Another rescue animal
This morning my boss came into work holding what looked like a brightly colored stuffed chew-toy for a dog. Except, seconds after I made that assessment, the chew toy shook out its feathers...and I realized that it was a bird. Specifically, this kind of bird:
Except this particular bird did not have a sleek, healthy head of feathers. This particular bird happened to have wounds covering her head, and also happened to have a sagging posture, labored breathing, and seemed to be in shock.
My boss left her with me. (Apparently I'm the animal guru here...?) I quickly made some calls -- to my sister and father who used to volunteer every weekend at Wild Life Rescue in Palo Alto; to the animal shelter itself; and also to my old boss, Margie, who used to work for a parrot rescue organization and happens to be a complete parrot nut (has tattoos of parrots across her arms). And while I was working to do all of that, I was also trying to make sure that the bird got some water -- fingering very small amounts of water onto her tongue.
Fortunately I got in touch with Margie....who directed me to an bird hospital in San Francisco (22nd and Taraval). I arranged to take an early lunch break, and she arranged to pay the vet bills for the initial visit. And I drove up there and dropped her off.
Best guess is that she was attacked by a cat. The vet who saw her was able to get her stable and start treating the wounds.... also gave her antibiotics, which, it turns out, are very important since it's very easy to get a terminal infection via cat bite if you happen to be a bird. And after all of that, I signed her over to the clinic who is working with Mickaboo to find the lovebird a new home.
Wish I'd been able to do a bit more...but that's about as much as I can afford to do. If any of you happen to be interested in adopting from, donating to or volunteering at Mickaboo, I'm sure they'd be thrilled. I'm sure our mysterious and soon-to-be-better lovebird would be thrilled too.
Except this particular bird did not have a sleek, healthy head of feathers. This particular bird happened to have wounds covering her head, and also happened to have a sagging posture, labored breathing, and seemed to be in shock.
My boss left her with me. (Apparently I'm the animal guru here...?) I quickly made some calls -- to my sister and father who used to volunteer every weekend at Wild Life Rescue in Palo Alto; to the animal shelter itself; and also to my old boss, Margie, who used to work for a parrot rescue organization and happens to be a complete parrot nut (has tattoos of parrots across her arms). And while I was working to do all of that, I was also trying to make sure that the bird got some water -- fingering very small amounts of water onto her tongue.
Fortunately I got in touch with Margie....who directed me to an bird hospital in San Francisco (22nd and Taraval). I arranged to take an early lunch break, and she arranged to pay the vet bills for the initial visit. And I drove up there and dropped her off.
Best guess is that she was attacked by a cat. The vet who saw her was able to get her stable and start treating the wounds.... also gave her antibiotics, which, it turns out, are very important since it's very easy to get a terminal infection via cat bite if you happen to be a bird. And after all of that, I signed her over to the clinic who is working with Mickaboo to find the lovebird a new home.
Wish I'd been able to do a bit more...but that's about as much as I can afford to do. If any of you happen to be interested in adopting from, donating to or volunteering at Mickaboo, I'm sure they'd be thrilled. I'm sure our mysterious and soon-to-be-better lovebird would be thrilled too.