The sorrow of loss
I never knew how much love a bird could bring until my eldest son Richard. 25 yrs, who had been living in Darwin, returned home for Xmas 1999. Along with him came an 8 month old hand reared male King parrot who he had named 'Strawberry Jam'. Little did we know that we were to become Strawberry Jams permanent family, when my son returned to the Northern Territory leaving the parrot with us. Finding Strawberry Jam quite a mouthful we decided to call him 'Jam'.
What a gentle trusting beautiful companion he became to all the family, taking a very special liking to our youngest son David 19yrs. Jam eventually started to talk "what are you doing". " I love you " "Pretty boy" or "Where's David? So very cute to witness.
He would call every morning from downstairs to David who was still in bed, and given the chance he would fly upstairs and sit outside David's bedroom door chatting and laughing until David appeared. David plays the piano and Jam loved music. He would walk around on top of the piano bopping and chatting away to the tunes, he was a real ham and a goose that made us laugh and enjoyed being with us.
By now we had become totally 'Bird-Crazy People' and decided Jam would like company. Really, we wanted to add another bird to our flock, we did not want a mate for Jam, just a companion bird to fly around and interact with.
November 2000,enter Sunny a 3 month old hand reared Sun Conure. After the mandatory month separation and vet check, we let them fly around together and they were great flying buddies. This friendship was to last only 6 months, as in April, even though Jam was acting and looking well, he had passed a lot of blood one evening in his droppings (actually it was just a dropping of completely bright red blood) it scared the daylights out of us all, we rang the vet and he said to just watch and contact him if anything further happened …all was well for about 6 weeks when it happened again this time we were off for a complete examination. Finding nothing amiss with the usual blood tests on his droppings and a normal Xray, the vet suggested further investigation with the feeding of some liquid to show up the intestines under another Xray. We consented but something went horribly wrong. Jam died whilst undergoing the procedure, and he never recovered from the anaesthetic. We were all devastated, but most of all David. How could someone hurt so much over a bird? Easy to answer. To us he had become more than just a bird, he was part of our family and he had made us his flock. He loved and trusted us completely and we felt so responsible for what happened even though it had been out of our control. Our hearts were broken and he was on our mind for months. The years have past now and we miss him so much. We remember him and his funny ways everyday. Poor Sunny missing Jam so much, was lost also and he would call and look for him all over the house He was terribly agitated and cranky and would only settle down when we would hold a picture of Jam up for him to see, he would kiss and head bob - it was so sad….. Heartbreaking really to watch him.
We ended up getting a little 8 week old Quaker Parrot for a companion to ease the hurt for both Sunny and ourselves We named the little fellow MINTY, he was also a loving fid. Both birds loved each other but still remained tame and close to us their human family. Minty also took to David and this helped him cope with his loss of his beloved Jam…
After having a story in memory to Jam printed in a magazine a breeder located only a few hours away contacted us. The breeder had a baby male King Parrot (December) …What could we say? . Along came JJ (Jam Junior) in December 2001…our flock was complete all 3 fids got along and it was bliss.
The fates were to be cruel to us once more, for 12 months later in April 2002, Minty died quite unexpectedly , Under aesthetic once again with an uncontrollable bleed out the vet was helpless to stop the blood loss. An autopsy on Minty showed he had some congenital defects with only about 5% of his liver working … I could not believe how we had lost 2 birds so suddenly and we will never get over losing either one of them a piece of our hearts went with them .I have now learned so much more about birds in the past 2 years, two years too late, but Jam and Minty gave us so much in their short time on earth we will love them in out hearts forever.
Two Happy years were to follow with JJ and Sunny becoming good mates , But Sunny grieved the loss of his snuggle bunny Minty so we Got our little blue Quaker , named Buddy as he was to be a friend for Sunny and they are truly good mates now snuggling and sleeping together in a nesting box their two big cages pushed together with a entry for them to jump in and out of each others cage …So now we had our three birds again and felt this time our family would grow and love together for many years Not so…JJ left us just 6 months later he was the most beautiful natured bird , the Species are a non aggressive bird and although not a touch me bird loved being with people he adored visitors flying to them with Hello !!! “ I love you” and “what are you doing “??? As his first 3 questions ..He would then proceed to show off in the most adorable way , everyone loved him ..Unfortunately JJ died of a secondary upper respiratory fungal infection after over coming metal poisoning through hospitalisation daily injections and crop feeding of large amounts of peanut butter to help drag all remaining bits of metal from his little body , unfortunately this illness and medications left his body too weak to keep fighting the secondary infection , he (along with I and our vet) fought a long battle lasting 3 months , JJ went through numerous hospital stays daily medications , nasal flushes Nebulization treatments , I would have him home for a week or two them back it was the most emotionally draining experience I have ever been through , 3 months my every waking hour was with JJ physically and in my every thought , it was if all life had stoped and JJ was all I could focus on, many nights I though he would not be with us in the morning so I would sleep on the lounge in the fids room just watching him in his cage in case he fell I didn`t want him to be alone, through all his illness and hospitalisation JJ never once bit the vet or myself even though he was handled and medicated frequently during his illness .. The last 4 days JJ spent in hospital in intensive care with a nebulizer pumping medication into his little hospital room , I was getting a cage set up near my bed as we had a nebulizer from my son who was asthmatic when young and was planning on bringing JJ home to be near us as I know he preferred his home to hospital, Our vet called early the morning I was to collect him , JJ was worsening by the hour we needed to get in there asap…45min drive accompanied by Joe and David took us to the saddest day of my life , we had a private room and sat cuddling JJ , holding him talking and telling him he didn`t need to struggle any more it was time to go ..I asked Mark our vet if I could hold him while he went to sleep , he was suffering and struggling so hard to breath , I held his now wasted body while Mark slipped the mask over his beautiful head and he went to sleep with all of his human family with him Mark then gave him an injection to stop his heart , 3 quick breaths and JJ was gone , my world ended , all 4 of us Mark Joe, David and myself cried for the bird that was loved by all that knew him , we wrapped his tiny warm body in a beautiful soft new bunny rug I stopped and bought on the way to the vet as I knew it was to be our last good bye , I have that bunny rug in my bedroom draw and for over a month I cuddled it every night as I slept it still smelt of my boy and it held the many tears I cried, its still in my draw and occasionally I hold it close to me as I drift of to sleep and still I weep , part of my heart carries JJ in it and that part is forever sad at his loss I never knew how much I could love a feathered companion , I still cry when I remember the struggle he had those last 3 months …
Sunny and Buddy are sweeties and give me love and pleasure , I love them dearly but JJ was special , you see he had chosen me for his love and no other bird had , I was their Mum yes and they loved me but they had all chosen David for their love , only JJ was truly mine …
Poor Sunny has lost 3 of his companions ..he loved Minty and he still rembers if I say either Minty or JJ...
