Max too :)

When Max died, Cassie became very depressed. She screamed a lot, and was very unhappy. I set out to find her a new companion. There were a few large birds in Tulsa, but not many, and nothing that seemed suitable. I looked at a couple that were too unfriendly, and didn't seem to like other birds. I was starting to lose hope when I found an ad for a B&G macaw.

The lady who ran the aviary was a bit of a loon, but I was beginning to worry for Cassie, so I went and looked. She had quite a few large birds. I was not terribly impressed with her place. The birds all seemed starved for attention, but well kept, so I thought it was probably ok. I know some folks just breed them, and don't get very attached. I couldn't do it. I like them too much to sell them :)

While I was there, I saw the B&G. I talked to her for a bit. She came right to the side of the cage, and asked to be scratched. I scrubbed her head a bit, and she was upset when I stopped. She begged for more. She grabbed my hand with her foot and held it. Gah! How sad. I asked what her name was. Wait for it. This bird was also named Max. I guess it must be a common name for birds. I thought this was a bad omen, and was ready to leave, despite my attraction to her. The woman was not sure on the sex. I didn't want another female, since the cancer that got Max was a reproductive type. She told me she thought it was a male, so I decided that since I hadn't been able to find any other suitable birds, that she would do ok.

I plunked down my $1100 and we put her in a travel cage, loaded up her big cage, and home we went. I put her on Old Max's cage, and let her get acquainted with Cassie. Cassie was loose, and came right over to see the new face. She was very excited. Max2 was not as pleased. She didn't try to kill Cassie outright, but she definitely didn't want her in the same space. After a couple of days, they were at least not chasing each other around, and Cassie was perking up.

This bird was so sweet. She was a definite lover. Wanted to be touched, talked to, and petted. She wanted to be with you all the time. Such a sweet girl. I found out that it was a girl because about the end of the third week, I went in to feed them in the morning and found her sitting on the bottom of her cage. This is a very bad sign. We had a pour scheduled for that day, so I took her in to the vet, and left her. As I said goodbye, I had a feeling that it would probably be the last time I saw her alive. I got the call from the vet around 11:00am that they had taken her to surgery, and she had passed away. Apparently, she had been so unhappy where she was that when I took her home and changed her environment, it triggered a massive hormone release, and I couldn't quite understand, but the vet said that she had dropped an egg into her peritoneum, and had become septic. There was no saving her :(

I felt totally awful. I asked the vet if this was something that I had done, and he reassured me that no, it wasn't. She "died of happiness". Great. That sure didn't make me feel any better. I was just very depressed about the whole situation. I kept wondering if I had just left her there, would she still be alive? I know she would be starved for attention, but at least she would have been alive. Sometimes life just sucks.

Here are the only pictures I have of her. She was very feminine and delicate. A lovely shade of turquoise. So sweet and gentle. I didn't have her very long, but I got attached very quickly. I miss her too.