- May 8, 2014
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For "Polly"'s owner and all the other wonderful people with big hearts for their birdies on this thread:
I have a cross beak girl named "Beaker". I posted earlier in this thread for support and got great advice and all sorts of wonderful information. Beaker is a banty mille fleur d'uccle with a wickedly severe cross beak. I am realistic and do not think there is anything I can do to change this condition and do not fully expect her to live a long and healthy life, but with that said, I have been making her slurry and allow her to eat this upon demand whenever she wants in a deep dish with high sides, and feed her separately from her flock so I can monitor food intake. With that said, she lives in the yard and the coop with the rest of her flock and is accepted by them. I took her to a large veterinarian practice a few weeks ago because I wanted any education they could provide me with taking care of her, and to get her beak trimmed because I wondered if I needed to do this. I just am uber responsible and wanted to make sure I had all the information I needed to adequately care for my girl. I live rurally, and the local vet was not comfortable with birds and referred me to a vet practice that was comfortable. I drove an hour to get there. The vet was so unbelievably rude to me. I am a very nice person, sometimes to a fault, and I really need to grow a spine, but it didn't really hit me until I was driving home for an hour HOW rude this professional was to me. He basically said, "this is totally awful; why would you feed a bird that can't eat?"...I am an occupational therapist by training who used to do feeding interventions, and I argued my case that in fact she DOES eat independently; I just have to present her with food that she is capable of eating. I told him, I know I am crazy, but I am not as crazy as you think I am; if I had to tube feed this bird totally, I don't think I could do it and still live my life...anyway, I left there totally questioning every decision I have ever made in my life. I went back in and asked him if he thought my bird was suffering. I don't want to CAUSE suffering. He recanted and stated he was not "for death in all circumstances". Whatever! I paid over a hundred dollars to question my moral decisions. Anyway, I also don't think he got an adequate picture of my girl. She was dehydrated and freaked out from the hour car ride. So anyway, I learned how to dremel her beak...My husband agreed with me that at home she does not appear to suffer...she lives a pretty good birdie life with her flock in my yard, eats when she wants and gets extra human attention. For as long as she is able. There are millions of ill and injured people living out their lives; I have a professional vocation helping them. Just needed to vent. Keep on keeping on. Take care of your birdies and offer them love. For in the end, what else is there? I can't make Beaker not have a congenital cross beak. But I can help her enjoy the days she has, however many those may be. Namaste.
I have a cross beak girl named "Beaker". I posted earlier in this thread for support and got great advice and all sorts of wonderful information. Beaker is a banty mille fleur d'uccle with a wickedly severe cross beak. I am realistic and do not think there is anything I can do to change this condition and do not fully expect her to live a long and healthy life, but with that said, I have been making her slurry and allow her to eat this upon demand whenever she wants in a deep dish with high sides, and feed her separately from her flock so I can monitor food intake. With that said, she lives in the yard and the coop with the rest of her flock and is accepted by them. I took her to a large veterinarian practice a few weeks ago because I wanted any education they could provide me with taking care of her, and to get her beak trimmed because I wondered if I needed to do this. I just am uber responsible and wanted to make sure I had all the information I needed to adequately care for my girl. I live rurally, and the local vet was not comfortable with birds and referred me to a vet practice that was comfortable. I drove an hour to get there. The vet was so unbelievably rude to me. I am a very nice person, sometimes to a fault, and I really need to grow a spine, but it didn't really hit me until I was driving home for an hour HOW rude this professional was to me. He basically said, "this is totally awful; why would you feed a bird that can't eat?"...I am an occupational therapist by training who used to do feeding interventions, and I argued my case that in fact she DOES eat independently; I just have to present her with food that she is capable of eating. I told him, I know I am crazy, but I am not as crazy as you think I am; if I had to tube feed this bird totally, I don't think I could do it and still live my life...anyway, I left there totally questioning every decision I have ever made in my life. I went back in and asked him if he thought my bird was suffering. I don't want to CAUSE suffering. He recanted and stated he was not "for death in all circumstances". Whatever! I paid over a hundred dollars to question my moral decisions. Anyway, I also don't think he got an adequate picture of my girl. She was dehydrated and freaked out from the hour car ride. So anyway, I learned how to dremel her beak...My husband agreed with me that at home she does not appear to suffer...she lives a pretty good birdie life with her flock in my yard, eats when she wants and gets extra human attention. For as long as she is able. There are millions of ill and injured people living out their lives; I have a professional vocation helping them. Just needed to vent. Keep on keeping on. Take care of your birdies and offer them love. For in the end, what else is there? I can't make Beaker not have a congenital cross beak. But I can help her enjoy the days she has, however many those may be. Namaste.