Birds of a Feather Aviary
In Memory of Cookie
In Memory of Cookie
God saw you were getting tired,
And a cure was not to be,
And He whispered, Come with Me
With tearful eyes we watched you suffer.
And saw you fade away.
Although we loved you dearly,
We could not make you stay.
A golden heart stopped beating,
Your sweet, nature gone forever,
God Broke our hearts to prove to us...
That He only takes the best!
It's lonesome here without you
We miss you more each day.
Life doesn't seem the same,
Since you went away.
When days are sad and lonely,
And everything goes wrong,
We seem to hear your calling,
Or the beating of your wings,
Each time we see your picture,
Your look seems to say,
Don't cry, I'm in God's Hands,
We'll meet again someday!
And a cure was not to be,
And He whispered, Come with Me
With tearful eyes we watched you suffer.
And saw you fade away.
Although we loved you dearly,
We could not make you stay.
A golden heart stopped beating,
Your sweet, nature gone forever,
God Broke our hearts to prove to us...
That He only takes the best!
It's lonesome here without you
We miss you more each day.
Life doesn't seem the same,
Since you went away.
When days are sad and lonely,
And everything goes wrong,
We seem to hear your calling,
Or the beating of your wings,
Each time we see your picture,
Your look seems to say,
Don't cry, I'm in God's Hands,
We'll meet again someday!
Original Author Unknown
Adapted for Cookie's Page
WHO WAS COOKIE?
Adapted for Cookie's Page
WHO WAS COOKIE?
|
Cookie was the first bird that I had as an adult. He was a Pied Cockatiel with a sparkling personality. He even won my husband over - and mostly he just tolerates my birds!
Cookie suddenly became ill and died a week later, despite my efforts to treat him. His story is valuable in that I think others can learn from the circumstances of his death: One evening Cookie came walking over to me across the couch - I don't know why, but I thought to myself that something about him was weird - off somehow - but I dismissed it (BIG mistake). The next morning he was fluffed and not as active so I put him into a hospital tank with a warming light. His droppings looked like they had blood in them (dark brown/blackish - (I thought maybe he had a GI infection - this can sometimes cause this). I made an appointment and took him into the vet that afternoon; he gave me Baytril (a good broad-spectrum antibiotic) to start while we sent off a cloacal culture (swab of his rectum) for analysis. This was Monday. Cookie seemed to respond a little to the antibiotic, but after a couple of days I realized that I was not seeing the improvement that I should. This was Wednesday night. The culture results were to be in Thursday and I would call then. Thursday morning before school my daughter checked in on him and he was alive; my husband checked in on him soon after and he was still alive. At 9:00a.m. I went in to check on him and give him his morning dose of medication and he had passed away. I had the vet do a necropsy (a bird autopsy) on him and this revealed that he had an ulcerated perforation of the proventriculus - in English this is a puncture hole in the gizzard caused by a sharp foreign object swallowed by the bird. When his proventriculus contracted to pass the food through to the intestines, the sharp object (rock, piece of metal???)punctured through the wall of the proventriculus. This caused bleeding which was seen in the stool as black droppings. I write this long explanation of Cookie's death so that others can learn from it. Cookie and Fidget (his cagemate) were allowed to roam on the floor if they chose. They also were caught occasionally at the fireplace chewing at the mortar between the stones of the fireplace (although I stopped them and removed them when they went near it or were caught there). After much thought, I strongly suspect he may have swallowed some of the mortar and this is what caused his death. Watch your babies! Don't let them go near brick or stone walls unsupervised! If you do choose to allow your birds to roam on the floor as I do (I do know there is a risk), you may want to keep your floor swept well and be sure to keep them away from things they can swallow which may puncture their insides -- including the rough mortar of brick or stone walls and fireplaces. We will always remember Cookie for the wonderful and funny bird he was. He lives on, as he taught many, many of my babies and one of my Ringneck breeders to call his name: Cookie, Cookie, Cookie! |
I'll always love you, Cookie...
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the express written permission of the owner.
