I posted on February 27th a thread about the "sudden" overnight deterioration of my YNA, Sheba. I've been meaning to post both here and on Facebook with her obituary for the past two weeks or so, but those whom are closer to me already knew that she died. Not only has her death been pretty difficult for me, though i've also had a million other issues consuming the entirety of my time lately. My furnace dying, car break downs, basement flooding, job issues, the whole 9 yards. Though today I finally had the time to sit down and write something nice for her. May she be in a better place, somewhere.
To go down memory lane;
Sheba was a bird that was relinquished to Sugarcreek Bird Farm in mid-2023 after her owner could no longer care for her. From my understanding, She was bought as a baby from a local breeder, and was raised by the same man for twenty-something years before she was relinquished due to his now advanced age and failing health. You could really tell that she spent most of her years with an older man. Her hobbies and personality reflected that perfectly.
She wanted to do nothing more than to sit on your shoulder and just be in your presence as you milled around the house. She never got herself into trouble, and was an absolute treat to have had the pleasure to care for. She was the quiestest, mellowest YNA that most people said they have ever met. Even people who weren't fans of Amazons had still really enjoyed her. She really made Amazon ownership look easy, and I joke that she was a "Glorified Living-Room Decoration" because for the longest time before her death, she didn't have a cage. She lived and relaxed on a large net perch behind my couch- climbing down to the java trees below whenever she wanted to change her view of the living room, and to eat her dinner every night. She spent a majority of her time up here watching either me or the TV. I enjoyed having a bird who ALSO liked the copious amounts of Elvis Presley music that I played... nobody else in the flock is really that much of a fan. When we weren't lazing around the house... she frequently enjoyed traveling to SBF's aviary for some sunshine, or as an ambassador at eductional outreach events that they frequently had during fair weather. She met many faces during her time here, had tons of baths, new experiences, and maybe a couple too many almonds. She was granted the greatest privilege that we hope for all of our birds, which is a life filled with nothing but love and adoration, even beyond us.
I remember my first proper meeting with Sheba on August 21, 2023, you can see my first posts to my Instagram story below. Her personality on the first day was just as wonderful as it was on her last. I told the store's owner, Bernie, that I was interested in adopting her after our very first meeting. I don't typically fall in love with birds so quickly, though she was irresistable. She came in with poor liver function, and remained at SBF trialing a medication to attempt to improve this for a long time. Ultimately it was ineffective. (as we now find that the cause for her poor function was NOT fatty liver.) Nothing over the years really helped her, though I like to think that the supplementation of Milk Thistle and Dandilion had hopefully given me a little more time with her than I would've had otherwise... As we came to the end of this trial, her prognosis was still not great.
I still was focused on hoping for the opportunity to adopt her, even if it was only palliative care. I was adamant about my love for Sheba and intent on doing everything that I can for her...though was not confident that I would actually be chosen out of the pool of several interested and experienced homes. I am so glad that Bernie takes the placement of her birds so seriously and contemplates her decision for a good moment, though boy was it nervewracking!! I mean yes she knew my determination, yes I volunteered in the shop every day, yes I do everything possible for my birds- though frankly- how many at the time 19 year olds do you know that are not only committed, though are actually able to accommodate a medically complex bird? Not even considering that I really had only adopted my first Amazon, Kermie, merely months prior! BOY let me tell you, the night that she approved me for the opportunity to adopt Sheba I went home and cried lol!
I brought Sheba home on October 26, 2023. The Instagram story that I had posted is below. She was only caged for the first couple of months that I had her, as I very quickly came to understand that her personality wasn't going to change now that she's home as it does with some birds. She never got into trouble, never bit people, never caused trouble with other birds, she was an absolute angel. Nomatter HOW HARD I tried to condition her into being able to fly, she never could. Nomatter how much muscle she gained or weight she lost, she would always fall like a rock. If I remember correctly, she was 730-750g when she was relinquished and died at a slightly chubby 610g. She would always come back to SBF's aviary to hang out as I volunteered, and absolutely enjoyed it. She was such an old woman who loved snoozing in the warm summer sunshine. Once I came to the realization that she would likely never be able to fly, she started coming to SBF's outreach events and meeting new people! She frequently went with me to run errands and soak up all of the attention! I loved to take her out to places as she was most predictable Amazon i'd ever met. She would just grumble and growl when she was annoyed that you were disturbing her. Otherwise she was an extremely quiet bird, only cycling through a couple of vocalizations when excited- including "HUH?", "HAAAAAAAIII!", chuckling like an old man, and ringing like an old home telephone. She's accompanied me through 3 seperate moves... 1bd 1bath apartment.... to a 3bd 2 bath apartment.... and finally into my first home in mid 2025. She's been there to support me through many difficult periods, and witnessed my journey into a new career and some incredibly intense training programs. Which is part of what has made losing her so difficult.
On the 27th of February, I went to sleep on my living room couch at 3am where she was totally fine. Her head tucked under her wing, sleeping on her perch like usual. I randomly switch between sleeping in my bedroom versus on my couch, and am glad that I chose the couch this night. Otherwise, I worry that I wouldn't have been there to comfort her until many hours later. At 8am I was awoken to her growling extremely loudly, and attempting to regurgitate with nothing actually coming up. Upon picking her up, the entire right side of her face was bruised and swelling despite no trauma to the area. Obviously I immediately threw on my clothes, and down to Veterinary Emergency Group in Cincinnati, Ohio we went. Great place by the way, if you're local they are a great ER that sees birds. tangent aside.
She continued attempting to regurgitate for the hour drive, which had eventually turned into gasping in the ER. She was quickly placed into an incubator. Upon attemping any physical examination, the gasping became much louder and more intense- audible even through the closed door of the incubator. At some point the only mucus she actually had managed to regurgitate was tinged red with blood. She looked terrible and was really suffering at this point, I'll spare you the videos. So the decision was made to relieve her of her suffering, and sedate her before finally euthanizing her in my arms. You can see how terrible my poor baby felt even before had gotten to the ER.
Necropsy results come to affirm my decision. Her primary cause of death was determined to be Hepatic Neoplasia- many tumors were present throughout her liver, causing the Liver Failure. She also had secondary liver issues resulting from her prior crappy diet, ultimately causing Fibrosis- scar tissue- to compromise the function remaining liver tissue. For those curious, the gasping that I mentioned before she died was caused by Pulmonary Edema and Congestion- fluid had built up within and around her lungs. I do have the images of her actual necropsy report performed by Dr. Dahlhausen in Milford, and am happy to send images to anybody that is curious on the medical side of things. I just leave those to private messages as there are graphic medical images contained within.
Anyways. Thanks for listening, to me ramble about my baby. Enjoy some of my favorite pictures that i've gotten of her over the years. Limited by the AA file count. May she rest easy.
To go down memory lane;
Sheba was a bird that was relinquished to Sugarcreek Bird Farm in mid-2023 after her owner could no longer care for her. From my understanding, She was bought as a baby from a local breeder, and was raised by the same man for twenty-something years before she was relinquished due to his now advanced age and failing health. You could really tell that she spent most of her years with an older man. Her hobbies and personality reflected that perfectly.
She wanted to do nothing more than to sit on your shoulder and just be in your presence as you milled around the house. She never got herself into trouble, and was an absolute treat to have had the pleasure to care for. She was the quiestest, mellowest YNA that most people said they have ever met. Even people who weren't fans of Amazons had still really enjoyed her. She really made Amazon ownership look easy, and I joke that she was a "Glorified Living-Room Decoration" because for the longest time before her death, she didn't have a cage. She lived and relaxed on a large net perch behind my couch- climbing down to the java trees below whenever she wanted to change her view of the living room, and to eat her dinner every night. She spent a majority of her time up here watching either me or the TV. I enjoyed having a bird who ALSO liked the copious amounts of Elvis Presley music that I played... nobody else in the flock is really that much of a fan. When we weren't lazing around the house... she frequently enjoyed traveling to SBF's aviary for some sunshine, or as an ambassador at eductional outreach events that they frequently had during fair weather. She met many faces during her time here, had tons of baths, new experiences, and maybe a couple too many almonds. She was granted the greatest privilege that we hope for all of our birds, which is a life filled with nothing but love and adoration, even beyond us.
I remember my first proper meeting with Sheba on August 21, 2023, you can see my first posts to my Instagram story below. Her personality on the first day was just as wonderful as it was on her last. I told the store's owner, Bernie, that I was interested in adopting her after our very first meeting. I don't typically fall in love with birds so quickly, though she was irresistable. She came in with poor liver function, and remained at SBF trialing a medication to attempt to improve this for a long time. Ultimately it was ineffective. (as we now find that the cause for her poor function was NOT fatty liver.) Nothing over the years really helped her, though I like to think that the supplementation of Milk Thistle and Dandilion had hopefully given me a little more time with her than I would've had otherwise... As we came to the end of this trial, her prognosis was still not great.
I still was focused on hoping for the opportunity to adopt her, even if it was only palliative care. I was adamant about my love for Sheba and intent on doing everything that I can for her...though was not confident that I would actually be chosen out of the pool of several interested and experienced homes. I am so glad that Bernie takes the placement of her birds so seriously and contemplates her decision for a good moment, though boy was it nervewracking!! I mean yes she knew my determination, yes I volunteered in the shop every day, yes I do everything possible for my birds- though frankly- how many at the time 19 year olds do you know that are not only committed, though are actually able to accommodate a medically complex bird? Not even considering that I really had only adopted my first Amazon, Kermie, merely months prior! BOY let me tell you, the night that she approved me for the opportunity to adopt Sheba I went home and cried lol!
I brought Sheba home on October 26, 2023. The Instagram story that I had posted is below. She was only caged for the first couple of months that I had her, as I very quickly came to understand that her personality wasn't going to change now that she's home as it does with some birds. She never got into trouble, never bit people, never caused trouble with other birds, she was an absolute angel. Nomatter HOW HARD I tried to condition her into being able to fly, she never could. Nomatter how much muscle she gained or weight she lost, she would always fall like a rock. If I remember correctly, she was 730-750g when she was relinquished and died at a slightly chubby 610g. She would always come back to SBF's aviary to hang out as I volunteered, and absolutely enjoyed it. She was such an old woman who loved snoozing in the warm summer sunshine. Once I came to the realization that she would likely never be able to fly, she started coming to SBF's outreach events and meeting new people! She frequently went with me to run errands and soak up all of the attention! I loved to take her out to places as she was most predictable Amazon i'd ever met. She would just grumble and growl when she was annoyed that you were disturbing her. Otherwise she was an extremely quiet bird, only cycling through a couple of vocalizations when excited- including "HUH?", "HAAAAAAAIII!", chuckling like an old man, and ringing like an old home telephone. She's accompanied me through 3 seperate moves... 1bd 1bath apartment.... to a 3bd 2 bath apartment.... and finally into my first home in mid 2025. She's been there to support me through many difficult periods, and witnessed my journey into a new career and some incredibly intense training programs. Which is part of what has made losing her so difficult.
On the 27th of February, I went to sleep on my living room couch at 3am where she was totally fine. Her head tucked under her wing, sleeping on her perch like usual. I randomly switch between sleeping in my bedroom versus on my couch, and am glad that I chose the couch this night. Otherwise, I worry that I wouldn't have been there to comfort her until many hours later. At 8am I was awoken to her growling extremely loudly, and attempting to regurgitate with nothing actually coming up. Upon picking her up, the entire right side of her face was bruised and swelling despite no trauma to the area. Obviously I immediately threw on my clothes, and down to Veterinary Emergency Group in Cincinnati, Ohio we went. Great place by the way, if you're local they are a great ER that sees birds. tangent aside.
She continued attempting to regurgitate for the hour drive, which had eventually turned into gasping in the ER. She was quickly placed into an incubator. Upon attemping any physical examination, the gasping became much louder and more intense- audible even through the closed door of the incubator. At some point the only mucus she actually had managed to regurgitate was tinged red with blood. She looked terrible and was really suffering at this point, I'll spare you the videos. So the decision was made to relieve her of her suffering, and sedate her before finally euthanizing her in my arms. You can see how terrible my poor baby felt even before had gotten to the ER.
Necropsy results come to affirm my decision. Her primary cause of death was determined to be Hepatic Neoplasia- many tumors were present throughout her liver, causing the Liver Failure. She also had secondary liver issues resulting from her prior crappy diet, ultimately causing Fibrosis- scar tissue- to compromise the function remaining liver tissue. For those curious, the gasping that I mentioned before she died was caused by Pulmonary Edema and Congestion- fluid had built up within and around her lungs. I do have the images of her actual necropsy report performed by Dr. Dahlhausen in Milford, and am happy to send images to anybody that is curious on the medical side of things. I just leave those to private messages as there are graphic medical images contained within.
Anyways. Thanks for listening, to me ramble about my baby. Enjoy some of my favorite pictures that i've gotten of her over the years. Limited by the AA file count. May she rest easy.
. I am so sorry for your loss, she sounds like she was one in a million
