Peetie the Parrot Doesn't Live Here Anymore

My son, Andy, has always loved birds. I remember he used to be an eagle, "flying" home from kindergarten down the sidewalk. His first pet bird was a beautiful green budgigar named Bud. He was very sweet, he used to preen my eyebrows. It tickled. We didn't understand that you can't give birds a steady diet of seeds. It's toxic to their organs. Bud passed away after only a few years. Of course, my firefighter husband was on a 24 hour shift at the time so I had to take care of the arrangements.

Andy studied birds, reading every related book in the elementary school library. He settled on a Solomon Island Eclectus parrot, which is a medium sized parrot. They are unique in nature as the females are always red and the males are always green. We surprised him at Christmas with a male he named Claytor, after a railroad tycoon he admired. In addition to birds, he's had a lifelong interest in trains, courtesy of Thomas the Tank Engine and my model railroader husband.

Anyhow, we've enjoyed Claytor's conversation as our son has grown and left the nest. Now that he's settled in his new home, my husband and I transported Claytor to live with him last weekend.

We put him into his pet carrier, which we outfitted with a perch, watter bottle and food. Claytor was very happy and chatty the entire trip, clinging on the cage door. I kept saying he needed to drink and was worried his feet would get cramps. My husband kept telling me if his feet were bothering him or he were thirsty, then he'd go perch and drink.

Seven hours later, we arrived at Andy's new home in Pennsylvania. When we took him out of the carrier we discovered his poop was red and he was hot to the touch! As my husband reassembled his cage, I held Claytor and his food dish and water bottle, re-hydrating the poor guy.  Claytor drank readily and ate, choosing to perch on me rather than his play gym. After about 20 minutes, he cooled down. His poop returned to normal.

It's been a few days and he's fine. That was a big scare and I feel so badly that we didn't stop along the way and give him water. I had flashbacks of when he was a young bird and vomited. We had to travel 90 minutes to an avian veterinarian who held him in ICU for several days. Until the bill surged into the four digits and we brought him home. I bonded with him then, wrapping him in a towel to squirt medicine in his mouth. I'm so glad he's okay.

If you ever have to take a pet on a road trip, stop regularly to hydrate it.

Claytor was my inspiration for the character of Peetie the Parrot in my novel INAPPORPRIATE. He knew who the killer was.