Good Morning all!  Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!  Love the Google header for today....

This morning, DS and I loaded up Thomas, our cat, and took him to the vet.  He's been exhibiting some things that make me think he's not feeling 100%.  He's got a bit of a swelling on one of his legs, he's dropped a fair chunk of weight in the past 6 months even though he eats and eats, his coat is dull and staring - not shiny like it once was.  So, we took him to the vet for a good check-up.

The vet said that although the swelling looks worriesome, he's not worried about it, although we are to keep an eye on it.  He is suspecting because of Thomas' other symptoms, that he may have a thyroid disorder.  In any event, he took a blood sample and will test for a variety of things and get back to us.

Hopefully the tests will find something and we can get Thomas back to his old self in no time.  We will also de-worm him once we get the test results back and know what we're dealing with.  Worms can also cause a general unthriftiness in an animal, but we want to rule other things out first.

Here is a shot of Thomas laying by the gas stove soaking up the warmth - ah, isn't that the life??? 

Thomas is a wonderful cat.  He is so laid-back and accepting of new situations and animals.  He's been with us since 1998, when he was 18 months old.  He loves kids, and is also great with the birds.  They can fly down on the floor right beside him and he never flinches - of course, they are always under close supervision and I can run and scoop them up quickly.  I don't recommend leaving cats/dog and birds together for any length of time unsupervised - we must be responsible pet owners!  Thomas is just an all 'round great cat.  I hope that we can get to the bottom of what is bothering him medically.

I'll keep you all updated.

Have a great "green" day and blessings to all! 

Don't forget about my bloggy giveaway coming up for my 100th blog entry.  This is entry # 95!    Again, I'm not sure what the giveaway will be yet - you'll have to keep coming back to find out! 

~ Audrey ~

We used to have a large flock of laying hens and several roosters.  Over the years due to predators and other miscellaneous misfortunes, our flock has dwindled to one plump brown hen, Juliette, and two Guinea Hens (Blue & Stripe).  Well, yesterday we added two very large roosters to our flock.  I am hoping to also add 5-10 laying hens or fancies in the future, but haven't been able to source them yet. 

So, the two new boys have names.  They are Forrest and Elvis.  The lady I got them from had four roosters and they just did not get along as anyone who has ever had roosters can attest to.  Roosters regularly fight to distinguish the flock leader and it can be downright ugly at times.  This is where the term "cock fight" comes from.  The proper english name for a rooster is a Cockerel, or "cock" for short.  I went out to see the two new boys this morning and snapped a couple of pics - unfortunately, I didn't get any GREAT ones, but here's two:

The light-coloured one is Forrest and the dark one is Elvis.  Aren't they HANDSOME??!!  Forrest - named after Forrest Gump from the movie of the same name - is somewhat handicapped.  His toes are deformed and curl to the left and right as opposed to straight out.  It sure doesn't slow him down, though, and I truly do not believe it causes him any pain.  The lady I got them from (Cheryl) says that Forrest is mentally handicapped also, but I've yet to see any signs of that and, of course, it wouldn't matter anyways - we would love him just the same!  Elvis fancies himself a real ladies' man, and I imagine that's one of the reasons that Cheryl assigned his name.    As I was snapping these photos, they got into a fighting match - I don't think that Forrest was able to really be "himself" at his other home because there was a big, red rooster, aptly named "Red", who was king of all and kept everyone subdued.  So, I see Forrest spreading his wingshere in his new home and trying to be top of the flock, but I think that Elvis won this time and Forrest backed down.  Here's a photo of Juliette, our single brown hen.  She blinked just as I was snapping this shot.  She was taking a break from scratching outside to lay an egg.    Isn't she cute?

I wanted to show you our Guinea hens, too, but the photos turned out far too blurry.  Perhaps I'll try another day.

Blessings to all of you in blogland - have a great day!

~ Audrey ~

Here's a photo of Abby, our Congo African Grey.  She was eating her breakfast and had a lot of it all over her beak!!  I just LOVE it when they dig in and enjoy their food and end up with it all over their beaks.    SO cute!

Isn't she cute - and doesn't breakfast look yummy!!????  Ha! Ha!  Abby is a feather plucker - you can see in the photo that her chest is almost bare.  She came to us two years ago as a plucker and continues to do it, even though we have improved her diet dramatically and given her endless toys and a new cage.  Some birds pluck as a comfort thing, and I believe that Abby is one of those birds.  We love her, though  - feathers or not! 

I am appreciating my birds today more than ever as I have a dear friend who is dealing with a severe illness in one of her birds and will have to euthanize very soon.  It's absolutely heartbreaking for her and it's difficult to watch my friend suffer through it.  It's a very helpless feeling and all I can do is be there for her in support......and pray.

Have a great day!  Blessings to all! 

Audrey

Here are some pics of some of our flock having a healthy snack last Friday!  Aren't they cute?  They really enjoyed their fresh pumpkin... 

Top middle is Theodore, our Timneh African Grey, bottom left in the green costume is Maya the Quaker or Monk parakeet and bottom right is Abby, the Congo African Grey.  They are all spoiled rotten as all parrots should be! 

Blessings to all! 

Audrey

"Peek-a-Boo"

As you will notice, my avatar is a little photo of Maya, our Quaker parakeet.  I'm a bird lover - thus the blog name "Birdlady".  Maya was my first "large" parrot, although the Quaker isn't "large" per se, they are "large" in personality!  Maya is a real sweetie pie with me, but is selective as to who else in the house she'll be social with.  Most Quakers a very cage-protective.  I snapped this photo of Maya in her little "happy hut" one evening because I thought she looked oh-so-cute!  Don't you agree???

Maya was the first "large" parrot, but certainly not the last of our FIDS (feathered kids).  We also now have two African Grey parrots (one Congo, one Timneh), and one Senegal parrot.  We are also currently fostering two other Quakers for one of the parrot rescue organizations I volunteer with.  You can visit the websites here and here.  Do you know that Quaker Parakeets are illegal in 10 of the United States (we're Canadian)?  Find out more here.

Blessings to all!

~ Audrey ~