Empty Nest

So Kosmo has been at the vet’s since Nov 3rd. I surrendered him there after 4 days of having him home wearing this huge collar – not even a cone that just covers his head, a collar that was literally about twice his girth.

Have a look.

My poor little guy 😦

He was obviously very unhappy about this impediment and worked labouredly to remove it. After 2 days he had chewed a good section out of the rim and by the fourth day he was getting his lower beak stuck under the plastic, so thinking this might be dangerous, I removed the collar. Within a few minutes, he was repeating the same behaviour that got him in trouble in the first place.

Sigh!

As you’ve probably guessed by now, Kosmo started self-mutilating again; picking a big sore deep under one of his wing. Which I totally missed GUILT-GUILT-GUILT!

So, getting back to my removing his collar only to have him start picking again and all this was happening while I was expecting a client, who has actually become my friend (thank God) to arrive at my place any minute for a meeting.

I knew I needed to stop him from picking, so I took a pillow case and swaddled him so that he was very much immobile.  Thus, when my client arrived, I greeted her cradling a squawking, miniature, mummified, Quaker parrot, who she took one look at and said, “We’ve got to get that bird to the vet.”

And so because of this woman’s kindness and understanding, our meeting took place in my car, with the squawking bird and the whining dog (needed to be walked) in the backseat, while I drove at break-neck speed across town (to avoid rush-hour) and surrender my poor little baby to someone who we both hoped could help him.

I’m going to pick him up tomorrow. I hope I get a chance to talk in depth to the vet. Funny stories aside…I’m very worried about this situation.

As I said in my first post: I really, really hope this will be a happy story.