The Parakeet Rescue Squad

The last few weeks have been an exciting time for our parakeet. She, or he, (how can you tell?) had been ill. She sat in her cage in the corner, not eating. Her little tail was bobbing up and down. In parakeet health tail bobbing is not a good thing. Sometimes tail bobbing can be followed by finding the parakeet on the floor of the cage with the feet up. An expired parakeet.

I spent several hundred dollars on Avian Veterinarian visits over the past few weeks. First the bird had a bacterial infection brought on by the fact that she doesn't have a balanced diet. I am not making this up. The bird won't eat anything but millet. Parakeets who eat only seed can have thyroid insufficiencies. Who knew parakeets had thyroids? Her other problem was a Vitamin A deficiency. Again from her diet.

I've spent the last week trying to find out what fresh foods would float Andi's boat. I've gotten two toddlers through to adolescence eating fresh fruits and vegetables. Picky toddlers have NOTHING on the parakeet

So each morning and night the family has a new ritual of force feeding a parakeet. Before PETA comes to get me because I'm running a covert parakeet pate' ring hear me out. The force feeding consists of me holding the bird firmly, not tightly, and placing a large sprig of salted broccoli in front of it's beak. The bird responds by ripping the broccoli to shreds. This hopefully results in the bird actually ingesting some of the broccoli.

More to come.....