Scooter's story by Beth Anne
I was asked to tell our story of our grey, Scooter, in hopes that we can encourage parronts to institute a change in their food choices for their parrots with a good, healthy diet that is void of human junk foods. We got Scooter 8 years ago. He had been through 6 previous homes and in all, was fed junk food with his second last being the worst. He was cage bound for four years after his female owner died and he didn't like the husband. So he would bite him when he tried to handle him. As a result, scooter was stuck in the bug infested cage with rust on the bars, no grate, he would walk in his own waste and the cage was never cleaned for months at a time. He was fed hamburgers, fries, pizza, cake, donuts, McDonalds happy meals, potato chips, pretzels and lots of other human junk food. Finally, the mans family convinced him to give his parrots to a rescue. In his previous homes before this one, he was feed a seed diet.
We were looking for a parrot and saw his picture on line and it was instant love at first sight. He is a special needs bird because he has an odd shaped head, his eye sockets bulge out, one eye is higher than the other and are more forward on his head. He was fully plucked around the neck, chest, belly and wings. We didn't care. We loved that little bird and he came home with us. We started him on fresh chop of healthy veggies, fresh fruit and a good pellet diet. Scooter is very food driven and has always been a good eater. This is likely because he was starved for many days before being fed in the past, that now he will eat anything. He loves any veggie we give him!
But the damage was done. Because of the past years of eating junk food and seeds, Scooter has irreversible heart disease. He has been pretty stable until last September and he has been in declining health since. His heart ultrasound in May showed his heart was very enlarged and he was started on cardiac medicine. In August, he had another bad episode of breathing problems. This time the ultrasound showed his heart is almost the whole size of his chest. It should show up as a small shape on X-rays but his was enormous. The ultrasound showed that the heart is not pumping well.
The right side of his heart was the size of the left side. His heart is also not contracting right and is very stiff. That's why he gets short of breath, he gets dizzy, he falls off his perches and now he has started to suffered from strokes as he is making blood clots because his heart isn't pumping well. He also had a heart attack a few months ago that was caused by him throwing a blood clot.
He is dying.....the most slowest death and the most painful death for his parronts to see. This little bird struggles to breathe at times, he can't play with his toys anymore because he gets too short of breathe, he can't climb around his cage and be silly anymore, he doesn't talk much because he isn't feeling well and is short of breathe as well.
His days are spent in my lap on a blanket; he sleeps; he walks around the house from the bedroom to the living room once a day because he loves to do that and we want to continue to make the rest of his life the best possible for him. After his walk, he sleeps for several hours. We keep in him a little heated cage at night by my bedside so I can monitor him during the night incase he needs help.
He is a ticking time bomb....which was totally preventable. To watch him suffer and to know we are close to losing him is ripping our hearts apart. He is not just a bird, this is a family member that we love beyond comprehension.
We feel cheated because we love him so much and he is only 25 years old. Grey's are supposed to live until they are 40, right?
We feel angry because he was fed such a terrible diet before we adopted him and now he is paying the price. We feel helpless as we can't cure him. So many emotions for one little grey bird who has given us so much joy in 8 short years. We have had 8 years of laughter and love with him. He calls me mommy. Every morning, he would call out......"mommyyyyyyy, I love youuuuu. Come here mommy".
I don't hear that anymore. I hear raspy breathing as he struggles to breathe. He belly breathes a lot and he has tail bobbing when he tries to breathe. He does have some good times during the day, but not very many. We miss his laughter; we miss him imitating the door bell and then laughing.....and we don't have a door bell!!! He knew he tricked us!!!
He has started yet another heart medicine in hopes that his breathing will easier for him and his heart won't have to work so hard.
We have his little urn picked out for when he passes and he will be placed on the mantle....always within our sight.
I don't want that day to ever come!!! If we had one wish in the whole world, we would wish him to be healthy again. When he does die, a huge part of our hearts will die with him and leave a massive empty hole. It shouldn't have to be this way!!!!
As I write this story of Scooters life, I've had to stop many times because the tears blind me. As he sits beside me watching Spongebob on the iPad, he looks up and it's like he knows mommy is sad. He snuggles closer.
In closing, I beg you, please do not feed your grey's junk food. Give them lots of fresh veggies, fresh fruit, chop and a good pelleted diet.
Please don't let them develop heart disease. You CAN prevent it!! Let them live a long and healthy life. A piece of cake here and there; a bite of donut here and there; it adds up in their tiny bodies. They were never meant to eat that terrible food. Having one french fry to them is like us eating a hundred of them.
Please, if just one person reads this and changes their parrots diet today, Scooters goal will be reached.
