Sweet Lucy-Rest in Peace--September 27, 2007

As I've shared, we adopted Lucy and her sister Ethel 3 yrs ago from a local rescue.  They were starving/malnourished (I believe because of the rescue) and sick (I soon found out) with psittacosis.   Never did I realize that Lucy was a mutilator----

Lucy has mutilated for the past three years.  My husband & I just calculated we'd used approx 4 tubes of antibiotic cream on her over the past 3 yrs.  Not to mention betadine, A & D, Aloe etc.....Although there were moments when Lucy seemed happy....she continued to mutilate and cause herself pain.

We'd consulted multiple vets and she was a regular at our veterinary office.  We had to "man handle" her almost daily to either collar her, clean or dress a wound or to find out the condition of an existing wound.  In between times we often had to feed her an antibiotic for various skin infections.  We had a biopsy done and blood tests that never really told of the cause. I even consulted one vet who went over all her test results, reviewed photos of her living environment etc....

In my opinion, her past life was something she never got over----her inner demons wouldn't allow her a happy life and so one day she was fine---the next I would wake to blood dripping everywhere.  While her sister will lash out at humans, Lucy turned her traumatic life "on herself" and inflicted bleeding wounds over and over.

This was the case in mid September.  So I collared her and thought it was sufficient to keep her from hurting herself again---but I was wrong.  Two days later there was blood all over again.  To say I'd been to the vet often with her is a gross understatement, but off we went again.  Lucy cried when I put her into her carrier "KNOWING" where she was going.  To be handled by the vet, poked prodded and often "re collared".

The vet added an Elizabethan collar to the already existing foam collar----and started her on a "calming medication" ......Lucy was miserable to say the least.  She was pacing, couldn't maneuver in her cage and was totally and absolutely miserable.  Because of her shabby feathers, every time we'd reach for her to do something "medically related" she'd jump to avoid it---she often hit the floor with her breast bone (since her feathers never regrew).  The medication which I'd read a clinical trial that stated it had favorable results---had a very bad effect on her.  She was bobbing and weaving as if she had cerebral palsy within only three days of starting on it.  She was literally miserable she couldn't stand still long enough to consume an almond.....she would nearly fall off of her play stand.

So I took her back to the vets......Lucy was a bird who was never going to recover, each wound worse than the one before......less time lapsed between the episodes.  The vet felt there was nothing else we could do for her and she was indeed suffering.

I never thought I'd have to put one of my animals to sleep.....but decided it was best for Lucy.  On September 27th, I agreed to have her euthanized.

My heart is broken and if I could've helped her to have a "SOMEWHAT" happy life, there is nothing I wouldn't have done and no price I wouldn't have paid...

If you run a rescue, please do it for the birds and “Only” for the birds----if a rescue is run properly, it will most likely leave you poor and exhausted.  It will also be a rewarding and at times heart wrenching experience.  If you know of one that you can lend a hand at---please volunteer---your help is greatly needed and appreciated.  If you own a bird---treat them as the thinking, feeling and sensitive creatures they are---
 
I hope no other bird ever has to go through what Lucy has gone through over the past years of her life....but I know---as long as breeders continue to put greed before these feeling, thinking and wonderful creatures---there will be another Lucy, and another----