Another story from the continuing saga of unfortunate mishaps concerning Hunsinger pets. It is a little-known fact that my wife Kathy had always loved birds. Our family is basically pet oriented anyway but the feelings we have about pets, no matter how strong pales in comparison to Kathy’s love for birds. I make this point abundantly clear…you will see its significance later.
When we were first married, I took Kathy and her bird…a cheery little parakeet. I ‘ll never forget when we left home to visit my parents for Christmas and returned to find the parakeet frozen to death. I had forgotten to leave the furnace on. The blame for the oversight was firmly fixed. I was reminded that “you never liked the bird anyway”, what could I say to that? I honestly didn’t harbor any bad feelings for the bird, but I sure felt badly about what had happened. Over the years we went through several more parakeets, but there had been one alarming constant throughout that time…an ever-growing need and longtime desire by my wife for a Parrot. As we were…between birds…so to speak we happened to visit a pet shop. Kathy had seen these Mexican Red Headed parrots. Smaller than Macaws but still parrots and according to the information could actually learn to talk. We looked into the cost of acquiring the bird and a proper cage, etc. We could acquire everything we needed for about $120. That simply did not fit into our budget. I acquired the bird on a 90-day program. We would own the bird and all of the other stuff in just three months at $40 per month. I reasoned that this might help wipe the slate clean regarding the frozen parakeet incident. Kathy was delighted and so were the children and I figured that a “Parrot is Forever”. It would probably out live me and eventually one of our children could keep the bird and then his children and so on. I had almost decided that this was like buying a family heirloom. We could teach the bird to talk… it would be like one of the family.
We had the bird about 30 days when he seemed to develop a ‘cough’. I don’t know if cough is the right description but it certainly wasn’t a ‘chirp’. I suppose I should have taken the bird (affectionately named DOC) to the vet. I resisted that on the premise that I wouldn’t start running up vet bills until I did own the bird. Looking back that was an irrational move.
After about 90 days the parrot started looking very motley and grim. One of the things that we learned about Parrots was that they never left their perch or at least they rarely set foot on the floor of the cage. I suspected something serious when I found Doc standing on the bottom of the cage. I had hoped that it wasn’t too late. I kept thinking that Doc would get better. Although no one had mentioned what it meant if the bird laid down on the bottom of the cage. I instinctively knew that I must seek professional help. After all we now owned the bird so what the heck. I contacted a vet known for specializing in birds an avian vet. I explained the symptoms and he said to bring Doc right over. When I arrived, I picked up the bird cage and carried it into the reception area. The receptionist came unglued as if we had leprosy or something. She insisted that I get that bird and cage outside until the Doctor was ready to see Doc. He soon arrived and shortly there after announced that Doc was D.O.A. It was a tough blow to lose a family heirloom in only 90 days. I felt a sense of emptiness, but I knew that the REAL emptiness would be on my return home with the news. The vet said to get rid of the cage because of the germs and that no amount of disinfectant would work. The whole experience was unsettling but educational. We now know that it takes a miracle to get a Mexican Red Head to talk and that you must have divine powers to save a parrot with bronchitis because of their complicated bronchial system. The vet took care of the disposition of the bird and my explanation of the ceremony took on tremendous proportions. We also learned that contrary to our earlier thinking…a Parrot is Not Forever.
This was a tough one. We did replace Doc with a series of parakeets and eventually we purchased a Myna bird. That was crazy and that bird was really something. It learned to talk almost immediately. I think getting the Myna made Kathy believe that I supported her love for birds and having the Myna was a truly incredible experience.
