Coping with the death of a pet

The day after thanksgiving I lost beloved Baby. A rare parakeet. I had Baby for 5 and a 1/2 years. She was just a few days old when she came to me. She was given to me by a friend. Baby was very small when I got her. I had to help her up on her perch. I was a very nervous Mommie. After a while Baby learned to get up and down on her perch on her own. In a few weeks she was chirping and she even learned how to talk. She had a huge vocabulary. Her favorite word was Crackers. But she could also say her name. I was over joyed when she learned to talk. Then about a month before she died I noticed she had lost weight and wasn't playing with her toys. I thought she would get over it. But this was not like Baby at all. Baby loved playing with her toys and talking. She was having trouble sitting on her perch, slept a lot and wasn't playing at all with her toys. I knew in my heart this was a serious matter and I couldn't even bring myself to think of her death. I took her to the vet the day after thanksgiving.

The vet was not honest with me at all. He gave me antibiotics. I was angry with him for ordering antibiotics when he knew she was dying. Where I live he is the only avian vet. I had 3 other birds and never had a problem with this vet. But when he told me I could give her cheese I knew he wasn't as good a vet as he pretended to be because birds cannot have dairy. Baby died that afternoon. The vet said she had cancer. I was devastated. I live alone and Baby brought me a lot of joy. She filled my house with music and made living alone a lot less lonely.

The weeks following her death were very hard. It was like losing a family member. I never had children but all my birds were like my kids. They all lived a pretty long life for a parakeet. Still the house felt empty without my bird.

My niece Kerri bought me a parakeet for Christmas. I named her Puddles. Puddles is very different from all my other birds. I've only had her 11 days. She eats pretty well but hasn't played with her toys and doesn't sing much. I'm told this is normal because she is still trying to get use to me and her surroundings. Puddles is a gift from God and I'm sure in time she will be very active. She will chirp and sing if I play sounds of parakeets from the internet. I suppose the poor girl is missing her friends.

Pets are a wonderful addition to our family. They can teach us a lot and what I am learning from Puddles is she has her own personality. Raising parakeets can be quite difficult in the beginning. But once they make the transition they are a blessing.