Preparing to Travel

[d_msparkles]

I know there have been some recent posts about this, so apologies in advance if I'm duplicating questions.

Baby Waffle has been home with us since May 29th (and settling in quite well!). She is bonded to me, but has a good relationship with my partner and particularly loves climbing on his arm and perching on his head, which he lovingly tolerates. LOL.

I will be travelling a bit beginning in October. The first trip will be a weekender for just me to visit my family, and partner will stay home with Waffle. He's not comfortable letting her out of the cage to play, so she'll be cage-bound during that trip but at least at home.

We're travelling for Thanksgiving and our hope is to board her at a nice place just north of us. I think she will love it since she came from a nursery with many kinds of birds, and loves watching her birdie videos. Depending on how that all goes, we'll determine if we're boarding for Christmas or trying to find a home sitter.

I hate leaving her, but the reality is family is spread out and she needs to learn that sometimes we go (and come back!). But is there anything I can do in advance to make the transition easier for her?

 

[TikiMyn]

Do you ever leave Waffle for a prolonged amount of time? I would start doing that Let your partner do part of her routine instead of you, but show up later to show her you are not leaving her. When I first got birds I was not aware of how much it could stress them out, so I just started leaving a dag periodically, spend half the weekends at my father’s(divorced parents) and then when the holidays came, I also spend half of the holidays there. Sometimes I took the birds but they don’t really like it there. I do FaceTime them if I have WiFi and am away for a longer amount of time. I haven’t had any problems thankfully keeping the routine about the same is key I think. There was a thread recently with really good infor, I Will try to find it!

Ah here it is
do birds think you abandon them when you leave for a couple of days? | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

 

[d_msparkles]

Thank you for this! That is a good idea about having him start doing some of her routine. I did that with my cats before I left town in the past (they were old & on a lot of medications!). He has put her to bed when I'm home late, and I am very insistent that her routine MUST include him saying "night night, Waffle." Ha ha. He's great about noticing when she's getting into "night night position." I have also told him to expect I will want to face time with her!

She's a little spoiled because I work from home...and frankly, I love having her out with me! But I try to go into my office away from her for part of the day, and usually we're out and about on the weekends. She's pretty happy if the tv is on to keep her company. I am also going to see if I can tour the place where we are thinking about boarding her for the holidays before I make any firm decisions.

I think she will be mad regardless, but as long as she has toys & videos she shouldn't get too depressed...I hope!

 

[Dona]

I do FaceTime them if I have WiFi and am away for a longer amount of time.

OMG that's so cute that you FaceTime your birds. Imagine telling a non-bird lover that you do that, lol.

 

[TikiMyn]

I was thinking you were with her a mot of the time but wasn’t sure! I totally get that though Whenever I am home I am in the bird room, outside with the ducks/rabbits, or in the kitchen preparing food for them

 

[TikiMyn]

OMG that's so cute that you FaceTime your birds. Imagine telling a non-bird lover that you do that, lol.

Hehe frankly one of my non bird friends understood that, but she was astounded when I told her I showered with them That is so normal to me that I just casually mentioned it, and she was “you do what now?”

 

[d_msparkles]

OMG. My co-worker thought I was insane when I bought the shower perch before I even brought Waffle home. But now that she sees how cute Waffle is, she doesn't question anything!

 

[TikiMyn]

Ahw Waffle conquers all hearts! That’s what I like to hear! Btw, I don’t think I ever mentioned how much I love her name! Totally adorable

 

[d_msparkles]

Thanks!! We weren't originally planning to have her DNA sexed, so wanted a gender-neutral name that she could pronounce. And then all of the friends and family started pressuring us and we eventually gave in.

 

[NirAntae]

You could also consider 'boarding' her with another bird person in the area who wasn't planning to go out of town for a given holiday.

Not that I know anyone in the Chicagoland area unlikely to travel most holidays... *cough*