Update on Perry’s health

In my last post on this subject (click here) I reported about Perry’s ‘turns’.  We have had further developments.

On the 4th July, Perry had, what I would describe as a ‘Twitchfest’.  He twitched, though not violently, off & on all day, but settled by bedtime.  I was on edge the whole time, anticipating that he would get worse.

Perry

Perry’s next, more significant, episode was on Saturday, the 22nd August.  At around 11am, he began twitching, & a couple of those were major enough to propel him off the perch.  At one point, he was hanging from the perch by one foot.  He seemed okay after about 15 minutes.  However, about two & a half hours later, the twitches began again, but this time they were throwing him off the perch, on average every 30 seconds (sometimes the frequency between was longer, sometimes shorter).  Lennie was sensible & went into Dalai’s cage, so I locked him in there for the duration.

For about an hour the twitches continued, at varying levels of intensity.  Each time his movement was from his left to the right, so I could predict where he would go/land.  Sometimes he would have a few minutes where he was just twitching & able to stay on the perch.  He pooped throughout, but a watery substance.  Through it all, he did not make a sound.  He was completely aware & scared as he clearly did not know what was happening to him.  The times he landed on the bottom of the cage he immediately made his way back up.  By 3pm they were subsiding & he was able to preen & behave a bit more normally, by which time, Lennie joined him again.

Things had settled down by the Monday, but nevertheless, I spoke to the vet, & she suggested adding calcium to their water as they were both still moulting.

New cage set up L to R: hospitalisation cage, ‘home’, Dalai’s cage

The next episode was Saturday the 12th September (I am starting to dread Saturdays!). He seemed extra quiet that morning & when I offered him a spinach leaf, he had to turn his head at a strange angle to eat it.  This alerted me & I decided to dust off the quarantine cage & prepare it for possible hospitalisation purposes.  Later that day, he spasmed, fell to the cage floor & was rolling around.  I carefully picked him up & put him in the spare cage.  He came out of the spasm & I placed him on a perch, where he was very still.  His balance was very off & he fell off the perch a few times but at least did not have far to fall in the newly set up cage, & the bottom has extra padding.  Occasionally, he would turn his head from side to side & his eyes were flickering.

Continue reading “Update on Perry’s health”

Remembering Phineas on his adoption day

Phineas came into our home on this day, 4 years ago.  

I would like to share a video with you of him regurgitating to my thumb.  It was also during his brief quick, side-step phase.  Some people go, “Urgh”, at the thought of regurgitated food, but I always appreciated what he offered me, & I always thanked him.

Missing you, our little man.

Always in our thoughts.

phinny-logo2

 

Two month hiatus

Phineas is randy again.

Phineas
Phineas

Towards the end of October, Phineas lost the urge to do the jiggy-jiggy hand jive.  Along with this, he also stopped regurgitating.  This coincided with his moult.  Last year, the hiatus lasted around 5-6 weeks.  This time it lasted just over two months.  He broke it on the 28th December with a jiggy-jiggy that he progressed, with a flourish, to the final deposit stage.  Since then, he has begun regurgitating again & is demanding more of my attention.

Phineas is back to his version of ‘normal’.  It is early stages but this appears to mean that ruffling of cheek feathers is now not acceptable.  When he started letting me ruffle his feathers, I looked for an opportunity to do this each day & so we developed a routine.  Now, when I try to do this he does not respond – he just moves his head away.  It is entirely possible I may have to wait until his big moult next September/October before feather ruffling will happen again!

 

 

 

Blue seed?

Phineas still regurgitates to my finger, or thumb, a lot.  Many times a day, every day.

Recently he made some changes & regurgitated blue seed:

Blue regurgitated seed
Blue regurgitated seed

~

“What’s going on here?”, I wondered!

A little investigation revealed he had been chewing on the blue munch ball of the chewy toy arrangement on top of the Manor.

Phineas chewing the blue munch ball
Phineas chewing the blue munch ball

~

With inedible things, I often tell them to chew & spit but clearly Phinny had not been listening to me & had been ingesting instead of spitting it out.  He moved onto the red munch ball after that so you can imagine how colourful his regurgitated seed looked then. 🙂

~

 

 

Poopy pictures

When I am working, I sit at the table in the corner of the room.  I have my back to the wall & face the room, with a good view of all the feathery goings-on.

Cagney, Bezukhov & Phineas also have a good view of me sitting there.  This only appears to be of importance to Phineas.  He knows exactly where I am if he requires my attention.  The attention is usually for one of two things: a regurgitation session or a hand jive session.

In the video below, you can see Phinny hanging off the side of the Manor, willing me to go over.  The reason he keeps running off to the right is because he wants me to go to a specific regurgitation/jiggy-jiggy location.

 

You will also notice he flies towards me at one point.  This happens if I am not quick enough to attend to him.  He does repeated flyovers until I succumb to his will.

Over time, I have noticed a gradual arc of poops in my working corner, corresponding to his flyovers.  I have found poop on my papers, on my laptop, around the wall & on my pictures.  I am amazed that of all these poops, not one has landed on me.  Yet.

 

Who?  Me?
Who? Me?

 

2½ hours in the life of…

hours in the life of Phineas.

20141124_130943_sh21

As told through the medium of

photo…..

regurgitated seed…. &

regurgitated celery:

(Click on photos to enlarge)

 

 

 

Good morning!

It is not often I get up early enough that the Toyboys & Phineas are still ‘in bed’.  I peer into their cages, under the cover & see they are still in their bedtime positions.  If it is very early they will stay in those positions until it is the proper time to ‘get up’.  Naturally, I tiptoe around the room until they wake.

Most mornings they are already awake.  When Phineas sees me he runs up & down his ladder waiting for my finger to regurgitate to.  Cagney & Bezukhov peer at me under their cover, patiently waiting for me to fold it back so their seed pots are no longer in darkness.

Here is Phineas, up & down the ladder:

Here is Phineas waiting for my finger:

Here is an impatient Phineas & the patient Toyboys:

Phinny's cage with cover pegged up so he can see the Toyboys (on left under beige cover).
Phinny’s cage with cover pegged up so he can see the Toyboys (on left under beige cover).

The Toyboys & Phineas have already greeted each other as I always peg up part of Phinny’s cover at the side so they can see each other come morning.

I had noticed before, when I did not do this, that Phinny, on seeing the Toyboys (actually, probably Cagney) would let out this really loud TWEEET!  That was his morning greeting. With the opening in the cover, I do not witness this particular TWEEET so often but think it is better for them to greet each other as soon as they wish, rather than wait for me to uncover them.