New Platform Perch for Moriarty

When Moriarty arrived, he came with a corner platform perch in his cage.  Though he has since moved into Dalai’s old cage (the Silver Villa), he still spends time in his old cage every day.

Moriarty napping on his old perch

The platform perch in there is one of his favourite spots, especially for a nap.

He had chewed down the rim at the part where he rests his head, which in itself is not a problem, but a little further along, a nail of unspecified metal was exposed.  I thought, it is time for a new, safe perch.  I did some research to find a perch of the same, or nearly the same dimensions, & ordered a custom made one from The Natural Bird Product Company (https://www.naturalbirdco.co.uk) who craft natural perches & toys by hand in the UK.

It arrived on the 2nd July.  It took me a while to get around to installing it as although the new platform perch slotted through the small Ferplast Canto door, the old one did not.  I thought it might come out through the bottom tray but that area is heavily padded so it was actually easier to take the top off the base & get the perch out that way.  It was a good opportunity to give the cage a thorough clean too.

The only worry about acceptance was that the new perch is slightly shorter than the old one.  Stupidly, I forgot about one side being 1 cm shorter, & installed it with the short side along the front.  There was about 1.5 cm difference with the old perch along that edge.  Moriarty took to the new platform perch quickly, but for general purposes only…

Moriarty on the new platform perch

He struggled to find his old napping position on the severely shortened length, often looking like he was going to tip off the edge…

He resorted to napping in different places…

Moriarty napping on the door platform

Moriarty napping on a different perch

Seeing his struggle, I remembered the new platform perch had a longer side, so I flipped it around & for good measure, also threaded through a wooden slat (0.6 cm thickness), bringing the perch closer in length to the old one.

Moriarty napping comfortably on his new perch

Balance in Moriarty’s universe was restored.  He was back napping comfortably on the platform perch in no time!

Favourite head rubbing perch

Perry often rubs his head on the ‘triangle’ perch.  He steps down into it & rubs his head on a knobbly bit:

 

One time he fell asleep mid rub:

Perry

 

Hard headrest

Recently, Lennie has been using the lantern mirror as a headrest.  It does not look terribly comfortable to me but he seems content with it.

Lennie

Lennie

 

When he’s not in a snoozing mood, he likes to play with the beads attached to the mirror:

 

It is a well-liked mirror & both Lennie & Perry enjoy a chat with it too.

 

Poorly Perry

Perry not feeling well

Last Sunday (6th October), Perry seemed a bit quiet & not his usual self.  The next morning he was no better, in fact he was worse.  He was very quiet with not a peep out of him, not even when Dalai called to him (before I unlocked their cages).  He sat in the same spot for some time, sleeping although not fluffed up.  He did not go down to his seed pots either.

I let Lennie out so he & Dalai could play & Perry could continue to rest.  Millet was gratefully received by Perry & he was able to eat quite a bit without having to fight Lennie for it.  When he jumped to another perch he seemed to stumble a bit so I wondered if perhaps his lump was starting to impact on his leg.  With these concerns, I rang the vet & booked an appointment for the following morning (Tuesday 8th October).

By about midday, Perry decided he wanted a change of scenery & wanted to come out.  For the rest of the day he sat in with Dalai & Lennie, still very quiet.  When the others were otherwise engaged, I would slip Perry some millet.

Although Perry had improved by the next morning (eating by himself & more vocal), I kept the vet appointment.  The vet examined him & noticed bruising on his upper left leg, opposite to the lump.  We assume this is why he was off-colour & also why he had improved.  His lump is still growing & is currently growing outwards & downwards.  The vet thinks it will affect his leg at some point & start causing mobility problems.  Whilst he is coping fine now, I will gradually start to adapt his cage & hopefully they will accept the changes without any fuss!

Perry

 

Synchronized foot resting

Lennie & Dalai

 

Snoozing in the sunshine

Sometimes, even when it is cold, the room can be filled with sunshine.  On one particular day, Dalai was having a snooze in the sunshine, on Phinny’s hot pink ttmss swing.  Here are some photos in a slideshow:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I have included a photo of Bezukhov who was also sitting in the sunshine.  He looks like he is sleeping because his eyes are closed but he was actually having a grumble at the time.  The photo looks a bit weird because he was behind the swing with the mirror that just happened to be reflecting the cage bars, giving a strange illusionary effect.

 

Cagney’s return

As previously posted (click here), after 24 hours at the hospital, Cagney was allowed home.

With much relief, I got him home & carried him into the lounge.  Still covered over, he joined in the mad chirping.  That in itself was lovely to hear as he had not been chirping at all.  I placed him on the table & uncovered him.  Joy all around!  He was so happy he started to heartily eat his millet.

I thought I would leave him in the travel cage to recouperate for a little while but after his millet he wanted out.  Bezukhov was also desperate to get out so I let him out first, then Cagney, who shot over to the manor, then the ferplast.  There was much excitement.  Phineas was ecstatic to see his beloved & Cagney even managed make some flirty eyes at him.  Bezukhov initially seemed a bit confused & I wondered if there was a touch of guilt there as he had been flirting with Phineas only that morning.  Either way, it was not long before the toyboys were hanging out together as best buddies.

Cagney eating millet on his return home

Bezukhov & Cagney reunited

Cagney was still weak, weary & wobbly so I decided not to let Phineas out as he can be a bit boisterous.  In the meantime, I let Cagney sleep when he wanted (most of the time) but each time he woke up I made sure to offer him food.  He ate lots of sugar snap peas & more millet & even some seed.  I made sure he had an early night so he could have a long sleep.  I imagine he did not get much sleep at the hospital with the interruptions through the night for his treatment & also the constant noise of other things going on.  I padded the bottom of the manor in case he should wobble during the night & fall.

It was mentioned before that Cagney’s poops had improved.  They were splattered white poops but then became more solid.  Because of the barium x-ray, his poops would look a bit ‘milky’ for the next day or two.  Here are the obligatory poop pictures that tell (a vet at least) a detailed story:

First poop on return home

Overnight poops

Overnight poops

 

The next day (Monday 24th) Cagney was still not right – he was very tired & sleeping a lot.  When offered, he sometimes ate a tiny bit of seed or millet.  Sugar snap peas seemed to be welcome though – I do not think he refused one pea.  Though he was very tired, he wanted to come out of the manor & basically slept on every perching spot around the room, including the playgym & the window perch.

Because Phineas had not had much time out of the cage I decided to let him out under strict supervision.  He was predictably over exuberant.  At one point, when Cagney was trying to sleep on top of the Manor, Phineas was running around him, tapping him on the beak.  Normally Cagney would either flirt back or tell him to back off but this time he was just too weary to respond.  In the end, I got Phineas back home again so Cagney could rest properly.

When I let Phineas out again later he reined in his buoyant nature a bit so was able to stay out longer.  Here are some photos of a tired Cagney, his best buddy Bezukhov & admirer, Phineas:

Cagney looking very little next to Bezukhov

Phineas sitting with Cagney

Bezukhov sitting with Cagney

Cagney sleeping

To be continued…

 

 

 

Swing failure

The other day I heard a loud clunk.  When I looked up, Phineas was on the floor of his cage looking a bit confused.

He had jumped on his ttmss swing & the perch section gave way.  Poor boy.  That was his bedtime swing & his all round chill out, best perching position.

I checked his swing to see if it could be repaired in any way, but the plastic hole that holds a side of the perch section had a gap in it.  I decided that a replacement was needed.  In the meantime, I gave him the toyboys ttmss swing.  They do not use their swing nearly as much as Phinny uses his so I thought they would not miss it too much.  Phineas had his bedtime swing back.  He was pleased & order in the universe had been restored.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

–

You can see from the photos above that the replacement swing is very colourful.  A perch on the toyboys’ swing had a hairline crack in it so I merged it with Phinny’s swing.

After an internet search I found the same swing but the cost of postage was extortionate.  I decided to go for a slightly different swing.  When it arrived, I put it in the toyboys’ manor.  As yet it has not been touched….

Top: new swing
Bottom: broken swing

–

–

–

Three as One

Despite Phineas not being flavour of the day/month/year, when Cagney & Bezukhov are first let out of the Manor, their first port of call is Phineas in the Ferplast.  They do seem to prefer him when he is behind bars.  They all sit quite happily close together in this way….

–

–

–

 

Sick as a parakeet

Will the worry the Toyboys & Phineas give me, ever end??

Today, Cagney vomited.

Cagney sleeping

Once would be fine as this could be due to a number of minor reasons.  My first thought was a stuck seed that needed dislodging with a bit of help from contorting the body & elongating the throat.

However, this happened about 3 times.  Each time the seed was quite dry – I did not see much, if any liquid/mucus.

There were other warning bells alongside this.  Cagney had been sleepy, almost lethargic, most of the afternoon.  He was also quiet & was not chirping or grumbling.  They had broccoli today – first time in over a week – & Cagney did not have any, even when it was offered by hand.  He also refused pellets.  The thing that finally made me decide a vet visit was necessary was the thought that I could actually catch him & put him in the travel cage.  That surely meant this was not a minor thing & required some expert advice.

Ms Exotic Hospital Vet (EHV), who has been treating Bezukhov, was not available for another two days, so I decided to go to Mr Exotic Vet (EV) who had last treated Thomas.  His evening appointments were fully booked but they managed to squeeze me in, given the worrying symptoms Cagney was displaying.

As predicted, I caught Cagney in no time (he seemed quite weak) & put him into the freshly prepared travel cage.  He was initially most put out & I guess, surprised too.  Phineas was the first to fly over.  I think Phinny’s prowling of the top of the travel cage put Bezukhov off visiting, so he shouted across to Cagney from the Manor.

Fortunately, Cagney was only in the travel cage for about half an hour before we had to go out.  I did worry that Phineas expected to come with us & had visions of me walking down the road carrying Cagney in the travel cage, with Phineas, still monitoring, on the top….

Of course this did not happen, but as I took Cagney out of the room, I looked back & saw a very confused Phineas & a very confused Bezukhov.  Cagney has always been in the middle of them.  No wonder they were confused.

At the vet’s, Cagney lived up to his ‘Mr Popular’ nickname.