Slave to Love

Kosmo is back home after 2 weeks at the vet’s. One of the main purposes for his visit was to find a way to keep a collar on him for longer than a couple of days. As I’ve mentioned, my avian vet isn’t close, so travelling there and back regularly is difficult.

A couple of days before Kosmo came home, my Mom arrived for her usual winter stay here on the west coast. So now I’ve got my mother, as well as my long-lost, self-mutilating, Quaker parrot living with me and my dog. This may not seem like much of an issue, except that Kosmo has been very loud since his return, and when you’re not used to squawking parrots, well it isn’t easy on the ears (or the nerves.)

Poor Kosmo now has a double collar, one “dicky” collar bolted right around his neck, then a wide plastic collar over that that stops him from basically reaching any part of his body. This is quite invasive for an animal without hands, and he now has both limited ability and mobility.

As a result, I have become his attendant, care aid, servant…holding pieces of food for him while he eats, moving him from place to place (the collars really throws off his equilibrium.) I also need give him 3 different medications and a special “pabulum” 4 times daily.

Finally, I’ve been trying my best to keep Kosmo relatively quiet so that he doesn’t drive my Mom completely around the bend!

Needless to say, my alcohol consumption has increased significantly.

However, my little family is all together again and my favorite time of year is fast approaching.

There are much more terrible things to be a slave to than compassion or love, so I’m happy to make the effort, but still thankful for the wine 🙂