Waiting

More changes--good and bad--to our household.  First and worst, Jezebel has a lump on her front, left leg that was diagnosed as a sarcoma (malignant tumor).  She will have it removed on 6/17 (unless they have a cancellation before then), and we will know after cytology what her future will look like.  Until then, it's just a lot of stress, wondering, and crying.  We've already determined that we will not put her through radiation, though that's an option. We don't feel that it's a good or fair choice for her. Our fingers are crossed that the surgery goes really, really well, with very clean margins, and that it's the type of sarcoma with only a 10-20% recurrence rate.  She's not uncomfortable or in pain right now, so we're enjoying lots of walks, runs, and swims until her surgery.

We took three birds in from the Humane Society (they got a bunch in from a hoarder), and have one more coming in a few day. Our bird room will then be at full capacity.


Eris is a zebra finch--male, I think, from looking at images online.  None of my other nine finches are zebras, but at least he's not alone anymore.  He's the cutest little guy who honks a lot. He enjoys "honking" back and forth with L.  He has a splayed left leg, but the DCHS vet examined him and it's fine, just a birth defect. He gets around okay, though I notice he has a hard time on the smooth wood perches. The leg keeps sliding away from him, and sometimes he gets so angry about it, that he bites his own leg. Poor little guy. They have a variety of perches and surfaces, all of which are different sizes and textures. (That's important for all birds' health to have a variety of perching surfaces.)  He's living with Mercury, Venus, and Gaia.  They seem to be getting on quite well.

Grace Hopper (gray/white) and Ada Lovelace (white) were from a hoarder and lived in a cage with a  ton of other parakeets.  They've made themselves at home in the room faster than any previously caged birds I've ever seen. They hung out in the big cage with Saffron for a couple of hours when they first arrived.  Grace Hopper was out and flying around right away. Once she discovered the swings that look out the window, she planted herself there. That's still her favorite spot. Ada was a little slower, but she came out that evening. For the first couple of days, she stayed mostly on top of the two biggest cages, but gradually ventured out. I was giddy one night to see her and Grace side by side on the swing, looking out the window. They've made friends with the other parakeets, but I haven't yet seen any interaction with the cockatiels (who are being rather weird and nesting again right now).

This shot is of some of the "old timers."  Top perch:  Hitchens, Dawkins, Sajni. Bottom:  Darwin and Poppy.