, asking that we do anything and everything we could to save the life of this priceless pet. Often we succeeded, only to find a few months later that they had gotten rid of this same beloved pet, because “He screams” or “He bites” or “He doesn’t like my new boyfriend.”

Obviously, a serious problem exists here.

Trying To Make A Difference

Consequently, I became very interested in learning how to educate people about the normal and abnormal behaviors of their parrots, so that this unhappy scenario did not continue to happen. There are a few of us now, that do this kind of work. We are not “animal behaviorists” because none of us (that I know of) have a degree in ethology (animal behavior). Consequently, we call ourselves (for lack of a better title), “parrot behavior consultants.” Our purpose is simple — but not easy. We spend hours each day trying to teach people how to deal with the behavior problems they are encountering in their parrots, educating these owners about the intelligent and complex creatures in their care. We do this one-on-one through house calls and phone consultations, or with large groups through lectures, seminars and publications.

It is no doubt unanimous that our absolute favorite type of call is a new baby consultation — when we teach people how to get off on the right foot with their new parrot. It’s so much easier to prevent problems than to try to fix them later.

Endless Variety from the Same Cause

The behavior problems we encounter cover a tremendous variety, including biting, cage territoriality, over-dependence, phobias, obsessive bonding, feather plucking and excessive screaming. (Note the italics — a normal, healthy parrot is NOT a quiet animal. Like they say, “If you want a quiet pet, get a reptile.”) Without exception, these aberrant behaviors are different manifestations of the same underlying problem: a lack of control by the owner. They are also correctable to varying degrees.

There IS hope….

So, if your adorable young parrot is developing behavior problems as it matures, there is hope — depending more on YOU than on the bird. You need to learn how to properly socialize your baby, to teach it how to interact with its human flock and how to establish yourself in the position of flock leader. YOU need to learn how to change the patterns that may have contributed to the development of these problem behaviors. For example, probably the greatest mistake we have made with baby parrots is to accidentally give them the nonverbal information that they outrank us. We accomplish this in two classic ways. First, we do not require them to do anything they do not want to do. (”But he doesn’t LIKE taking a bath…”) Secondly and most especially, we put them above eye level on high cage-top playpens and on human shoulders.

Gradual Improvements

The mistakes we have made with parrots in captivity are many, but as we learn, their physical, medical and psychological care improves. This improvement will continue as long as we so-called “higher life forms” (and I admit I am skeptical about this) are still open to learning about the life around us.

Liz Wilson, Certified Veterinary Technician, has been assisting pet bird owners with parrot behavior problems for over a decade through lectures, phone consultations, and house calls in the Greater Philadelphia area

She can be reached at (215) 946-5964 9AM - 9PM M-F
Website: http://www.upatsix.com/liz

NURTURING GUIDANCE WHAT IS IT & HOW DOES IT WORK?

If you have done much reading about pet parrots and behavior, you have probably encountered the phrase, nurturing guidance — a concept developed by Sally Blanchard, author of the Parrot Psychology column in BIRD TALK MAGAZINE and editor of THE PET BIRD REPORT. From my experience as a parrot behavior consultant, the establishment of a relationship of nurturing guidance is the single most important component to enjoying years and years of cohabitation with a parrot. Without it, a parrot is often unclear as to his position within his human flock…or worse yet, through other mistakes made by his well-meaning owner, the parrot receives the nonverbal information that it is the head of the flock.

The result of this linguistic misunderstanding is not pleasant — a parrot in control of its human flock is an animal that is out of control. A parrot is genetically a wild animal (whether it is domestic-bred or not) who has some basic instinctual information about survival in the rain forests, but it has not a clue regarding adaptation to a person’s living room. A parrot also may have some basic information regarding the responsibilities of a flock leader, but not the foggiest idea how to supervise the behaviors of all the different life forms (humans, cats, dogs, hamsters, goldfish, gerbils….) it may encounter in captivity.

The analogy I like to use is that of a person who has been hired for a management position. The job isn’t fully explained except for one thing: there are several people to supervise. However, no matter what the new manager does, the people under his supervision totally ignore the orders they are given. A person placed in that situation would probably exhibit increased tension resulting in a variety of unhealthy things like yelling, temper tantrums, nail chewing, etc.. In parrots, the result can be unacceptable behaviors like cage territoriality, biting, screaming, and feather plucking.

Out of Control….
I think all parrot behavior consultants agree on one thing: the behavior problems commonly seen in captive parrots are a direct result of a lack of control on the part of the human, and too much control on the part of the parrot. So it is obvious that a person cohabiting with a parrot must establish that (s)he [the human] is the head of the flock and the parrot is in a submissive position within said flock. Sounds simple enough – but how does one do it?

Actually, from my experience, it is simple. By establishing a relationship of nurturing guidance by teaching and consistently using four basic commands, you can successfully demote your parrot from its perceived position as head of the flock. These commands – Up, Down, No and OK — block the parrot from making major decisions, such as whether or not it will come out of (or off of) the cage, whether or not it will go back into the cage, whether or not it will stop biting or screaming, etc. etc. These commands will NOT, however, turn a parrot into a little robot, so that is not a concern. These commands will also not remove all decision-making from the parrot’s life, because a certain amount of decision-making is important for an intelligent animal’s mental health. The parrot still has critical decisions to make regarding which food to eat (or fling) next, which toy must be beaten into submission next, etc. etc..

The First Command
The first command is Up. The meaning of this command is simple — Up’ means step onto a human hand NOW. It does NOT mean, step onto a human hand IF the parrot is in the mood. Many people think their parrots are trained to this command, but when questioned in detail, it turns out the bird may know what the word means, but only follows it when it wants to – and if so, that parrot is NOT trained to the Up command. Just as one expects a properly-trained dog to sit when it is told to sit, when one says ”Up”, the parrot MUST step up, not some of the time or most of the time but ALL of the time. This is the human’s decision, not the bird’s.

The most important thing to understand about this command is this: It’s purpose is not JUST to get the bird on one’s hand — it’s purpose is to remind the bird that the PERSON the one making the major decisions, NOT the parrot.

As with all commands taught to animals, the use of a single word is generally more effective than multiple words, so ”Up” is often more effective than ”Step up” and definitely more effective than ”Baby-get-on-my-hand-like-mommy’s-good-little-birdy” or what Blanchard calls ”motor-boating” with ”upupupupupupup”.

Command #2
Down is command #2 is and it means step off the human hand onto an inanimate object (such as a perch), NOW. This is not a directional thing — if one wants a parrot to step up onto a high perch, the command is still Down. This is the command one uses when it’s time for the bird to go back in its cage so the human can leave for work, neatly circumventing the bird-glued-to-a-hand routine. One of my clients told me a story about her macaw that I thoroughly enjoyed. She had the macaw on her shoulder [which is NOT recommended] and was trying to get him off her shoulder and up onto the top of his cage by saying, ”Step up, Freddie, UP”. Well, Freddie apparently had a much better grasp of the proper use of these commands because he looked her in the eye and said “DOWN,” then stepped onto the cage!

Commands #3 & #4
Command #3 is No and I don’t suppose anyone needs any explanation of this one — all parrot owners already use it with varying degrees of success. However, the human companion will be delighted to find that this word gains tremendous potency when a parrot is properly trained. After all, when your boss says No, you listen!

The fourth and last command is Okay and this is the release command. This is used when the parrot really wants to do something and the human wishes to give the bird permission. In this manner, it becomes the human’s idea, NOT the bird’s. For example, the bird is on your hand but obviously really wants to go to your spouse — so you say ”Okay” and your spouse says ”Up”. So the decision becomes the person’s, NOT the parrot’s… ….which is the whole point.

Lesson Time and Place….
To teach these commands, one only needs a neutral room and a neutral perch. In this situation, ”neutral” is defined as something the parrot does not already consider to be his own property, such as his cage or his jungle gym (or his sofa). To attempt to teach commands with the parrot sitting on what he considers to be HIS turf is an exercise in futility. We humans tend to underestimate just how territorial a bird can be, and learning this can be a painful lesson. Just remember that propagation of the species is the prime directive for any animal, and protection of one’s nest falls under that heading. The subject of cage territoriality is a very important one, and it is addressed ad nauseum in another article.

Lessons should be given once or twice a day for no longer than fifteen to twenty minutes. If done more than once, they should be several hours apart. You should make sure you are relaxed before you begin, or it is guaranteed the lesson will not go well. Parrots are incredibly empathic creatures that often mirror our moods — so if you start a lesson in an angry or aggressive mood, for example, don’t be surprised if you get bitten. Smile, be patient, and always end the lesson on a positive note.

Be Mod Philosophy
The concept of behavior modification is quite simple — to give positive reinforcement for good behaviors and to (and this is the hard part) ignore bad behaviors. So when the parrot follows a command, smile at him and/or tell him he is wonderful. When he does not, ignore the transgression and simply repeat the command, pushing gently but firmly at his legs or lower chest. Say the command clearly and decisively, like you expect the parrot to do as you say. If you don’t really expect him to behave, he probably won’t.

Always remember that parrots prefer to step up than down, so hold your hand a little above the perch for an Up command, and slightly below for a Down. Your hand position is also important — hold it as if you are going to shake hands, except that the hand is held parallel to the perch on which the bird is sitting. Your elbow is bent and held close to your waist so there is no clear, inviting pathway to your shoulder.

Perch Training
And while you are teaching your parrot to step up onto your hand, take a few extra minutes and also teach him/her to step onto a hand-held perch on command, also. This will come in handy later, especially with headstrong birds like Amazons and macaws, who can become quite aggressive during spring nesting behavior. An Amazon in full display (neck feathers up, tail feathers fanned, eyes flashing madly), is better handled with a perch — your healing time will be greatly diminished.

This trick will also come in handy if you have an inexperienced person bird-sitting when you’re out of town. Inexperienced people are often much less afraid of parrots if they don’t have to get the bird directly onto their hand, so your feathered friend will have a better chance at getting out-of-cage time if he’s perch trained.

To Shoulder Or Not To Shoulder…
The subject of shouldering is NOT a controversial one. Every parrot behavior consultant I know agrees that the owner who allows a bird to shoulder is an owner who is asking for trouble. Forget the pirate movies you watched as a child — allowing a parrot on your shoulder is ASKING FOR TROUBLE. Yes, it is convenient, and yes, most people think it is cool… but be very aware of exactly what you are accomplishing by doing this. By allowing a parrot on your shoulder you are putting him above eye level. When you put a companion parrot above eye level, you are giving him the nonverbal information that he outranks you. Consequently, all your little training sessions might very well be a waste of time — they will not negate the parrot’s belief that you are subservient to him (after all, that’s what you TOLD him!).

The second critical thing you accomplish by allowing a bird to shoulder is that you have exposed a tremendously vulnerable part of your anatomy to that beak. After twenty years as a veterinary technician, I have plenty of scars in a variety of places and frankly, scars generally don’t concern me. If I cared about getting scars, I would’ve found an easier way to make a living. But from personal experience, I can tell you that being bitten in the face is a completely different story. Even without the danger of loss of an eye or other permanent disfigurement, being bitten in the face can have a permanent negative effect on your relationship with your parrot. Psychologically, it can take a long time, IF EVER, that you will learn to trust the bird again. It is simply not worth risking permanent damage to your relationship — as well as your anatomy.

And even if you don’t care about the potential of losing a nose, ear or eye, I wish to point out one more thing: forgetting a bird is on your shoulder and walking outside with it is one of the most common ways people have lost parrots – especially if you haven’t been paying attention and the bird’s wings are starting to grow out.

Conclusion
From my experience, if you follow these guidelines and use these commands clearly and consistently, life with your parrot should improve immensely. You must be patient, though – habits can be hard to break, both for your parrot and you. It took time for your parrot to learn the behaviors he exhibits and it will take time for him to change. But more importantly, it will take time for you to remember to be consistent with the commands, and until you are consistent you cannot expect a change in the behaviors of your parrot. But believe me, it is well worth the time and effort for years of enjoyable cohabitation with that amazing little life form called a parrot.

This article was first published in CAGED BIRD HOBBYIST

Liz Wilson, Certified Veterinary Technician, has been assisting pet bird owners with parrot behavior problems for over a decade through lectures, seminars, phone and in-home consultations.

She can be reached at (215) 946-5964 9AM - 9PM M-F
Website: http://www.upatsix.com/liz

ADOPTING AN OLDER PARROT: The ULTIMATE In Recycling

A woman in my area was planning to buy an African grey, and we’d talked extensively on the phone about good local breeders, local pet stores, what to look for, what to ask, etc., etc.. I enjoyed talking with Anne a great deal — she was trying to make an educated decision, and was carefully learning everything she could before she bought her first parrot. This is really refreshing, since most beginning parrot people (including myself when I got my first bird) seek help only AFTER they’ve screwed up. (She also had a very funny black sense of humor which didn’t hurt either!)

Fruitless Search
However, when Anne contacted one of the better local aviculturists, she discovered to her dismay that the lady had no more babies. There wouldn’t be babies in the future, either, since the lady had unfortunately burned out and was discontinuing her breeding operation. After talking to Anne for a while, the (ex)breeder did comment that she had one bird that needed a home — a sweet little 1� year old Congo grey named Timmy who had been kept as a personal pet.

Anne remembered what she’d read and been told by various sources –“You have to get a parrot as a young baby so it’ll bond to you” or worse yet, “You have to hand feed a parrot so it will bond to you.” Obviously, at eighteen months this individual was totally weaned and no longer a young baby.

Old Wives Tales
The old wives’ tales are rampant about parrots and bonding and most, from my experience, are simply not true. So let’s look at this stuff about bonding and hand feeding, and bonding and young birds.

The fact is, hand feeding is a dangerous process when done by a novice. This needs to be said over and over — I don’t think that it can be said too much. In the 20 years I worked with avian veterinarians, I have seen too many times how easy it is for an inexperienced hand feeder to do serious physical and psychological damage to an unweaned parrot chick — indeed, many parrot babies do not survive the human’s learning process.

Aviculturist Bobbi Brinker told me an amazing story the other day. Dr. Branson Richie is the veterinary microbiologist who has made stupendous breakthroughs in the field of avian virology, such as the tests for the Beak and Feather virus and the polyoma virus, as well as the polyoma vaccine. However, he commented to Bobbi that these achievements would pale in comparison to convincing people not to sell or buy unweaned parrot chicks. Rather strong statement, don’t you think?

Incredible Responsibilities…
The process of hand feeding a baby parrot is an extremely complex matter, with tremendous potential for disaster. The training a novice hand feeder requires simply cannot be covered in a couple of minutes prior to the purchase of an unweaned chick.

So why, you ask, is the inexperienced parrot buying public so willing to take on that kind of incredible responsibility? From my own experience, they aren’t. In my VERY short career of working in a pet store, I was not comfortable selling unweaned bappies,

but I was not in a position to change store policy. Consequently, I could not refuse to sell an unweaned chick. However, I was delighted to find I didn’t have to — once the possible dangers were clearly and unemotionally explained, people quickly changed their minds about wanting to hand feed. They were delighted to have experienced personnel finish off the process.

So if hand feeding is so potentially dangerous, why is it that so many people are encouraged to take home an unweaned chick after minimal teaching? Simple, really — it has to do with “The Bottom Line.” Hand feeding is incredibly labor intensive. The sooner a parrot chick is sold, the higher the profit ratio for the store or breeder. So it behooves the seller to convince the buyer that hand feeding is safe and easy.

Does “Let the buyer beware” sound familiar, anyone?

Bonding, Garbage and Hogwash
The garbage about parrots only bonding to the person who hand feeds is simply that: GARBAGE. As to the stuff about parrots only bonding as a baby, that’s also hogwash. The subject of bonding is a complex one, worthy of an article in itself. Suffice it to say, you do not need to be the one holding the syringe to have a parrot learn to bond to you — in the long run, bappies don’t care who is holding the syringe. For a parrot to bond to you, you need to be the one that nurtures and teaches and protects… and the one the bird learns to trust.

After all, people have kept parrots as pets for thousands of years, and those birds were wild animals who were captured and tamed, NOT babies that were hand fed by humans. Hand fed parrot chicks only appeared routinely in the pet trade about twenty years ago. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again — Do you actually think that no human ever had a bonded relationship with a parrot prior to twenty years ago?

What About Older Birds?
So, what about giving an adolescent or adult parrot a chance? As always, there are variables. For example, there is the apparently nice bird on consignment in a pet store? This not a hard and fast rule, but I would suggest caution. From my own experience, most parrots on consignment in pet stores have behavior problems. (Please, guys, before you start writing letters — please note the use of the word “most“.) The people in the store tell you a really sad story about how it is a wonderful bird, but the owner MUST get rid of it. Reasons given generally include things like the owner is moving or pregnant or “got a new job and doesn’t have the time.” In my opinion, this makes no sense. After all, does a person put their kids up for adoption when they move, or become pregnant with the next kid?

The REAL Reason
From my experience, when the bond between a parrot and a human is not strong, then any major life change can become a good excuse for getting rid of a bird. These excuses generally cover the fact that (whether the owners admit it to themselves or not), there is a problem with the bird.

Now, that problem could be the humans, NOT the bird’s. Often, the beauty and potential talking ability of parrots will lead people to an impulse buy, and unfortunately many pet stores do their best to capitalize on that. Later, these people may decide they don’t really like cohabiting with a parrot. After all, parrots can be a real pain at times. You may have noticed that. So the bird goes up for sale.

This is not because the parrot did anything wrong — parrot’s can’t be anything but parrots. So if a person with really sensitive hearing or an allergy to feathers can’t live with them, that is not the bird’s fault.

Prefab Behavior Problems
However, many of the parrots on consignment in pet stores are there because they are screamers, or because they are aggressive. Now that does NOT mean they will never make a good pet, or that they don’t deserve a chance — far from it. But the subject of rehabilitating parrots with behavior problems is not an issue I’m going to tangle here. That should be done in a whole separate article. However, I will stick in a quote, here — to give everyone a jolt of reality regarding some of these birds and some of the stores that sell them. There is a pet store owner in my area who supposedly made the following comment: “I love selling parrots, because I get to sell them over and over and over…..” Food for thought.

However…..
If the bird needing a home is a parrot who was raised by someone who values socialization and behavioral limits, then as far as I am concerned, go for it! These animals can make excellent pets, and they deserve every chance to prove it.

True, these birds are no longer babies and may be more reserved at first. Bappies love just about everyone — they would probably love an ax murderer just as much as they would love you — when they are bappies, anyway. An older bird may take a little while to warm up to you — but so what? No, we are not talking about instant gratification, here — we are actually talking about having to work for something, just a little bit. But oh, the rewards!

Ann’s Choice
So back to Ann and the choice she had to make… Having spoken with people like me, she remembered being warned about the potential dangers of hand feeding. She had never owned a parrot, and thought that would not be a great way to start. She decided that getting an older bird was a great idea. So home she came with Timmy, the year and a half old African grey. His breeder had an excellent reputation for nurturing and socializing her chicks, and he had been her pet.

The Honeymoon or Break-In Period
When a parrot changes environment, often it also changes some behaviors. Its established behavior patterns of the past were centered around the bird’s territory. When a parrot changes homes, then, there is a window in time during which it is settling in, before it has established its new territory. During that time, everything is neutral territory. That window is open for around 10-14 days. During that time, new rules and behaviors are much more easily implemented. After that magic two weeks, the parrot has reestablished old patterns in its new home.

People call me all the time about this wonderful bird they found on consignment. They brought it home from the shop and the bird was fabulous….for a couple of weeks. Then the parrot started biting/screaming/what ever. They thought the bird had changed and didn’t understand why. I would explain that in reality, the bird had changed back.

Oddly enough, many sources of information about parrots tell a new owner to leave the bird alone in the cage for the first couple of weeks, to let the animal “settle in.” In my opinion, this is exactly what the new owner DOES NOT want to do. After all, the bird doesn’t have its own agenda established, yet. Once that agenda is established, it won’t be impossible to change him — it is rarely impossible to change a parrot’s behavior — but it will be more difficult.

Ann and Timmy — We Meet
Ann scheduled a consultation with me before the end of the first week of her new life with Timmy. This was excellent timing — it was before the window had closed, and before she had made any serious mistakes. Timmy was already trying out some new behaviors that were going to mean trouble. In an effort to control her new environment, Timmy had become cage bound. She hadn’t been out of the cage in three days and Ann was worried. Timmy would scream and growl and throw herself around the cage on Ann’s approach, and Ann was afraid the little bird would hurt herself.

Following my usual pattern for consultations, Ann and I sat on the couch in Timmy’s room (what used to be the living room) and I watched Timmy while Ann and I talked about the importance of bathing, unfiltered light, rotating toys, diet, etc., etc., etc.. Timmy relaxed after a couple of minutes and started beating up a toy in her cage. It was a very good sign that she relaxed so quickly with a stranger in the room. This bird was going to be just fine.

The Training Begins
Then, much to her horror, I captured Timmy in a towel and removed her from her cage, transferring her to the neutral territory and perch we had already set up. I proceeded to teach Ann (and Timmy) all about what Layne Dicker called The Two Commandments For Parrots: Thou shalt Up and Thou shalt Down. Ann really needed more training than Timmy did, since she was new to the ways of these intelligent and manipulative creatures. (Timmy had dealt with humans before!) However, she had common sense (something that is very UNCOMMON these days) and she learned fast.

Timmy had already bitten her a couple of times, so Ann was a tad beak shy. She would pull away when Timmy lunged. Timmy tried that with me and I didn’t react at all, so the bird stopped. No fun if it doesn’t work, right? So Ann and I talked about how it wasn’t fun to be bitten. I pointed out that I’d never heard of anyone dying from a parrot bite. I also pointed out that Timmy weighed a bit less than a pound.

“That makes her smaller than a dressed down Cornish hen, doesn’t it, Ann?” She thought about that for a minute, then giggled.

“But SHE thinks she’s bigger than that,” she pointed out. I agreed, and added that Timmy had convinced Ann of that, too. However, the reality was that Timmy STILL weighed less than a pound. She laughed again, and approached the little bird with more confidence. After all, the bird weighed less than a pound.

Follow-ups
Follow-ups are important to me. As a human trains a parrot (as opposed to visa versa), questions and problems come up that need to be addressed. I also need to be sure that my teaching was effective. So follow-ups are a indispensable and educational part of my work. To encourage people to call back with updates, there is no additional charge for them — except to the phone company if they are long distance. They are a essential part of the process so they’re included in the initial fee. When Ann called back, she and Timmy were doing much better than she’d expected. I wasn’t surprised, however — I knew they would be fine.

Conclusions…..
Timmy has boarded with me several times since then, and she has blossomed into one of the sweetest parrots I know. Ann has done an excellent joy with her. Consequently, I thoroughly enjoy it when Timmy stays here. Actually, I have to admit that I wouldn’t mind having this bird permanently — and that is not a usual reaction for me. After all these years of working with other people’s parrots, few of them really get under my skin. (Actually, there is only one other parrot that I feel that way about — another African grey that was also adopted as an adult, interestingly enough.)

So the moral of the story is obvious. If you are looking for a baby parrot but find a well recommended older bird instead, don’t simply walk away. Ann didn’t, and she ended up with one of the most special birds I know. There are some fabulous “older” birds out there that will make excellent life long companions.

This article was first printed in THE PET BIRD REPORT, Issue #29.

Liz Wilson, Certified Veterinary Technician, has been assisting pet bird owners with parrot behavior problems for over a decade through lectures, seminars, phone and in-home consultations.

She can be reached at (215) 946-5964 9AM - 9PM M-F
Website: http://www.upatsix.com/liz

PARROTS & CHANGE Is It REALLY So Dangerous??

In the twenty-three years that I have lived with Sam, 35+ year old female my blue and gold macaw, we’ve been through a lot of changes, the least of which was moving ten times. When I first started living with her, I was a full-time animal technician student and was home studying many hours per day. After graduation, I worked at a 24 hour veterinary emergency practice and my shift changed every three days. I endured that craziness for two years , then went to work for the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School, supervising the small animal practicum for animal nursing students.

Sam for sale…??!?
I came very close to selling Sam four years later, when I first started working extremely long hours. That was about fifteen years ago, when I took on supervising a second department at the U of P Vet School. I had loved parrots for years and was also fascinated with other exotic animals like reptiles, so when I was offered a chance to create and supervise an exotic animal department I could not pass it up. I began working 10-12 hour days, and was on call every night and week-end.

For the first time in the eight years Sam and I had been together, I felt she received much too little attention for a prolonged period of time. She had her radio to listen to, and plenty of wooden toys to chew in her 4′ x 3’ x 3′ cage, but she didn’t have the companionship to which she was accustomed. Needless to say, I felt very guilty and came extremely close to finding another home for her.

However, I didn’t. I loved her - I did not want to face life without her.

Life Settles Down a Little
After a couple of years of working myself into a physical collapse, I left the U of P and went to work for an avian practitioner. My working hours settled into something more “normal”, and I had a lot more time again to spend with Sam. I even had days off! Much to my delight, I found that she and I were able to pick up where we left off — in other words, she was still my best friend and she forgave me for my neglect.

Craziness Strikes Again
Two years later, I cofounded an exotic animal practice and took on the job as hospital manager. I went back to working ten to fourteen hour days, eight days a week and carried a beeper for emergencies. The rare times that I was home I was so tired all I could do was sit and stare at the wall. Sam had her physical needs taken care of, but was again emotionally neglected.

Working For Myself
After about two years of that madness, another change! I started my own boarding and grooming business, then began to do behavior work with parrots — with lots of free lance writing and lots of telephone consultations. Now my office is in my home, and I have more time again to spend with Sam. And once again, she was there waiting for me, still my best buddy and glad to welcome me back.

The point of this story is simple: once you have established a good, solid relationship with a parrot based on love and good care and nurturing dominance, then that relationship becomes like a good marriage. True, Sam did not get as much attention as she wanted and needed for large chunks of time, but that did not mean that she gave up on me. She tolerated life’s fickle inconstancies, and remained my friend.

Parrots stressed by change?
Many pet bird magazines go on and on about how stressful change is to pet birds. The same message is preached constantly — a concerned bird owner should do everything in their power to keep routines the same every day. To quote a regular column in BIRD TALK, “Living With Birds” from the August, ‘93 issue, “They [birds] do not like change in their surroundings, and stress from that change will shorten lives.”

I agree that parrots, like humans, are creatures of habit and routine. Like humans, they need to know that their basic needs of food and shelter will be fulfilled on a daily basis. But I have found from personal and from my clients’ experiences that parrots are much more adaptable than most people seem to think.

For example, I have been boarding birds in my home for many years. Many people initially want me to go into their homes to care for their pets, because they are convinced that changing the bird’s surroundings would be too stressful. In the past when I had more time, I would do this but discouraged it — I am not as comfortable only seeing an animal for a limited time per day. But when birds stay with me, I own a good scale and weigh new boarders daily to be certain of adequate food consumption - and not once have I encountered any appreciable weight loss. Of the hundreds of birds I have boarded in my home, most have actually gained weight during their stay.

Taught by the flock…
Sam, as a wild-caught bird, was probably taught to adapt to change by her parents and the rest of her flock. After all, I think it is highly unlikely that everything is routine and unchanging in the wild environments these birds have lived in for thousands of years. What with changes in weather, food sources, etc., about the only real constant might be when the sun comes up in the morning and goes down at night. Wild parrots may return to the same feeding area day after day, but if the food source has dried up or a predator is lurking about, the wild parrot must be adaptable and come up with alternatives. It’s survival depends on it.

Problems with Domestics
As an avian behavior consultant, I find that serious problems arise with domestic-bred parrots that have been protected from change by their well-meaning human parents. Without exposure to change, the young parrot never learns to be adaptable. As a result, the parrot becomes inflexible — and a creature that is inflexible is much more vulnerable in the long run. After all, we know that parrots have the capacity for extremely long lives — as long as eighty-plus years for the Amazons. And who among us feels that we can provide an unchanging routine for eighty-plus years? I know that I can’t.

So when change does come, as it al-ways will, these young domestics often don’t have the flexibility to cope — leading to classic behavior problems like feather plucking, biting and excessive screaming.

Teaching Them That Change Can Be Fun
Consequently, I think that parrots must be taught to accept change in their lives, not be protected from it. Filling a bird’s life with interesting changes in location, people, toys, and food will help produce a mentally healthy, well-socialized and self-confident companion parrot.

So instead of keeping to rigid patterns, parrot companions should be slowly introduced to changes that are non-threatening. Move their cages periodically, and rotate toys every few days. Take them into different rooms in your home. Take them for rides in the car, and visit different friends. Send them to a “slumber party” — to stay overnight with a special human friend. Take them with you on vacation, if possible. Offer tremendous variety in their diet, so they don’t become rigid in their eating habits. In other words, teach them that change is fun and interesting and non-threatening.

Peace of Mind
Then you won’t have to worry what will happen if unforeseeable changes occur in your life — emergency hospitalizations, business trips, job changes, etc.. You won’t feel that you have to find another home for your parrot if you suddenly have less time to devote to it, because it will have learned to be adaptable. You will have taught your little feathered friend how to cope, so you will have peace of mind when you face, as we all do, an unpredictable future.

This article first appeared in THE PET BIRD REPORT Issue # 12 Vol.3 No.4

Liz Wilson, Certified Veterinary Technician, has been assisting pet bird owners with parrot behavior problems for over a decade through lectures, phone consultations, and house calls in the Greater Philadelphia area.

She can be reached at (215) 946-5964 9AM - 9PM M-F
Website: http://www.upatsix.com/liz

DEMYSTIFYING VETERINARY MEDICINE * Especially Regarding Avians *

Many years ago, I was privileged to witness the following scene. A young vet, recently graduated from veterinary school, was dealing with the owners of an EXTREMELY over-weight beagle. He was trying to explain to them about putting their dog on a diet, and launched cheerfully into a rather extraordinarily complex lecture on calories as a unit of heat quantity, calories burned via exercise vs. calories stored due to inactivity, kilocalories, etc., etc.. His explanation, sprinkled liberally with medical terms and 3-4 syllable words, went on for several minutes. When he finished, he asked the owners if they had any questions. The couple shifted uncomfortably and exchanged bewildered looks..…… then the husband spoke up.

“That mean she cain’t eat no taters no more?” he asked.

Communication Breakdown
Needless to say, that newly-graduated veterinarian had completely lost his clients with his explanation. He not only failed to communicate, but actually increased the owners’ confusion. Since that was obviously not the veterinarian’s purpose, why did he do it? Simple. In the process of going through veterinary school, students have to learn the incredible complexities of a medical vocabulary. Multisyllabic Latin words replace common ones, so a nosebleed becomes “epistaxis”, and a simple and unattractive thing like a hairball becomes a fantastic, romantic-sounding “trichobezoar. ” (Think I’m kidding? Hey, I haven’t the imagination to make up these words! Look them up in a medical dictionary, if you don’t believe me.)

In the process of getting fluent in this new language, many veterinary students seem to lose track of their regular, everyday vocabulary. Speaking medical jargon becomes so second nature that they no longer realize they are not speaking a language understood by everyone.

Once graduated, they often have a terrible time communicating with their clients — not, as many people assume, because they want to make the layman feel stupid, but because they simply no longer know how to talk any other way.

Therefore, should your vet use an unintelligible word in a conversation with you, do them a favor — ask what that word means. That is the only way the vet will learn what words are or are not understandable to their clients. It also reminds them to speak English!

Other Apparent Weirdness
Veterinarians, especially avian veterinarians, do other strange and unintelligible things as far as their clients are concerned. For example, you are a brand new bird owner and you take your new friend to be checked by your friendly local avian veterinarian. While taking the history, he or she asks you where you purchased the bird.

Your answer to that question may very well affect the way your animal is treated medically. In other words, your vet may wish to do minimal testing if the bird came from some sources — whereas from other sources, your vet may want to do every test known to avian medicine. The reason for this is obvious….once it is pointed out. Your vet is often aware of disease problems associated with certain stores and/or breeders, but he/she cannot explain that to you without risking expensive liability suits.

Avian Medicine Still In infancy
Avian medicine is still more an art form than a science. The Association of Avian Veterinarians (AAV) is the only national (and now international) organization dealing with birds and veterinary medicine, and it has only been in existence for about 15 years. Considering how young avian medicine is, it is absolutely incredible how far it has come in such a short time.

But there is still so much to learn, so much unknown.

Consequently, some diseases are more difficult to diagnose than others, and some are absolutely impossible. Some of the diseases that are in the “impossible to definitively diagnose” category include many viral diseases such as Pacheco’s, which is generally diagnosed only on autopsy.

A very common disease that is in the “difficult to diagnose” category called psittacosis or chlamydiosis… better known as “Parrot Fever”. There are a variety of tests that avian vets can use to rule out this disease, but most of them are capable of producing false negatives or false positives. This means that the tests are not always conclusive in themselves — the avian vet often needs additional information in the form of other testing. Often, good avian vets will chose to treat a bird for psittacosis even when all testing comes back negative. This is because their experience indicates the potential, despite test results. So much of avian medicine is still based on the instincts and experience of the veterinarian, rather than concrete test results.

Controversy in the Avian Veterinary World
One subject considered controversial among avian vets has to do with the interpretation of culture results. A culture is a test where-by the doctor takes a sample (with a sterile cotton-tipped applicator) from bird’s mouth (specifically the slit in the roof of the mouth called the choanal slit or choana) and/or the vent (cloaca). Simply put, any potentially disease-producing bacteria, yeast or fungus found are grown out in a laboratory and identified.

The controversy has to do with what are called “pathogenic” (disease producing) bacteria. Some avian vets feel that the finding of any pathogenic bacteria (no matter how few) necessitates treatment with an antibiotic. Others feel there are other variables to consider. These would include the following:

1) where the bacteria are found (mouth or vent);

2) the amount of growth (very light growth? heavy growth?);

3) the age of the patient

4) the general condition of the patient; and

5) (and this is really important) the know-ledge and experience of the owner.

Let me explain each of these variables in more detail, because it’s important that bird owners understand.

Location: Most avian vets expect some light growth of pathogenic bacteria from the vent or cloaca. After all, the GI tract of any animal is far from clean, and by itself this result does not necessarily indicate disease. Many avian vets feel one can also find light growths of pathogenic bacteria from the mouth if the bird is eating fresh vegetables and fruits, no matter how carefully these foodstuffs are washed. These bacteria are considered “transitory” — in other words, they are on their way through the GI tract (as we say, “in Column A and out Column B”) and are not causing a medical problem.

Amount of Growth: As stated, light growth is often transient, but heavy growth of a pathogenic bacteria, from either end, is generally considered significant.

Age of the Patient: As with all animals (humans, too), babies are more at risk than adults because their immune system is not as experienced at combating disease. Also, when they get sick, the illness can progress at much greater speed. Consequently, bappies generally get treated with antibiotics more often than adult parrots.

General Condition of the Patient: A clinically normal, bright and alert parrot at good weight is less likely to need treatment with antibiotics than a bird that is obviously ill. However, the bird may look clinically normal, but the owner may describe a decrease in noise level, mess, etc. — all indications that a problem is developing. In this situation, the vet may (will probably?) choose to treat. If a bird looks clinically normal but has been on a nutritionally poor diet (i.e., predominantly seed), the odds are also better that the vet will elect to treat the animal. After all, sooner or later a crummy diet will catch up with the bird (and the owner), and odds are that is what is happening now.

The Knowledge & Experience of the Owner: Someone who is an experienced bird owner, who is well versed in the subtlety with which birds show symptoms of illness, can be trusted to recognize tiny changes in a bird’s demeanor that may indicate the bird’s physical condition is going downhill. With owners like this, a veterinarian is safe adopting a “wait and see” attitude, trusting the owner to respond if there is a change for the worse. On the other hand, an inexperienced owner may fail to recognize the gravity of the situation as a bird’s condition disintegrated, often waiting too long to seek veterinary assistance. In situations like this, it is ALWAYS the animal that pays the highest price.

But she SAID she understood….
An experience I had many years ago illustrates this. A very nice lady brought her sick budgie to the avian veterinary hospital where I worked. My vet put the little bird on medication, and arranged for a reexam the following week. The lady SEEMED to understand when my vet explained she should keep a close eye on the bird and CALL IMMEDIATELY if it seemed to get worse. Under NO circumstance should she wait until the scheduled reexam if there was any question about the bird’s condition. We didn’t hear from her at all that week, so we assumed that no news is good news, as they say.

However, when she walked in for the reexam appointment, we learned we were very, very wrong. The little bird was in terrible shape, MUCH sicker than he’d been the week before. It was the end of the day, so we admitted the budgie and sent the lady home.

Much to my horror, that little bird became one of the few birds (one of five in twenty years, actually) that died in my hand as the vet and I worked frantically to save it. My older sister happened to be visiting from out of town that day, and that was when she learned that her little sister could swear like a sailor when she was really angry! I was absolutely FURIOUS with the owner — I simply could not believe she didn’t realize the little bird was getting worse……

However, the reality was that the lady was neither evil nor uncaring — she really DID NOT understand. We thought we’d explained it properly, but for whatever reason, the information had not penetrated. Moral of the story? When it comes to avian medicine, if the vets are not sure, they have to ASSUME THE WORSE as to the level of the owners’ understanding. Therefore, when it comes to an inexperienced owner, it is probably better to over-treat a bird, than it is to under-treat.

To Treat Or Not To Treat
So what do I mean about “over-treatment” and “under-treatment”? Simply put, to “over- treat” means to use medications too much, to treat animals with medicine who probably would do fine with no treatment at all. Over-treating can cause serious problems, since any strong medicine has potential side effects. For example, human doctors using antibiotics too freely has resulted in more and more strains of bacteria that are resistant to most commonly used antibiotics. This has forced human medical research to come up with stronger and stronger antibiotics – and stronger and stronger drugs generally mean worse potential side effects.

To “under-treat” is to do the opposite — to not prescribe medications when medications should be used. This situation is perhaps not too dangerous, as long as the animal’s owner is experienced enough to recognize the dangers and get help if the bird starts getting worse.

Whether or not a vet is quick to treat or more comfortable with a wait and see attitude will be based on his or her experience. For example, after that sweet lady didn’t call my vet when she should have, I know my vet tended to perhaps treat too quickly for awhile — which in my mind is very understandable, considering the circumstances.

Conclusions……………?
If at any time you think there may be something wrong with your pet bird, you should immediately take it to your avian veterinarian. While you are there, make very sure of a couple of things. Give your vet as complete and honest a history as possible — there is no telling how useful a detail might be — but try to be succinct, please! If the vet thinks your bird needs treatment, it is your right to discuss your treatment options — if something does not make sense, or you don’t understand, ASK. Your vet wants you to make educated decisions if decisions need to be made. They want you to understand what they are telling you!

The bottom line is that no veterinarian is a god, incapable of making mistakes. Avian medicine is still a very young field, with a tremendous amount to be learned. If you are lucky enough to have a good avian vet, then trust them to do the best they know how. If you don’t trust your vet, then you need to do some looking around.

This article was published first in THE PET BIRD REPORT Issue #25

Liz Wilson, Certified Veterinary Technician, has been assisting pet bird owners with parrot behavior problems for over a decade through lectures, phone consultations, and house calls in the Greater Philadelphia area

She can be reached at (215) 946-5964 9AM - 9PM M-F
Website: http://www.upatsix.com/liz

THE DRAMA REWARD or…. How To Reward Your Parrot Without Really Trying…….!

Not long ago, I received a phone call from a very excited lady who wanted to know how to stop her budgie from chasing her children around the house. My answer was simple: “Tell your kids to stop running!” Obviously, the budgie was having a wonderful time — he would swoop over, shrieking his head off, and the kids would scream and run. What a great game!

Inexperienced parrot owners often make the mistake of rewarding their birds without realizing it, and this can obviously lead to problems — especially when the person thinks he or she is punishing the bird. The most common way to do this is through what we call The Drama Reward

Sally & Bongo Marie
Sally Blanchard tells a wonderful story that really illustrates this concept. Years ago, Sally’s African grey parrot, Bongo Marie, had been chewing on the wooden cafe doors next to her cage, and Sally had understandably been trying to discourage this. So whenever Sally heard the sound of splintering wood, she would come running, yelling “Bongo, BAD BIRD — Get back on your cage!” This routine went on for several months, with the behavior continuing despite Sally’s best efforts. Then one night, with Sally sitting in the same room, Bongo started making the sound of splintering wood!

The moral of the story? Bongo enjoyed Sally’s running in and yelling — that was even more fun than actually chewing on the wood (and heaven knows, parrots LOVE to chew on wood)! Bongo loved the drama of her pet per-son yelling and she also liked making Sally appear when she wanted. Sally may have thought she was reprimanding Bongo for being destructive, but in actuality she was rewarding her!

Rewards for Screaming
I do phone consultations all the time, and one of the more common problems I’m confronted with is excessive screaming. When I ask the owners what they do to stop the bird from making a racket, people usually tell me they do one or more of the following: they rush back into the bird’s room and yell at it, or let it out of the cage, or they give it something to eat to shut it up.

And then the human can’t understand why the hideous noises don’t stop! Obviously, the behavior is going to continue and probably get worse, because the owner is actually rewarding the bird — NOT punishing it.

Fun & Games, Parrot Style: BITING
Parrot owners make the same mistake when they yell at a parrot for biting — the reality is that parrots LOVE it when we yell at them. From the parrot’s point of view, there are few things in the world as much fun as getting your person mad enough to yell at you. Watch closely, and you’ll see the little monster’s eyes flash in excitement! And the next time the little fellow gets bored, don’t be surprised if he bites you, again — just for the fun and excitement of it!

TOE CHASING
Another fun parrot scenario is The Foot Chasing Game. The rules are simple. The parrot gets down on the floor and runs at the feet of the nearest human. The human, anticipating tender toes being bitten, lets out a whoop and dances around the room, waving their arms and yelling. Now, put yourself in the parrot’s place — how could any game be better than this?!!

KEEPAWAY
Another nifty game is what I call “Catch Me If You Can”. It is generally played when the parrot is on top of its cage and the human is late for work and in a hurry to get the bird back in the cage. The owner reaches for the bird. The parrot, fully understanding the joys of this game, ducks and runs to the back of the cage, well out of reach. The human, reacting in true play fashion, yells at the bird, then rushes around to the other side of the cage and makes a grab. The parrot, really getting into it now, faints to the left, dodges to the right, and escapes again. The human is now yelling and getting red in the face, which REALLY tickles the parrot! Times like this, I’ve known certain little feathered individuals to gleefully yell, Bad-Bird-Bad-Bird!! while playing this game. What fun!

Illogical Higher Life Form
In all of these cases, the bird is not trying to be bad at all — it thinks the human is playing, too. It does not understand that the person’s yelling indicates anger — after all, parrots yell simply for the fun of it, right? So it is illogical of us humans (”higher life form” that we’re supposed to be) to expect that they should perceive a human yelling as a reprimand. We humans consider yelling to be negative feedback because we don’t like it when someone yells at us — so we mistakenly assume that our parrots feel the same way — and we are very wrong!

Negative feedback a l� Nurturing Dominance
Since parrots love drama, the point is obviously to avoid drama when you want a particular behavior to stop. If you have a relationship of nurturing dominance established then reprimanding a parrot in a manner it understands is easy. If you are late for work and need to put it in its cage, you simply say Up and your well-trained parrot will step onto your hand, so putting him/her away is ridiculously easy. If your parrot screams from another room, you do absolutely nothing. Under NO circumstance should you go into the room to punish them, because if you do, the next time they want you to appear, they will yell. If your parrot screams for attention when you’re in the same room, you give it a REALLY ugly look (the Evil Eye) and say No in a firm, unfriendly but not loud voice. If your parrot bites, you quietly and firmly say No and ladder the little monster from one hand to the other several times, using the Up command in conjunction with the Evil Eye. (I never felt the need to de-fine the word “several” until I discovered a client laddering her parrot 35-40 times as a reprimand. So several is hereby defined as five or six.)

NOT a fun game….
Parrots do not care for these disciplinary techniques, so the techniques constitute negative, not positive feedback. Consequently, if you are consistent (and that’s the key word) in their use, your parrot will learn not to do the behaviors that result in them. In this manner, you won’t be accidentally rewarding your parrot for behaviors that you would like to eliminate, not reinforce.

This article was first printed in CAGED BIRD HOBBYIST, Vol.2 No. 6

Liz Wilson, Certified Veterinary Technician, has been assisting pet bird owners with parrot behavior problems for over a decade through lectures, phone consultations, and house calls in the Greater Philadelphia area.

She can be reached at (215) 946-5964 9AM - 9PM M-F
Website: http://www.upatsix.com/liz

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