Re-homing Olive & Rudy :(

[Olive&Rudy]

Hi all, not been on here for a while due to being so busy since changing jobs at beginning of the year. Which is what brings me to my dilemma of whether to re-home Olive and Rudy :( I'm hoping some of u can offer me some good advice, as I'm sure u can! I am away from home much more than I was before and although they have eachother I just feel like its a shame for them to just kind of be there, although they r not showing signs of unhappiness, I am just struggling to find the time for them as I also have 2 dogs that r also needing my attention when I am home. Then when i am home they can be really noisy looking for attention, and they have genuinly never been a problem in this area, they r also more possesive over their cage, i think because they r having less contact with me, and I think they have been really good birds going off some of the stories you all have! So it saddens me to think that my circumstances have affected them. The birds r not getting out of the cage often and it's such a shame as they were making progress and I feel like they deserve to be with someone who wants to spend time with them and work on taming them etc. but then I won't just let them go anywhere, I want to know that they r going to an experienced home who know what they r taking on. I'm in the UK (near manchester) by the way and I'd be happy to hear from any of u who may want to have the birds or any help and advice u can offer would be so much appreciated. Thank you all!

[linda040899]

I've been in a similar situation for roughly the past 9 months and things have finally gotten back to what I call semi-normal. My husband went into cardiac arrest last September and all my free time, plus many,many hours became devoted to him to help his long recovery. There were week-ends where I came home only to make sure everyone was fed and safe and then returned to the hospital.

I have 7 larger parrots and 2 dogs and they were dependent on my daughter for attention. She works, too, so I actually found a new home for one of my macaws. I guess fate arranged it so that the rehome never happened but those months were very hard on everyone. Now that my husband has come home, I'm here a lot more and my flock is a lot happier.

Like you, all my larger parrots have at least one of their own kind here and they are all flock members so they have each other for interaction even if this flock member is absent. That helped a lot! The one that has amazed me the most is Ginger, my touch me not CAG! Since my schedule has changed, she's everywhere that I am and she's persistent. If I move, she goes where ever I've gone to. I don't know that I'll ever be able to handle her, and it's not required, but she sure likes just interacting with me.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you may need to look at the overall picture before you make a final decision. Your situation can still change further and if that were to happen, would you still be happy with a decision to rehome Olive and Rudy? My macaw has been with me since 1991 and I'm all she knows. Had things not changed, she still may not have been happy with a decision to relocate her elsewhere. I'll never know, as I didn't do it but it's something to think about.

[Olive&Rudy]

Thanks for ur reply Linda, sorry to hear about ur husband, hope things r on the up now. I think my decision is not to rush into anything but if the right home came along I would let them go. I don't feel like they have bonded too closely to me as ur parrots obviously have so I think they would adapt quickly to a new environment and new people if they were to spend more time working on the bonding. I just feel like it would be better for them, but like I said i won't be rushing into it, I have made the mistake of rehoming animals in the past to what I thought was going to be a better life and ended up regretting it as they had not been looked after how I hoped. I def will not let that happen to olive and Rudy and will be hanging onto them and doing my best for them for as long as it takes, which may turn out to be never! Every time I start thinking about it again they seem to start acting all sweet and lovely as if they know what I'm thinking!! :rotfl