#77. Happy ?th Birthday Ringo

Happy Birthday Ringo

This week I celebrated Ringo’s birthday, I adopted him 2 years ago. I had lost one of my Amazon’s who was older & Sassy was so lonely. Sassy is 33 so I thought another senior Amazon could be a nice buddy for Sassy. I wasn’t caging them together, just a buddy to be nearby to talk to each other & just have company. I seriously had no idea if they would ever meet outside their cages. A contact I knew from my rescue days put the word out there that I was looking for a senior Amazon. Sadly a lot of people don’t want to adopt senior pets, probably because they may have to say goodbye sooner, so a shorter time they may have them is too sad, could be concern of more Vet bills, not usually as active & concerns about unknown past & issues that could come with that. No one knows how long they will live or how long any pet may live, I have heard of puppies dying and seen many pets live way beyond the expected time & are active & happy.

Ringo came to me in the fall 2 years ago so I picked Oct for his birthday. Dr Scott McDonald had seen him & previously must have seen him because he was tattooed under his right wing indicating he was a he & that was how Dr Scott McDonald marks the gender. His experience told him Ringo was a senior bird. For those who don’t know there is no physical way to tell gender for many breeds of birds & some mammals as well. Dr Scott McDonald is very well known in the animal world. He lives in the Chicagoland area but travels the world doing surgical sexing for Zoos & other animal habitat places & for private individuals who want to know the gender of their birds. I have had him sex birds for rescues & for myself.

Ringo & Sassy are Yellow-Nape Amazons & that is probably my favorite of the Amazons. I have had a Blue front Amazon, A Mealy Amazon & A Double Yellow-Headed Amazon. I have had males & females & I don’t have a preference, but my experience is that females are more mellow, less aggressive when wild caught or not tame. Both Ringo & Sassy are no tame but still pretty active for senior birds & enjoy chewing & being out of their cages & hanging out together. It turned out they really like to be together, I think Sassy seeks it more, but Ringo is totally good with it. I try & let them out for a couple hours when I will be home. They have a room they hang in to keep them safe from the dogs. Ringo tries his best to annoy my dog Echo under the door (1/2 inch gap), so there is a baby gate to keep Echo paws safe. Ringo & Sassy laugh on their side of the door as the bug Echo. Echo can easily get focused on something so sometimes I have to call Echo away & restrict his ability to get near the room. Ringo is not a big talker, he says “hi”, “What’s up” & wolf whistles. Sassy talks quite a bit more, so guessing over time Ringo may learn more words. I really don’t care, but find it interesting how different their voices are.

Ringo is a good eater, but like all of us has preferences, like he doesn’t like Almonds, but likes Walnuts. He likes his sweet potatoes raw, but his carrots steamed, sometimes he prefers one type of Mango over the other. He has had good Vet check up each year when he goes, he goes again in a few weeks. I am a believer that a healthy diet for any living thing is a key factor. I have published quite a few posts on pet nutrition for a variety of pets. I have written several posts mainly for the care of birds & some of those are #4, 10, 28 & 59, if you have birds or plan to get one check these out.

I write this blog to share my many years of having pets including 20+ years fostering a variety of pets. I know I don’t know it all & I’m always researching & learning. I want my pets as well as your pets to not just survive but to thrive. The table of content for my blog is on my main page under the 3 lines on the upper left. You will see the list then you can scroll down to post # you want to read. Please help me to get the word out by sharing my blog on your social media sites or sharing with other pet parents you know. Visit my site often, leave comments, ask questions, like posts & these things all help to get my blog out there to more people. If you have a question & want to email me you can do that at echoinggreatpetcare@gmail.com Thanks, Debbie