Cocktiel

Question
Hi -  I adopted my sister's bird, Earl, several months ago.  I recently moved him from my guest room into the living room for more interaction.  At first he appeared to be very happy being moved.  At my sister's home he didn't receive a lot of interaction.  I was hoping to change this and eventually be able to play with him outside of his cage.  I also have a cat who likes to peek into his cage.  Earl will hiss at the cat and the cat goes away.  Over the last couple of days Earl has been having behavior problems.  When I put my hand into his cage he gets very angry at me and gets neurotic and tries to bite me.  I covered his cage for a bit, but he tried to bite me again.  How can I get close to this bird?  He is about 5 years old.  Is it too late for us to bond?  Thanks.


Answer
I'm thrilled that you adopted a bird that wasn't getting enough attention! Good for you!
 Of course it's not too late to bond - since Earl should live about 18 years, just 5 years old is still pretty young.
 
 The first thing I'd do is make sure there's no cats allowed anywhere near him. I know you haven't seen any aggression or problems, but you have no idea how often we hear this right after a horrible accident that leaves the bird seriously wounded or worse. There's no do-overs.

The stress may be contributing to Earl's behavior.  The sporadic covering is also stressful (for any bird).

I don't think he's angry at you, he's just feeling very insecure and probably in danger (cats are hardwired into their alarm systems - instincts).

 We have a set up explained at our page that you'll find helpful too (with pictures). There's not enough room to list the steps here (and we can't post pics) - so please stop by and take a look.  It's perfectly free.

www.geocities.com/animalrelief_info/

You can write to us there or here anytime and let's work together in making Earl AND you happy.