PINO
Pino is my little peach faced lovebird that I got in May 2002. He is 17 years by now and I have a very strong bond with him.
Pino had a great life! He enjoyed everything and was also “potty trained”. When outside his cage, he always notified that he needed to shizz by starting to walk in cirkels and get nervous. This would be the signal to put him in his cage where he then immediately takes a dump and wants to go outside again. If he has been a few hours in his cage and you give him a command and he then also does a dump. This command is signal to him that if he does this, he will be let out.
A decade or so ago, Pino got very ill. He got bery close to dying. I brought him to a vet specialized in small bird, whom kept him a week and treated him with medication. Pino needed to be also force fed by the Vet. After a week, he recovered to the point we could pick him up again. When we entered the building of the vet, we couldnt yet see Pino. But Pino surely heard us! He apparently recognized us by our voice and started to chirp like crazy. I guess he was happy to hear and see us again!
A few years ago, Pino started to regularly get seizures. Every few months or so, he would get one. He would gasp for air and drop to the floor of his cage. It was very sad to see. The vet said these seizures can not be prevented. Sometimes, the seizures came in a interval of a few days or weeks.
When the seizures became bad, Pino all of a sudden started to turn his neck: signs of starting Torticollis. It was a shock to us. As a consequence, he wasnt able to fly any more. He compensated however to regularly flap his wings a lot when in his cage or outside of it. We also bought a bigger cage for him so that he had a lot of room to flap his wings.
The torticollis became worse and worse. The seizures clearly had an impact on it. He started to drag his foot and since beginning of this year started to get some problems sitting on his sticks in his cage. We compensated for it by putting all his sticks low in his cage. The sticks we put also close together so that he could “walk” from stick to stick. This allowed Pino to function still very well. He was also out of his cage a lot and, in my opinion, his quality of life was still very good.
Five weeks ago, it became worse a lot again. Pino wasnt able to sit on his sticks any more. He also started to get problems doing a dump. I also had the impression he wasnt able to reach his drinking reservoir. This was the point I decided to take him out of his cage all together.
From that point on, Pino moved to my bedroom. Since he was “potty trained”, we used his cage only to do his dump in. Each 4 hours we shortly put him in his cage. Pino did his thing and he immediately got out of his cage again.
This also allowed him to sleep with me at night in bed. This may really sound strange, but I have a big connection with Pino. Since I myself are able to only sleep on my back due to having had several spinal surgeries, the disadvantage of sleeping only on back became a significant advantage. At bedtime I put a big towel on my chest and put Pino on it. He always went close to my head and “snuggled” himself in and went asleep. I petted him also a lot (grooming his head). He really enjoyed it I get the impression and he also “yawned” a lot when I cuddled him.
During the day and night, I kept him relative close to me. He still had the impression he had a decent quality of life. I provide him with water a few times a day (by hand with a cap of a bottle) and Pino drank well. For eating, I had a big shoebox with a bucket of food. He could eat and drink more than sufficiently. I also put a big mirror in the shoebox so that he always could see his friend. I already mentioned he only takes dumps in his cage, so everything was kept super clean.
Two weeks ago, we had a discussion whether we should not ask the vet to end his life in a peaceful manner. But we couldnt do it. We still had the idea he had quality of life. Even with his limited abilities, he enjoyed certain things. I especially cuddled him regularly. And I get the idea he really enjoyed sleeping close to my head at night. A new thing we started to see was that his feathers on the top of his head started to fall out. He was getting bald. Since he couldnt reach his head with his feet any more, I am sure he didnt do it himself. Maybe I cuddled him too much.
This morning I woke up. I couldnt find Pino on his “usual” position close to my neck. Also he wasnt on my chest. When I started looking, I saw he was lying next to my belly on the mattres. He was dead. It shocked me massively.
I first thought I must have pushed him to death with my body. This since his body was stiff like wood and also dented a bit. But Pino wasnt under my body. I think he fell of my chest, on the mattres and cuddled himself close to my body where he died. His body is completely intact. His wings were as usual close to his body. His beak was closed and his eyes were open. Only his right eye was closed a little bit. I couldnt see any suffering from his appearance at least.
But still I have a big feeling of guilt. I am constantly thinking he might have been pushed by my body to death. That I unconsiously lay down on him. But he wasnt under my back... he was really snuggled close to my left side.
I have a lot of difficulty accepting it... Its hard to see Pino go. I have tears in my eyes constantly and also cry regularly.
This post is meant to tell my story, but also to show some memory to Pino. This morning, we put him in a bit of cloth and burried him in the garden.
“Pino, you were my everything and I will always think about you! You were my support in the bad times and hope we will meet each other again in heaven. Rest in peace my little friend. I loved you with all my heart and we both fought until the end of your life.”
July 17, 2019. Rest in peace my friend.
A little photo of a few weeks ago to remember him...
Pino is my little peach faced lovebird that I got in May 2002. He is 17 years by now and I have a very strong bond with him.
Pino had a great life! He enjoyed everything and was also “potty trained”. When outside his cage, he always notified that he needed to shizz by starting to walk in cirkels and get nervous. This would be the signal to put him in his cage where he then immediately takes a dump and wants to go outside again. If he has been a few hours in his cage and you give him a command and he then also does a dump. This command is signal to him that if he does this, he will be let out.
A decade or so ago, Pino got very ill. He got bery close to dying. I brought him to a vet specialized in small bird, whom kept him a week and treated him with medication. Pino needed to be also force fed by the Vet. After a week, he recovered to the point we could pick him up again. When we entered the building of the vet, we couldnt yet see Pino. But Pino surely heard us! He apparently recognized us by our voice and started to chirp like crazy. I guess he was happy to hear and see us again!
A few years ago, Pino started to regularly get seizures. Every few months or so, he would get one. He would gasp for air and drop to the floor of his cage. It was very sad to see. The vet said these seizures can not be prevented. Sometimes, the seizures came in a interval of a few days or weeks.
When the seizures became bad, Pino all of a sudden started to turn his neck: signs of starting Torticollis. It was a shock to us. As a consequence, he wasnt able to fly any more. He compensated however to regularly flap his wings a lot when in his cage or outside of it. We also bought a bigger cage for him so that he had a lot of room to flap his wings.
The torticollis became worse and worse. The seizures clearly had an impact on it. He started to drag his foot and since beginning of this year started to get some problems sitting on his sticks in his cage. We compensated for it by putting all his sticks low in his cage. The sticks we put also close together so that he could “walk” from stick to stick. This allowed Pino to function still very well. He was also out of his cage a lot and, in my opinion, his quality of life was still very good.
Five weeks ago, it became worse a lot again. Pino wasnt able to sit on his sticks any more. He also started to get problems doing a dump. I also had the impression he wasnt able to reach his drinking reservoir. This was the point I decided to take him out of his cage all together.
From that point on, Pino moved to my bedroom. Since he was “potty trained”, we used his cage only to do his dump in. Each 4 hours we shortly put him in his cage. Pino did his thing and he immediately got out of his cage again.
This also allowed him to sleep with me at night in bed. This may really sound strange, but I have a big connection with Pino. Since I myself are able to only sleep on my back due to having had several spinal surgeries, the disadvantage of sleeping only on back became a significant advantage. At bedtime I put a big towel on my chest and put Pino on it. He always went close to my head and “snuggled” himself in and went asleep. I petted him also a lot (grooming his head). He really enjoyed it I get the impression and he also “yawned” a lot when I cuddled him.
During the day and night, I kept him relative close to me. He still had the impression he had a decent quality of life. I provide him with water a few times a day (by hand with a cap of a bottle) and Pino drank well. For eating, I had a big shoebox with a bucket of food. He could eat and drink more than sufficiently. I also put a big mirror in the shoebox so that he always could see his friend. I already mentioned he only takes dumps in his cage, so everything was kept super clean.
Two weeks ago, we had a discussion whether we should not ask the vet to end his life in a peaceful manner. But we couldnt do it. We still had the idea he had quality of life. Even with his limited abilities, he enjoyed certain things. I especially cuddled him regularly. And I get the idea he really enjoyed sleeping close to my head at night. A new thing we started to see was that his feathers on the top of his head started to fall out. He was getting bald. Since he couldnt reach his head with his feet any more, I am sure he didnt do it himself. Maybe I cuddled him too much.
This morning I woke up. I couldnt find Pino on his “usual” position close to my neck. Also he wasnt on my chest. When I started looking, I saw he was lying next to my belly on the mattres. He was dead. It shocked me massively.
I first thought I must have pushed him to death with my body. This since his body was stiff like wood and also dented a bit. But Pino wasnt under my body. I think he fell of my chest, on the mattres and cuddled himself close to my body where he died. His body is completely intact. His wings were as usual close to his body. His beak was closed and his eyes were open. Only his right eye was closed a little bit. I couldnt see any suffering from his appearance at least.
But still I have a big feeling of guilt. I am constantly thinking he might have been pushed by my body to death. That I unconsiously lay down on him. But he wasnt under my back... he was really snuggled close to my left side.
I have a lot of difficulty accepting it... Its hard to see Pino go. I have tears in my eyes constantly and also cry regularly.
This post is meant to tell my story, but also to show some memory to Pino. This morning, we put him in a bit of cloth and burried him in the garden.
“Pino, you were my everything and I will always think about you! You were my support in the bad times and hope we will meet each other again in heaven. Rest in peace my little friend. I loved you with all my heart and we both fought until the end of your life.”
July 17, 2019. Rest in peace my friend.
A little photo of a few weeks ago to remember him...
. It sounds like Pino lived a happy life and got lots of love. It's going to hurt for awhile and he will always be with you in spirit. I still think of my girl who passed last year. Thank you for sharing his story.
This time a blue birdy that I named Frenkie (Franky). I gave him this name because of his blue color, referring to “Ol’ blue eyes” Frank Sinatra
