By Karen Justice

Captain Jack, Blue-crown Conure

Captain Jack, a male Blue-crowned Conure, lost his first two homes after his owners passed away. When he first came to CPR, he had been on an all seed diet for his 25 years. Although we worked to convert him to a healthy diet, given his age and "curmudgeon" personality, he wasn't going to be an easy bird to place.

But miracles do happen! A special family that wanted to adopt a hard-to-place bird, fell in love with Jack so he found his retirement home. A year later, Jack was diagnosed with a serious heart condition and placed on two medications. Recently, the only family member able to give him his medication was required to travel extensively for a new job, so with great sadness the family relinquished Jack. They hoped that we could find a home with a gentleman capable of medicating him without stress. 

Back at CPR, it was obvious that Jack wasn't feeling well. He wasn't interested in anything, wouldn't venture out of his cage and would hardly eat. I took him to Dr. Powers for an evaluation and she discovered that in addition to his heart disease, Jack has a serious condition that inhibits his ability to take in adequate amounts of oxygen.

A complete diagnosis would require extensive, expensive and potentially dangerous tests. When I asked Dr. Powers what treatment was recommended for the suspected diagnosis, her response was "Viagra". After a good laugh she explained that Viagra is a vaso-dilator, which would increase blood flow to the lungs allowing for better oxygenation. I contacted our compounding pharmacy and learned that the price for a one month supply was $50. After a blood pressure check and chest X-ray both supported the diagnosis, we decided to treat with Viagra for a few weeks to see if Jack improved. If not, then euthanasia seemed the humane alternative.

Back at CPR, we enticed, coaxed and bribed Jack to eat birdie bread with medication, to avoid the need for capture to medicate. By the third day, Captain Jack was out on his balcony, vocalizing and eating a healthy, varied diet. His cage sits beside my desk and as I was working, he suddenly started "flappercizing" his wings, repeating this three times in as many hours! Just days earlier this was a bird who was struggling to breathe! Now he's wrestling with toys and demanding attention!

Today, Jack is not the same bird. His quality of life is so vastly improved. While we don't know how long the medication will work or how fast his disease will progress, it's clear that Captain Jack still has some life in him and that he wants to live it! Not only are we thrilled to give him the chance, we feel that we aided avian medicine in some small way, by treating him and charting his improvement.

By Jim Alexander

Marco with Jim and Donna

Last October, I adopted Marco, a 24 year old, female African Grey parrot. We had recently experienced the loss of our beloved Bela, a male African Grey. A few weeks after his death, we visited Parrot University just to keep in touch with the CPR birds. I was introduced to Marco, and the rest, as they say, was history. It was obvious that she liked me and that I liked her too. I visited her almost every day for the next three weeks. During our visits, I would get her out of her cage and interact with her and we bonded. I would say that this bonding was the most important part of the adoption process. Anyway...Marco is a very sweet bird. My favorite times with her are when she sits on my knee. She often walks up to my waist and puts her head down for a head scratch.

CPR is participating in these worthwhile community events during April. Stop by and say hello to the CPR birds.

Bird Lore & More

Learn about the fascinating world of birds at this North Carolina Science Festival event.

Sunday, April 12, 1 pm to 4 pm

Charlotte Nature Museum

1658 Sterling Rd, Charlotte NC

Paws in The Park

Black Dog Appreciation Day & Black Dog Walk

Saturday, April 18, 10 am to 2 pm

Pineville Lake Park

1000 Johnston Dr, Pineville NC

Maddie, available for adoption

CPR sincerely thanks you for your commitment to help homeless parrots and promote parrot adoption. You can help spread the word to your network, by sharing The Feathered Forum with your friends. Just use the convenient share links at the top of this issue.