I have been neglecting my blog for the last 6 weeks or so., it has taken a while for me to be able to put up this post. About a month back, Ziggy had flown onto my back as I was cleaning up, I took a couple of steps out the door before realising Ziggy was on my back, I quickly took some steps back but it was too late, he flew off. Bill was away in the middle east on a work trip, Lachlan and Amy where home so we went out searching, and after about 2 hours spotted him in a tree nearby our house, but it was dark and we couldn't get him to come down. We called the fire brigade, they came around and were reallly helpful but they couldn't get him down either as he was too high up. They put up a ladder and one of the fireman climbed up with Budgie ( Bill's macaw on a harness) on his shoulder to see if that would persuade him to come down but to no avail. Something spooked him and he flew off, there was nothing we could do that night apart from make up posters to put out, posting on Facebook, Lost Pet's Database, emailing friends asking them to keep a lookout.
The next 48 hours were heartbreaking, wondering where he was, if he was safe, if he would come back. Then on the Friday afternoon, I heard a squawk as I went to check the mail and went to investigate and there he was up in a tree across the road. Amy managed to coax him down and we had him home, we were so overjoyed, so happy. Budgie his mate was so excited as well. We had him booked in to get a check up at a bird specialist vet later in the week. Unfortunately after 4 days he appeared to be very tired, so we managed to get him in to the vet practice where he was going to be going on Friday, but with another vet. Bill took him over, they did some tests, gave him some fluids and checked him out. It appeared he had an infection which was treatable, but they were concerned there was some underlying cause so he was started on antibiotics and they felt it was okay to bring him home and bring him back on Friday for a check up.
He seemed to perk up at home and seemed a little better that night, but overnight he obviously deteriorated and Bill rushed him to the vet the next morning. They worked on him for a while, tried different things but there was nothing they could do for him so Ziggy passed away on on the 28th February. He was only 3 years old and they can live for 70 to 80 years. It was a devastating blow to us all and such a roller coaster ride. We took comfort from the fact that he came home and we had those last few days with him. If he had died while he was out in the wild we would have never have known what happened to him. We also appreciated the messages of support, phone calls, people dropping around to help look for him, that meant a lot to us.
We had an autopsy done as we needed to make sure there was nothing contagious that would impact the other birds. The results show that he died of kidney failure, which was highly likely to be
untreatable so there was nothing much we or the vets could have done for him. The vet felt it was highly likely he may have eaten something toxic to him while he was out in the wild. It was good that Budgie had also seen him very sick as she would have realized that something was wrong.
He is sorely missed, he was a part of the family and was like a toddler on wings, into everything and very curious. It has been a rough ride the last 3 or 4 weeks.
If you cut and paste the link below there is a lovely tribute to Ziggy done by a photographer who had taken some photos of Ziggy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqdypW_oOPY#action=share
Below are some photos of our birds in the last few weeks before we lost Ziggy.
Here is Ziggy with a empty can of sparkling mineral water. He would play with the can then destroy it!
Below are Budgie and Ziggy once he returned home, she was so happy to see him and barely left his side for the next few days.
You can see the look of joy on Amy's face when Ziggy came home, I love this photo of the two of them together.
Ziggy and Amy chilling out together after his adventure
The two partners in crime back together
A happy pair of birds
Looking very cheeky and mischievous
I love these photos of the two of them together
I am pretty sure Budgie gave Ziggy a good talking to!
We took Ziggy and some chocolate chip cookies around to visit the Firefighters who helped us out. They were just so kind to us and this officer rang us the day after to see if Ziggy had come back, he was also very concerned for Amy. They were delighted when we brought Ziggy around for a visit.
Bill brought me back a beautiful silk scarf from Dubai, here is Ziggy checking it out.
Bill had been away in with work when this all happened and then he had to go to Adelaide to sort stuff out for his mum so when he got back the birds where very pleased to see him.
This is when Ziggy must have started to become unwell, as he was having little sleeps, we thought he was just catching up on sleep after his big adventure and visit to the fire station.
The two partners in crime!
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