Tweety was our three-year-old parakeet, who we got from a PetSmart store in St. Cloud, Minnesota, two-and-a-half years ago. He was our first pet and we loved him so much. We used to hand-feed him, give him a shower once a week and play with him almost every day - he would sit on my shoulders for hours. Sometimes, he would hide behind my ponytail. He loved music, especially Hindi film numbers! He would sing along and hop from one perch to another. He was blue and white - very handsome.
Tweety is not with us anymore. He is at a foster home. I miss him every day but we had to give him away because we are moving to Delaware soon. When Tweety fell ill last month, my husband took him to the Como Park Hospital - he was suffering from what looked like a sinus infection, he was also underweight. They gave him two shots and sent him home. Although he began to recover from the infection, he was not the old Tweety anymore - he did not eat and he was not as active as he used to be. It was at that time that my husband got a job offer from a bank in Wilmington, DE. We decided to relocate but we knew we could not transport Tweety because he was small and ill - he would not survive the long journey.
There is something that I should admit here - after my baby was born, I failed to take proper care of him in the sense I was almost always too tired to feed him. His food would be in his bowl but he would not touch it unless he was very very hungry. My husband or I could not spare the half-hour that was necessary for each feeding session. Then after my daughter learned to crawl, she became highly curious about Tweety. I could say that she loved him but she was too young to express that love. On two occasions, she pushed the cage down from the stool on which we kept it. The experience terrified Tweety, it terrified us as well.
**Tweety loved his cage, we never closed the cage door though. When he was healthy, he spent a lot of time out of his cage...
I felt I could not keep him anymore - what was the point of keeping a pet when I could not provide it with enough love and care? Wareesha kept me busy almost 24/7. After Tweety fell ill and we made a decision to relocate, I began to look for a new home for him. My first place of inquiry was the Animal Humane Society. AHS did not want to take in an animal that was ill. It instead suggested euthanasia. I was in such a fix that I did not know what to tell them. I got a chance to talk with one of their staff after calling their office three days in a row (yes, they are that busy in summer!). So, I made an appointment with them for euthanasia, but in the back of my mind, I knew that Tweety was not so ill that he needed to be put down. Two days later, I cancelled the appointment for euthanasia.
I began to call different animal shelters around Minnesota. Two organizations refused to provide shelter to a sick bird because a sick bird could not be sent out for adoption, which is the ultimate goal of such animal shelters. One of the organizations suggested that I contact Parrothelp.com. I contacted a woman named Wendy, who worked for Parrothelp.com. She said she would find me a home for Tweety, a home where he would be able to spend his last days. I did not know how to thank her. Wendy found a woman called Kristine Wamsley, who called me and showed her interest in adopting Tweety. Once again, I did not know how to thank Wendy as well as Kristine.
On August 15, Tweety left our home for his new home. My husband took him to Kristine's place. Tweety is doing fine there. Kristine is a wonderful person, she has four cockatiels so she has the right experience. In an email this morning, she told me that Tweety is eating regularly and even gained half-ounce. I miss Tweety so much. We will go see him before we leave Minnesota.
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