Dont take me wrong, I love my birds like children. I love them with all my heart. But never in a million years did I realize they would run my life to this extent. Some days I have major regret in taking them. Then I look in their eyes and have guilt. Mr Buddy flat out refuses to poop in his cage, Alex bites, Afa doesnt eat enough. I cant leave them for more than a few hours before I have to rush back. I cant leave birds with issues with someone else for a vacation and have a good time. Ill worry the entire time away. I need to find a balance. I need to go on vacation! How do some of you deal with knowing, you cant take a vacation again?

well, my birds are able to be left with other people. artemis can be cared for by just about anyone. and as long as ivy spends a little time with someone, she is good to go. i always worry about my critters when i am away, but i still have to get away sometimes.

i can't imagine having 4 special needs birds, you are a saint!

People (usually relatives) often ask me if I regret getting Ollie at such a young age. For the most part, I don't at all. But sometimes I wish I would have waited a few years. My life is so unpredictable right now- I have to move a lot, this is the first year since I got Ollie that I haven't had a roommate, and once I go to grad school I may have to have a roommate again... Also grad school will be 8am-4ish pm Monday-Friday...what the heck am I gonna do with Ollie?! She's used to me not being gone for more than a couple hours at a time.

Thankfully there are 2 people I feel pretty comfortable leaving her with, but because they are my dad and my boyfriend it still makes going on vacation nearly impossible. I haven't been apart from her for more than a day in the 2.5 years I've had her. Thankfully my parents have taken over care of the pigeons and Dakota- it would be impossible for me to care for all of them right now.

I love Ollie to death, but when my daughter wants a parrot at age 18, I'm going to say, "Are you absolutely, positively sure???"

I dont know that I would call them special needs. More like spoiled probably. John says if Buddy is left long enough he will poop. Im worried he will go toxic and die on me. Alex is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Afa would probably be ok. My fear with her is she would pluck. We are all they know. And something that is really really festering inside of me is this. Someone recently called me a bird begger! All because I consider 3 of them rescues. I dont say that for praise. Everyone has their own theory of rescue vs rehome. But point blank, I never asked for Occy and Alex, they were dumped on me and I said ok, Ill take them. Same with Mr Buddy, he was found, no one claimed him so I said, Ill take him. How does that make me a bird begger? Im so bothered by this I cant explain. Im made major sacrifice for these creatures and would never give them up. Besides the worry of trying to board them theres the expense. Then finding someone to come into your home and trust them enough is also difficult. Now realizing the long term complications of having 4 birds reminds me of why I never wanted kids. So now what do I have 4 kids!

I have a wonderful petsitter that comes twice a week to feed them dinner and does sleepovers when we're away. They behave better for her than for me. She spent a couple of visits when I was home working with the birds so she knows their personalities and whom to watch out for. Since Piaui gets a little separation anxiety when I'm not around she takes him out and cuddles him. She'll take out both Hyacinths and Noah my quaker out when I'm not home. Which is fine because 90% of the time the Hyacinths have let themselves out already.

Finding a great petsitter is the key to enjoying and relaxing on vacations.

Where do I find a petsitter and how much do they charge? I seriously need to get away!

I don't know.....sometimes it's stressful figuring out how to work things out when needing to travel. But for us...it's not a stressful thing. We went into this full knowing that it would tie us down, and that it was a life long commitment. (With 2 very young macaws). It was a dream of my husbands to co-exist with them. We are facing 2 or 3 days away at the beginning of January and are planning now to make sure the fids get taken care of. For the most part, if they can't come, we don't go. We went into this knowing that there would be sacrifices. IMO, it's worth every sacrifice we've made and will make.

In fact....just recently we learned that in 2009 we have a chance to be posted to Germany for 4 years. It has always been a dream of ours to live in Europe. But what was Hubby's first response to his career manager..."We would love to go, but I first have to find out what I would need to do to take my birds. We will not leave them."

To us....vacationing isn't THAT important I guess...to others I am sure it is. Unfortunately it seems finding a balance can be hard sometimes. It's doesn't make you a bad parent or parront to want to get away. It's a long term commitment to take in fids and sometimes it's gets frustrating.....

but in the end....

When those big eyes look at you....

That's all I need ... to know they are happy, healthy and loved. Makes the frustrations that come with it all seem trivial.

Just my 2 cents for the day. LOL

Being a Professional Pet Sitter myself, I couldn't agree more. IMO, establishing a relationship with a pet sitter is as important as establishing a relationship with your AV.

Prior to any vacation that I would need care for my birds I would have the Pet Sitter coming over at least twice a week for a month before my departure. I would be able to vacation with peace of mind then.

It's costly, but price will vary by location. I charge $17.00 for 30 minutes. Average time that people with birds hire me is 1 hour, twice a day. I did have a Grey I cared for and they hired me for 2 hours, twice a day. (They were worried about plucking)

It's not the amount of time they would normally get if Mom & Dad were home, but they do very well and vacations are usually not for an extended period of time that it would become a way of life for them.

You can locate insured/bonded Pet Sitters in your area at;

Pet Sitters International (Click on locate a pet sitter)

National Association of Professional Pet Sitters (Enter your zip code to locate a NAPPS Pet Sitter)

Hopefully you live in an area that has a few to choose from to start your interview process.

LOL - Welcome to the club, Leigh! I haven't gone on vacation since 2001 when I went to Spain to meet my newborn nephew and when my mother died last year I was away for a week and my husband had to take time off work to stay home with the animals. We've sold our time share and given up on vacations and, during the winter, we are completely and utterly housebound because of the short days so we can't even go visit anybody. We've even had to change the way we celebrate holidays because we can't stay up late as I need to get up very early in the am. Keeping large birds well means total slavery for the guardians. And it last longer than a life sentence does! That is one of the reason why I firmly believe that parrots should never be human pets. Normal people with normal lives simply cannot provide the level and duration of care they require.

As to finding a sitter, it's not easy... not easy at all. Because you need somebody who:
a) can stay in your home (so it cannot be somebody with a family of her own)
b) you can trust implicitly (so it needs to be somebody you've known for years)
c) who knows about and loves birds (and that is the most difficult requisite to fulfill because people who know about birds have birds of their own and cannot leave them to take care of yours)

As you can see, not easy, not easy at all!

I also wanted to add that Pet Sitters each run their own businesses differently. You may be able to find a live-in for the vacation week. One that would only leave the house for a few hours a day.

Most Pet Sitters that do timed visits, do offer a price break for longer visits because they don't have extra travel time and gas expense to account for.