I’d like to address a question that’s often asked when you lose a pet. For those of you catching up, Rick and I had to have our budgie, Oliver (Ollie) put to sleep on Thursday. What we thought was nerve inflammation actually turned out to be a spinal tumor. So naturally, many people are asking:
Will we get another parakeet?
Short answer: not now.
Expanded answer: I have no doubt we’ll have avian companions for the rest of our lives. That being said, there’s a high likelihood that another budgie (perhaps more than one) will grace our home. For this reason, we didn’t get rid of Ollie’s cage. I have a strong feeling we’re going to need it in the future.
Dissertation: One big concern Rick and I had was whether Ollie got the time and attention he deserved. Parakeets aren’t very demanding, and with 2 sun conures in the house, he often got “drowned out” by their increased need for human interaction. While others assured us that we were good to Ollie and that he seemed very happy in our home, I wondered if they didn’t quietly harbor the same concerns. We couldn’t help but notice that visitors often made a point to spend time speaking to and interacting with Ollie; even more so than they did with Zack and Chloe. In fact, we encouraged this. We always felt that he needed special attention away from the bigger birds, and appreciated family, friends, and visitors taking the time to do this.
Another concern was his level of interaction with Zack and Chloe. Ollie got bolder as time went by, and he didn’t like to be separated from them. Often, he’d jump after one of them, or leap on their playgym, or fly to their cages. He even chased them a few times. There was more than once instance where they tried to “play back” and we had close calls with bites, falls, and accidents. We tried to keep them separated, but he didn’t seem to understand that he wasn’t one of the “big birds” and could get hurt doing that. Add the concern about making sure we interacted with him sufficiently, and you can see how we were often walking a tightrope to make sure they all had their social needs met.
Right now, life is very active for us. Both of our immediate families are still alive, we have full time jobs and “side ventures,” (Rick does website design and I’m an independent author), and we both volunteer at church. I think that, at this season in life, 2 is the most we can realistically handle. Zack and Chloe are great companions, and I feel confident that we can attend to their needs as we should.
I won’t lie – Ollie’s loss has left a huge hole in our hearts, in our home, and in our lives. But I don’t believe getting another budgie will fill that hole. His absence is something we have to learn to live with, day by day. And so we shall. We choose to focus on what we have and move on with it.
For now. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t change later. Life is always in motion, and you never know.
So there’s the long and short of the “are you getting another bird” question.
That’s all today. Take care and have a great weekend.
Bye!
Will we get another parakeet?
Short answer: not now.
Expanded answer: I have no doubt we’ll have avian companions for the rest of our lives. That being said, there’s a high likelihood that another budgie (perhaps more than one) will grace our home. For this reason, we didn’t get rid of Ollie’s cage. I have a strong feeling we’re going to need it in the future.
Dissertation: One big concern Rick and I had was whether Ollie got the time and attention he deserved. Parakeets aren’t very demanding, and with 2 sun conures in the house, he often got “drowned out” by their increased need for human interaction. While others assured us that we were good to Ollie and that he seemed very happy in our home, I wondered if they didn’t quietly harbor the same concerns. We couldn’t help but notice that visitors often made a point to spend time speaking to and interacting with Ollie; even more so than they did with Zack and Chloe. In fact, we encouraged this. We always felt that he needed special attention away from the bigger birds, and appreciated family, friends, and visitors taking the time to do this.
Another concern was his level of interaction with Zack and Chloe. Ollie got bolder as time went by, and he didn’t like to be separated from them. Often, he’d jump after one of them, or leap on their playgym, or fly to their cages. He even chased them a few times. There was more than once instance where they tried to “play back” and we had close calls with bites, falls, and accidents. We tried to keep them separated, but he didn’t seem to understand that he wasn’t one of the “big birds” and could get hurt doing that. Add the concern about making sure we interacted with him sufficiently, and you can see how we were often walking a tightrope to make sure they all had their social needs met.
Right now, life is very active for us. Both of our immediate families are still alive, we have full time jobs and “side ventures,” (Rick does website design and I’m an independent author), and we both volunteer at church. I think that, at this season in life, 2 is the most we can realistically handle. Zack and Chloe are great companions, and I feel confident that we can attend to their needs as we should.
I won’t lie – Ollie’s loss has left a huge hole in our hearts, in our home, and in our lives. But I don’t believe getting another budgie will fill that hole. His absence is something we have to learn to live with, day by day. And so we shall. We choose to focus on what we have and move on with it.
For now. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t change later. Life is always in motion, and you never know.
So there’s the long and short of the “are you getting another bird” question.
That’s all today. Take care and have a great weekend.
Bye!
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