Max, our budgie, passed away this morning.
Max (1997 – 2010)
Ich bin sehr froh, daß ich ihn vor zwei Tagen noch ein letztes Mal sehen durfte bevor ich nach Island zurückflog. Es ging ihm zusehends schlechter, obwohl er auch immer fröhliche Phasen hatte in denen er aufgedreht war und das Leben genoß (was auch der Grund war ihn nicht einfach so einschläfern zu lassen). Kurz, es war absehbar, daß er eher früher als später sterben würde. Ich bin sehr traurig und gleichzeitig erleichtert, daß er es hinter sich hat. Laut meinen Eltern ging es ihm heute Vormittag sehr schlecht, so daß sie versuchten den Tierarzt zu erreichen, was dann auch gelang. Noch bevor es losgehen konnte, war er in den Händen meiner Mutter gestorben. Hier ein paar Bilder von Max.
I’m glad that I got the chance to see him one last time before I flew back to Iceland two days ago. His condition was getting increasingly worse, although he had joyful moments every now and then during which he was very active and enjoyed life (which was also the reason not to put him to sleep just so). In short, it was clear he’d die rather sooner than later. I’m very sad and relieved at the same time – that he finally made it. According to my parents his condition was very bad this morning, so that they tried to reach the vet, which they finally did. Before they were on their way to the vet, Max passed away in the hands of my Mom. Here are some pictures of Max.
// Oliver
PS:
Max vor zweieinhalb Jahren
Sorry to hear about Max, Ollie. I am glad you got to see him though.
We lost our Bailey (cockatiel) last spring. We adopted him in 1989 from a family that was moving to France and couldn’t take him with them. He was 6 years old at the time.
Hello Corrine,
thanks for your kind words. It’s always sad when these little personalities pass away.
For Friðrik, my boss, I watched their two cockatiels for a week or two some time ago. They are lovely animals, but I learned that I seem to have some kind of allergic reaction when they are around – to what, I still don’t know. It was a very shy female (also way younger than the male) and a cheeky male. But I didn’t know they could get so old. But then, even budgies are said to get as old as 20+.
Even though I would have hoped for some more time for Max and with Max, I’m glad he made it. After all his condition was deteriorating visibly this year.
Thanks again for your kind words,
// Oliver
PS: Have you got any photos of your cockatiel?
Sad news… 😥
We don’t have a lot of pictures of Bailey. As much as he didn’t mind the dogs and cats, he preferred people leave him alone. I think it stems from the fact that before we adopted him, he was in a very tiny cage on the family’s coffee table with their German Shepard as his primary company.
This is my favorite. Buddy is the cat on top of Bailey’s cage. He would hop up there to look out the window and Bailey would talk to him. Tasha (no longer with us) just watched. Neither cat ever bothered him.
(Large image) —
http://sites.google.com/site/securitygarden2/Bailey_Buddy_Tasha.jpg
Thanks for the image. Doesn’t Buddy go after Bailey whenever you let him fly? After all cats love to chase moving “things” 😉
// Oliver
BTW: on a forum I was told that cockatiels require some time to figure out the room (i.e. 3D structure) when you put them into a new location. But even after due waiting time those my boss gave me were quite confused about where to land and strangely enough they didn’t look at each other to see how the other one coped (the male was tamer than the female)
We didn’t get Bailey until he was six years old and he had not been let out to fly, plus we had three dogs at the time. Our experiments at letting him out of the cage ended up being obviously terrifying for him. He adapted nicely to the large cage we got him and even when we left the door open, he didn’t venture out.
It may not have been natural for a bird not to fly free but he sang and talked to us and to the dogs and cats. We have to hope he was happy. Whatever we did different than his original owners, he was healthy. They said to be prepared for him to get sick every year but in all the years we had him, he was never sick.
There is no doubt that your Max was loved and had a good, happy life.
Wow, yes it sounds unusual. But since he was already six years old when you got him, he may simply not have been used to it from the previous owners. The two cockatiels from my boss went out on their own (I think the male one was more curious – or daring? :mrgreen:), all I did was to leave the door open, because I had been warned that they require some time to get used to new rooms and didn’t want to push them to it …
This sounds sooooo cute! … and it’s the best indicator that he was happy 🙂
Your fond memories of him show that you loved him, and those little creatures tend to return love manifold.
Makes me wonder … did they confuse moulting for a sickness?
BTW: in the end Max was rarely venturing out of his cage, even though the door was almost always open during the day. He was also quickly short of breath when flying “too far”, although he used the best flyer of the three budgies we had. Originally Max was companion to a blue budgie named Charlie who was very tame. We did have another budgie before as company for Charlie, that died at very young age.
Though the memories of Charlie have already faded a little bit, I remember his personality well and also will for Max. The photos will help a great deal, too.