I wanted to give the whole story from yesterday as it happened, and to post my farewell to Merlin. for an update on Joey, please see the update page I have posted under Misc. parrots. I cross posted this to another bird forum this afternoon.
I have lost all hope I think at this point. I have lived two weeks of utter hell.
First my boyfriend of two years and I split, then I was placed on academic suspension, and now I have lost one of my birds and another who I am taking to the vet this afternoon.
Yesterday morning was like any other morning, I got up, fed the birds breakfast and hung with them for a while. Nothing seemed unusual, everyone was eating and drinking fine. This was about 10 in the morning.
I commenced to cleaning the house, packing all my things (I finally have gotten to where I can do it without falling apart) and I checked on the birds sporadically throughout the day. A friend of mine called, we talked for a while and I told her "Today is the first day that I am starting to feel better. I know the steps I need to take to get reinstated with school, I think I might have found a place that will let me have my zoo. Maybe this is the end of everything." This was about two in the afternoon.
I got off the phone with her and was in the living room packing boxes and smelled an odd smell coming from one of the vents. I ran around the house thinking something had been left turned on, but could not find the source of the problem, just that it was coming out of the vents in our house. After about five minutes, the smell was gone, and I thought nothing else about it. It was not a particularly strong smell, just smelled like gas or something burning.
Fast forward to about 430, and I go down to give the birds their dinner. When I walk into the room I knew something was wrong, Chico (Mealy Amazon) was huddled in a corner making a very distinct sound that I can only describe as crying and was looking across the room. Chico only does that when something is very, very, very wrong (such as he sees a hawk, etc.) I turn around and start screaming, there is little Merlin (GCC) in the floor of his cage. I could not even cry yet, the words would not come for me to voice what I was feeling. My ex (we still are living together until I can leave) came running and was able to get Merlin out of the cage for me. He was found in the front corner, he was on his stomach, head tilted to one side, eyes closed. He was gone.
I rushed upstairs to call a vet tech friend of mine (same friend I was on the phone with earlier) hysterical and she walked me through the steps to prepare him to take for a necropsy in the morning. At this moment I was at a loss as to what had happened. I talked to her for about an hour to calm down and then got off the phone to go feed everyone dinner. When I opened the bird door room I found Joey (senegal) acting very lethargic, almost drunk, swaying from side to side, eyes closed, not responding to me at all. Joey is next to Merlin, on the other side of the door that leads to the hallway. Both birds are the closest to the door by several feet.
I call my vet, they tell me to bring him in, that they can only put him on oxygen until the morning but at this moment it sounds like some type of fumes or poison got to them. My vet (the bird doc in the office) is not there yesterday afternoon so I am talking to another one of his colleagues. Have been seeing this vet since 2004. He has seen my birds and my reptiles all this time. I explain that I live over an hour away and it is 1 hour and 30 minutes before they close. At this point, it is rush hour traffic, I explain to her that I may not make it on time, I could be late by several minutes. I AM TOLD NO ONE WILL WAIT FOR ME AND MY DYING BIRD.
I tell the vet I do not know if Joey will make it through the night, get very angry that no one will wait, tell her I am getting off the phone to say goodbye to my precious baby, which I did not get to do with my other bird. In the meantime, vet tech friend calls back, tells me to get Joey in fresh air and get some sugar water in him if he will drink it. Hang up with friend. Have ex run upstairs to make water, I take Joey out in the garage and crack the door to the outside and start talking to him, singing to him, telling my precious "beep beep birdie" not to leave me. Minutes pass, he starts to respond. Feed him water, stick his little face (he is wrapped up in a towel) to the crack in the door and pray to GOD that he doesn't take another. My animals are all I have left in the world.
After about an hour or so, and placing him in a travel carrier with a heat pad, Joey seemed to revive. My friend, who is a vet tech and lives over 2,000 hours from me, saved my Joey through the telephone. As of right now (this morning) I have gotten Joey to eat pellets on his own, and we have an appointment at the vet. Because Joey is doing better, I don't want to leave the other birds until someone is here with them until we figure out what is going on.
The only thing I can think of is the weird smell that I had smelled earlier. The hallway outside of the birdroom has no ventilation and I just wonder if that smell had gotten trapped in that small hallway (I am talking 5x5 or close to it) and that when I opened the bird room door throughout the day the pocket of gas or whatever it was was able to just get into the room enough to affect Joey and Merlin. The other thing that I have wondered is that Colin had turned on a propane heater on Saturday night for about ten minutes before I came home (in another room upstairs in the house) and somehow that affected them over time. He swears he did not run it Sunday when I was gone.
Please pray for me and Joey guys. Hopefully I will not be returning later to post another memorial. My heart has been shattered to pieces and I am scrambling to find the will to keep going.
FOR MERLIN
Merlin, mommy loves you so very much and she is so proud of who you became while you were with me. Our time was so short together, only a year and three months, but you never failed to bring me joy everyday with your bouncing and with playing the tapping game. She misses you bunches already, I keep looking for you in your little snuggle tent and you are not here anymore. You are everywhere.
I am sorry that you lived in that tiny, feces encrusted cage before I met you for three years. I remember getting you home and throwing that cage away, and your favorite toy because it was so dirty. I told you not to be mad at me, as there were many, many more toys coming your way...and that housekeys and plastic kid rings were not anything to worry about losing.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c43/angelicarboreals/merlin1.jpgI remember how bad you hated the red broom that I used to clean the bird room at the other house. You used to scream at it and get so angry when I wouldn't let you at it. I remember the first time I put pellets in your dish and you looking at me with disdain. You wanted those sunflower seeds you had been eating at your old home.
And then you found Connor. Connor and you became friends and loved to hang out on all the cool toys that mommy had hung from the ceiling. You would fly from place to place, zooming around the room so fast.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c43/angelicarboreals/ppekabo.jpghttp://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c43/angelicarboreals/conureboys.jpgI am sorry I did not get to show you more of life, that you won't be joining us to our trip to a new home. I will love you forever Merlin, you have found a very special place in my heart. Fly free little baby. I will see you on the other side.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c43/angelicarboreals/DSC04145.jpg
