KiKi is a one year old Congo African Grey (CAG) who had prior abusive owners. The prior owners (who have children) complained that KiKi was too aggressive and bloodied all their fingers with violent biting. Judging from my own interactions with KiKi, this sweet, gentle little guy would have behaved so badly only out of utter terror.
Initially he was so traumatized that no one could approach his cage without ear-spliting screams of terror from KiKi. He trembled violently if he was taken out of her cage and he would not allow scratching or touching, not even the brush of a thumb across his feet when he was outside of her cage. Our intial contact was mostly a lot of mutual clucking. Eventually, he allowed me to scratch his neck while he was in her cage. He hated men and children.
To raise funds to rescue KiKi, I created a
fund-raiser calendar of parrot buddies called "Our Feathered Friends". The photos featured in "Our Feathered Friends" were generously donated by the very supportive internet bird chatters at "Up At Six" as well as other bird people from across the internet. Every photo was highlighted with the name of each bird as well as the name of the bird's human companion. The calendars began to sell and it was time to make my move on KiKi¹s behalf.
I picked KiKi up on February 12, 1999 and we went straight to the avian vet for blood tests and cultures; Psittacosis, CBC, Psitt Beck and Feather and Polyoma. He also had fecal and crop cultures. The St. Francis Animal and Bird Hospital of Roseville, Minnesota and Dr. Tammy Jenkins, were very understanding and cordial despite their very full schedule (they are in pretty high demand). The doctor advised a 90 day quarantine.
The vet also noted that KiKi had "bad feathers" and the birdie dust on him was almost overwhelming. From his very negative reaction to water, I would guess the only time he ever saw water was when he was being spritzed as punishment (he has a similar reaction to newspaper). I have been working on regular spritz baths, with lots of encouragement and gentle chatter the whole time. Kiki is not happy about the baths, but he is not afraid of me, so at least he is not frightened when I do the awful bath thing. I only use distilled or filtered water. The vet said his feathers will not make a full recovery until he molts out of the old and into the new ones, which will have seen an improved diet as well as regular baths.
Dr. Tammy Jenkins was great. She spent two and a half hours with me talking about bird behavior and diseases. Dr. Jenkins also shared some really alarming info.
It seems that in addition to being airborne and migrating through a building via dust and air currents, Polyomavirus and Psittacine Beck and Feather will survive on an innate surface for up to a year. A YEAR!
Consumer, BEWARE !
That means if you buy a bag of dog food or a bird toy in a store that has had a diseased bird sometime in the last YEAR, even if the bird is now dead or long gone, you could bring the disease home to your birds on the purchased item. Just one more of the many reasons not to shop in stores that sell birds, especially if their care is questionable. And you can not always rely on getting the truth about that care when the dollar is the bottom line.
Although the dreaded Proventricular Dilation Wasting Disease (PDD) only survives a surface for 15 minutes, it is highly communicable and incurable. Psittacosis Chlamydiosis is also airborne and is frequently carried by Cockatiels and Parakeets, who can shed it but often are immune themselves. Apparently they have had to build up a natural immunity to the disease because they do not often get proper treatment or diagnostic screening, being the "cheaper" birds to buy or sell.
The vet supplied me with a great deal of reading material, as well as recommending The (New) Parrot Training Book by Jennifer Hubbard and Sally Blanchard's The Pet Bird Report. She also told me about a very good pet shop in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, called
Parrot Island .
Parrot Island takes excellent care of the birdies that they sell (including quality vet care) and has a great deal of really good, bird related products. At Parrot Island the dollar is not the bottom line; they have a genuine care and concern for the birds. Parrot Island really believes strongly in the acrylic cages (I'm not as enamored with the acrylic cages) but I found that the owners are generally very knowledgable and are a great source of info. They also print a newsletter, which they post on their web site. I've been to the store and will definitely go back.
In the first week at home, KiKi made much better progress then I expected. KiKi likes tropical fish and likes to "Go Fishing" so I bought him own fish (a very colorful beta) and set it on the bench next to KiKi's cage. After a couple of days adjustment, he felt a little adventurous and climbed down from his cage to go sit by his fish. The were some extra bird treats sitting nearby. KiKi would pick up a treat, waddle to the fish bowl and sit with his beck pressed to the glass watching his fish and occasionally taking a bite out of the treat that he held up in his little fist. He Looked absolutely hilarious.
He likes to run through all of her vocalizations when he is sitting on top of his cage. He was going through them all when I thought I heard my dog yelp in pained terror and surprise. I ran to the bedroom door and swung it open only to see my dog sitting calmly by the door waiting for me to come out and stop giving this new contender so much of my time. I realized with a start that it had been KiKi who had made the terrible dog-in-pain sounds. With tears in my eyes told KiKi that he would never have to listen to things like that again.
KiKi's favorite cage object is her manu mineral perch. It’s made of Choila cactus wood embedded with mineral rich clay from the banks of Manu river in Peru. The wild parrots of Peru flock to these banks every day to eat this clay. It’s really healthy. Needless to say, this perch is not CHEAP, but given the benefits, and how much he is enjoying it, it was well worth the investment (the manu mineral perch is veterinarian tested and approved). His favorite toy is a soft cotton rope strung with large multi-colored plastic beads, which I made for him.
During the first visit, the vet noted that KiKi was thin and underfeed. Since that initial visit, KiKi is filling out quite nicely . At first Kiki did not have a clue as to what those odd things were that I was leaving in a little blue porcelain dish for him every morning (assorted fresh fruits and fresh veggies). Now he looks forward to the dish of goodies and will go to that even before he hits the regular birdseed dish. Of particular relish are fresh corn on the cob, green and red grapes, fresh (oat) sprouts, pecans, almonds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, popped popcorn, oat-bran sticks and crackers. Fruits in general are preferred to veggies, and she also gets banana, apple, mango, orangesand strawberries. The not so relished fresh veggies that he is offered and eats last (if they don't get thrown with gusto to the cage floor) are broccoli, carrots, string beans, parsley, sweet potato and two kinds of fresh peas in the pod. The rather pricy Harrison's pellets get a so-so reception.
I used to put the "good" stuff at the bottom of the dish so that he would have to go through the "less good" to reach it, thinking he might eat some on the way. No dice. He scattered the "less good" stuff all over the place digging out the "good stuff". So I reversed the order, putting the "good stuff" on the top. Now the "less good" stuff survives and actually gets eaten occasionally.
KiKI is especially fond of the Kaytee Nutra-Puffs that a very kind up-at-six-chatter-person sent her as part of a welcome home package. He has become quite the begger and fully expects to share bites of my meals. French toast is a favorite.
KiKi spends a lot of supervised time out of his cage and is very comfortable being out now. He is also quite good about being on my hand and has gotten so much better about being touched. I can run my hand down his back and scratch him neck and under his wings and even play tickle-tickle. We had a very recent break-through with building trust of men. My son has been spending a great deal of time sitting next to KiKI's cage. He has been responding to his vocalizations and has also been careful not to make any threathening moves or even attempt physical contact. On May 10, 1999, Kiki actually allowed him to poke his fingers into the cage and scratch his neck. From this point, we will slowly build towards stepping up on the hand of the MAN. WIth Kiki's history of abuse and hatred of males, this is quite a break through in trust and speaks well of Kiki's ability to overcome.
KiKI loves to play peek-a-boo and was so thrilled with the game that he learned how to say it the first day that we played it. Then he dubbed herself KiKi-Boo. She even actually said "I'm KiKi-Boo" and I've never heard him use "I'm" with anything else, nor did I teach it to her. He also still says KiKi and Kiki-Bird and KiKi-Coo. His vocabulary is large and I find myself straining to hear some of the old words and sentences that he still mutters, mostly under his breath in a distinctly menacing male voice. My daughter jokingly refers to him as "The Dameon Bird" when he does these vocalizations. By far, his favorite and most frequently used new phrase is "Good Bird". Its so funny to hear it with my inflection. He even praises himself with "Good Bird" when he has figured something out or done something new. He approaches new toys or cage items with caution, but curiosity and "defuses" them by touching his beck to them and making a big "Kissy" sound (also a newly learned sound). I guess he figures a kiss makes it all better. A jokester in the family taught him farty noises, which are always good for a laugh, which he joins in with apparent glee. He has also picked up variety of laughs and chuckles, whistles, clicks, and an odd assortment of mechanical noises. He says "up" and gives himself the "up" cue when he climbs up on his cage top perch. He also says "come on" and "come here", thank you" and several inflections of "Hi" and "Hello". He picks words and sounds up quickly and talks a great deal. He is particularly fascinated with music and trys to mimic tunes. He gets visits to the window to look outside and loves to watch the chickens and other birds. He also says "outside".
I've been working on the "want" cues when I hand him something or do something for him (want puff, want popcorn, want pecan, want out, want go back, want look outside, etc.), but so far, other than saying "out", no dice. Of course, there's always the danger that I may figure I've created a pandor's box when all of the "wants" suddenly kick in. He did pick up immediately on an "Oh Sh*t" that sorta slipped out under my breath one afternoon at the computer and he muttered it immediately after I did, with my same hushed, under the breath inflection. Took me right up quick, he did. Pretty good humor. Thank goodness he hasn't repeated it very often.
The vet also noted that KiKi is particularly "spunky" for a CAG (she also said KiKi sometimes behaves more like an amazon) and that probably has a lot to do with his surviving his abused past pretty well intact. I may just be another proud momma, but I think KiKi-Boo is pretty darn special and awfully smart and resilient. I have no regrets about "taking him under my wing". KiKi-Boo and I are ever indebted to the fine, fine internet bird folks for helping to make it happen. Thank you one and all!!!
Minnesota Mary