I am considering finding a 2-year foster home for my 18-year-old Green Cheek Conure, Eris. This arrangement would last until I finish college (where I am unable to keep pets in my dorm). This foster home would be with an experienced bird person, ideally somewhere in the northeastern part of the US. I’d prefer if this foster home was within a couple hours of driving distance. A home in the NYC tri-state area would be perfect. However, I am still open to flying my guy outside of the northeast to someone verified and reputable (like someone established on AA, or someone who can be vouched for by an AA member). Eris was cagemates with Blina, and while they got along well, Eris can be a bit pushy and would probably do better in his own cage. He is loving but can be cage-aggressive.
If anyone has any leads on any rescues or people who might be able to help me with setting up such an arrangement, I would greatly appreciate it. This is non-urgent, so if an ideal foster home would be available in a couple months, that would be fine.
Background info below:
As some of you might remember, my sun conure (who we had re-named to Blina, my siggy is out-of-date) fell ill and while we never got a clear answer about what her condition was, she got better and seemingly recovered fully. For background, I am a college student and my birds are living with my family. 2 weeks ago, I got a call from my mother that Blina was very suddenly feeling unwell again. I scheduled an appointment with the avian vet that same day, and off she went. She ended up passing away at the young age of 6. When the vet performed an necropsy, she found that Blina had massive internal bleeding. Several of her organs (liver, GI tract, and kidney) had become extremely pale from blood loss. We still have no idea what caused it. Blood work showed no signs of infection, and the vet found no evidence of heavy metal poisoning (I am not sure where or how she would have come into contact with a heavy metal anyways).
Anyways, this experience has traumatized us all. Blina had become such a vital part of the family, spending all of her time on someone’s (anyone’s) shoulder. She spent hours a day with my mother, following her around the house for whatever task she was doing. My mother, someone who had spent years asking me “what good is a parrot as a pet”, had fallen in complete love with this bird. I had been building a collection of selfies that my mother had been continuously sending me of her and Blina’s adventures together. My family’s grief at this loss is really unimaginable. However, in spite of all the love that they gave my birds, I still fear that they aren’t a good place to leave my other conure. Although I realize that my family did all they could, I still can’t help but feel a bit of anger for what happened, like something must have went wrong somewhere in terms of how they have been taking care of my birds, so I am exploring this foster home option.
If anyone has any leads on any rescues or people who might be able to help me with setting up such an arrangement, I would greatly appreciate it. This is non-urgent, so if an ideal foster home would be available in a couple months, that would be fine.
Background info below:
As some of you might remember, my sun conure (who we had re-named to Blina, my siggy is out-of-date) fell ill and while we never got a clear answer about what her condition was, she got better and seemingly recovered fully. For background, I am a college student and my birds are living with my family. 2 weeks ago, I got a call from my mother that Blina was very suddenly feeling unwell again. I scheduled an appointment with the avian vet that same day, and off she went. She ended up passing away at the young age of 6. When the vet performed an necropsy, she found that Blina had massive internal bleeding. Several of her organs (liver, GI tract, and kidney) had become extremely pale from blood loss. We still have no idea what caused it. Blood work showed no signs of infection, and the vet found no evidence of heavy metal poisoning (I am not sure where or how she would have come into contact with a heavy metal anyways).
Anyways, this experience has traumatized us all. Blina had become such a vital part of the family, spending all of her time on someone’s (anyone’s) shoulder. She spent hours a day with my mother, following her around the house for whatever task she was doing. My mother, someone who had spent years asking me “what good is a parrot as a pet”, had fallen in complete love with this bird. I had been building a collection of selfies that my mother had been continuously sending me of her and Blina’s adventures together. My family’s grief at this loss is really unimaginable. However, in spite of all the love that they gave my birds, I still fear that they aren’t a good place to leave my other conure. Although I realize that my family did all they could, I still can’t help but feel a bit of anger for what happened, like something must have went wrong somewhere in terms of how they have been taking care of my birds, so I am exploring this foster home option.
So sorry for your loss.
