This day, last year, was a very, very sad day indeed. Our Raspy left us. At the time it felt far too soon for her to go & 12 months later it still feels that she was with us for too short a time.
She is often in my thoughts. Recently I have been remembering how, when I sat on the (popular) poang chair, she used to spend ages chewing my sleeve, my jumper, my trouser leg, or the chair itself. Many times I would sit for longer than I intended as I did not want to distract her from her obviously very important mission. 🙂
After being too poorly to chew the back of the Poang chair, Atilla has gradually got back into the swing of chewing it again & is now spending quite some time working hard, moulding the chair to her specific requirements. She is also back to using the HNS (Hand Navigation System) & pinches the pads of my fingers to let me know which direction she wants to go in & can still pack in a nasty nip if I do not obey.
Atilla rearranging the tea towel:
Sometimes she just likes to sit & rest underneath the tea towel:
Atilla was well enough to visit the Poang chair today! I’m sure the chair gave a sigh of relief to feel her chewing it.
The last couple of days Atilla has been quite lively, in her non-sleeping moments. She tentatively made her way over to the chair, via a pathway of my palms (bit like a sideways one-potato-two-potato with palms, not clenched fist). Once there, she rested & got her bearings.
Since then, she has managed to fly there herself, thundering across from the manor. It was a pleasure to hear the heavy beating of her wings & feel the turbulence in the air where it was displaced as she bombed her way over. There was no time for exchanging any pleasantries or long-time-no-see’s, as she immediately commenced her chewing. “Welcome back Atilla!” the chair seemed to say. 🙂
Atilla appeared to spend the night fairly comfortably, but by now her poops have turned quite green.
The travel cage was prepared with towels on the bottom & also a heat mat to keep her warm during the trip. I waited until Cagney had fed Atilla breakfast before attempting to remove her. It was easy to get Atilla into the small cage as she was still weak. Naturally, the toyboys, shot out the cage as I moved Atilla. They swooped over the travel cage & kept landing on it to talk to their leader.
The problem now was to get the toyboys back in the Manor so my assistant (my mum) was able to come with me to the vet, rather than toyboy-sit. I took Atilla into the bedroom. Fortunately, I received a text message from King Monty (over on the FeatheredFiends blog) who ordered the toyboys back into the Manor. Millet helped too.
So, off we went to see Mr Avian Vet. To say I was concerned is an understatement.
The diagnosis? The hernia is, as expected, beginning to cause complications. She has an infection to be treated with antibiotics. She was given an injection with a strong solution of antibiotics & also something to remove fluid from the lump/hernia.
The prognosis? The injection would make her sleepy for a few hours but then she should begin to pick up & start to eat again. Unfortunately, even if/when she recovers from the infection, another will most probably occur…. so it is just a case of making sure she is comfortable…
No matter….. I was bringing my darling girl home where she belongs, at the Manor, with infatuated Cagney, with adoring Bezukhov & her relieved mama.
When we got home, Cagney was on the platform perch (closest to the lounge door) shouting (almost screaming) with a crazed look in his eyes. His wings were shaking. He was distressed. We put Atilla in the travel cage on the poang chair & both toyboys just leapt about the Manor trying to get out.
Atilla sitting on the Poang chair
Atilla was still sleepy. I was very tempted to let the boys out but at the same time, wanted Atilla to rest. In the end, the boys settled down a little (as long as I did not excite them by standing up or walking) so I left Atilla to sleep on the poang with the electric blanket over her.
After a while she came to a little. I poked in some millet but she was not interested. A little later, I poked in some broccoli & this was more to her liking & to my delight she scoffed it down. (See video below). After this, I decided to let the boys out. They flew straight over to her & Cagney was squeezing his beak through the bars. Atilla reached out to him. I opened the travel cage door & Cagney perched on my finger, halfway in (he doesn’t like small spaces!) & fed Atilla. I think he fed her about half a ton of seed. And she readily took it. She then managed to get on my finger & wanted to come out, so I took her to the Manor.
Atilla remained sleepy for the rest of the afternoon & evening. Every so often she would wake to be fed & maybe have a brief preen. I could only hope the next day would see an improvement…
Atilla’s outside-Manor time is exclusively spent at the Poang Chairground Resort. Although she is very busy, I felt it was time to introduce another Chair Challenge to keep her mentally as well as physically active. This new “ride” has taken the shape of The Tea Towel Tunnel.
Basically, I pegged (another) tea towel up in loops at the back of the chair so she could enter it from the ladder & exit at various points either upwards to the top of the chair or to the far end, the side of the chair.
It did not take her long to investigate, in fact it was a matter of minutes! Since then, it has been a firm favourite as you can see by these videos:
Once she emerges, she usually immediately returns to the ladder to go through the tunnel again, however in this video you will see that she decides to go back in the way she came out…. she has such a creative mind!
The last two evenings he has been wanting to get close to Atilla. This evening, having all spent a trouble-free day locked up in the Manor (thanks to PuddingCam staying online I know this is true) they, read Bezukhov, went a bit mad when let out.
Atilla, as usual, made straight for the Poang chair & ducked under the tea towel to begin chewing. Interestingly, Bezukhov decided he wanted to sit next to Atilla on the ladder & would not let Cagney sit there. Of course it was Cagney’s right, as Atilla’s boyfriend, to sit there, so there was a lot of chasing but Bezuky managed to seize the ladder position.
I wanna sit next to her!
However, he then tried to engage with Atilla by pecking at the tea towel & trying to peer underneath it. Atilla was not impressed & would bang the tea towel back or lunge at him or simply ignore him. Meanwhile, Cagney was clinging onto the back of the chair to feed Atilla under the cover (to show his rightful position).
At one point, Bezukhov dared to nip under the tea towel with Atilla! Sharp intake of breath! I quickly put my hand there in case he needed a quick getaway & indeed he did & emerged with wide-eyes, very much like he had seen a ghost. He did not go under that cover again.
Dare I touch her tea towel?
When Atilla stopped chewing & wanted to stretch her wings, both toyboys crowded around her, wanting to be the one closest, even fighting to be the one next to her. When Atilla tried to break away from them, it looked like a rugby match where she has the ball (or IS the ball!) & the boys race after her & dive on her & it ends in a scrum! Had there been an opportunity I would have locked Atilla up to give her some peace & left the toyboys out to cool off.
Strangely, when they are all locked in the Manor, there are no silly shenanigans. Either way, I think Bezukhov has still been a little big for his boots this evening.
You're such a great leader, boss. I really look up to you!
Atilla is still obsessed with the back of the Poang chair. She spends a lot of time on the ladder, chewing the tea towels I have draped over the back to protect the chair cover. She likes spending time under the tea towel & many times Cagney has to bend down to feed her underneath it or sometimes he hangs precariously from the ladder so he can get food into her whilst she is hiding in a hanging part of the tea towel.
Atilla is obsessed with chewing the back of the chair. Knowing how single-minded she is I decided to work with her rather than against her.
To protect the chair I draped a tea-towel over the back so she is chewing on that rather than the chair cover.
I hooked an empty seed pot over the chair frame so she had somewhere else to grip onto.
I moved the plant pot stand nearer the chair so it was easier for her to get there/leave there.
Finally, I assembled a recently purchasedladder system & hung it from the back chair frame to make her experience more comfortable.
In other words, I have turned the IKEA Poang chair into a play gym. I should also add to the above list the fact that I moved my futon back into the room so I have something soft to sit on whilst she is busy chewing.
Once in position, she rarely leaves. She may go for a little mooch about but not for long. She will rest in-between chewing sessions on the ladder. She has no need to go back to the Manor for food as Cagney sits on the ladder with her & regurgitates his seed. In general, she goes back to the Manor for bedtime just after 9pm. Bezukhov is usually a bit agitated by this time as he wants to settle down for bedtime but cannot do so until the leader is back home.
I have had my IKEA Poang chair for some time now. At the moment, it is the only soft chair in the room as I only moved back the necessaries from when the floor was done. Just recently, Atilla has decided the chair has good chewing potential. Raspy was often on the chair with me but she was chewing my clothes. Atilla likes to chew the back of the chair. She clings onto the wooden frame & chews the material. I have hung a tea-towel down the back so she can make holes in that rather than the chair cover.
Unfortunately, because she hangs onto the chair frame, it is not possible for me to sit in the chair at the same time as that would push the cushion back into the frame. That means I have to sit on a hard chair or a stool whilst she is busy on my IKEA chair.
You can see from the video above that I normally hide or store my web cam away by hooking it behind the chair. 🙂 I also hooked a seed pot there so she had something else to hold onto.
Puddings & Toyboys 