 Mercy
Mercy was a 17 year old congo african grey.
She came to us a year ago, December 3rd 2005. A phone call late one night from a friend revealed 'a friend has been housesitting this bird for 3 months. The bird doesnt like the husband, and screams. Will you take it?" Seems the original owner dispersed her animals on the pretesence of a vacation, and jetted off to the other side of the country, never to be seen again.
So early on Saturday we drove to the friends house. Saw the bird- a beautiful african grey in a rusty, brass cockatiel cage. I went over to make the birds acquaintance. She put her head down, I offered a finger to scratch...
and came out with considerably less flesh "are you okay"? 'yeah.. I'm fine" I reply as blood drips to the floor.
We load the bird, 'Prissy' into the car and transport her to her new home.
Fastforward 8 months. Prissy- renamed Mercy, has learned the joy of a large cage, fresh foods, and tearing into toys. She loves her new life, and the humans who surround her. One day in October, I am sitting at the computer desk early one morning. I hear odd sounds coming from the birds area- wheezing, clucking sounds.
a quick glance at the cages reveals Mercy sitting on her swing, breathing heavily, tail bobbing with each breath. She is wheezing heavily and clucking in pain.
Rushed to the vet, where it is determined she had a heart attack. X-rays reveal fluid buildup in her lungs. She is in ICU, a birdie oxygen chamber receiving breathing treatments every half hour, and pain medicationis releaed into the chamber so she can breathe it in.
A few days later, she is stable enough we can take her home. We were blessed to have her with us another month before late one night she had another heart attack. A call to the vet confirmed this was indeed the end, and if she survived the night she would continue to have mini strokes and heart attacks as her bodies way of shutting down.
Early wednesday morning, the day before thanksgiving 2006, we took Mercy to release her from her pain.
Her heart was so damaged the first lethal overdose of oral anesthetic only made her very sleepy. The vet had to gavange feed her a second OD of another oral anesthetic to finally set her free.
Mercy had heart diease, a heart two times the size it should be. Her arteries were hardened and thickened. All due to a sunflower seed and peanut diet she recieved while in her former home.
Mercy was 17 years old. She had so much more life to live. | 
01-31-2007, 07:15 AM
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