Unfortunately, 2021 has not been super kind to us. We lost Julia today. She passed at 14:08. On Wednesday, our little diva decided to have a swim in her water bowl. This, in itself, is not a bad thing – she did that all the time – but this time, their cage was next to the front door and there was a lively, cool breeze coming through the house. We think (and the online vet I spoke to confirmed it) that she picked up a cold, which turned into a full-blown respiratory infection. She started sneezing on Thursday – just occasionally, and we didn’t think much of it – and then on Friday she started sneezing a lot, and she started having trouble breathing. Her tail was bobbing as she breathed, and every now and then she would open her beak and breath through it, instead of through her nose. This was later in the evening.

Then this morning, Saturday, husband noticed she was wheezing/whistling through her nose when she took a breath. It got worse quite rapidly, and we called around desperately looking for one, an avian vet, and two, a vet that was actually open today. We did not find either, not even in El Paso. In desperation, I paid to speak to an online vet, and he confirmed our worst fears – she was critical, and even if she got to an avian specialist very quickly, there was no great chance she would pull through this. He did, however, give us a bunch of suggestions and recommendations to try….

Sadly, she ran out of time before I could try any of them.

Commidus is very confused, but he is singing and chirping just like usual. We will keep an eye on him. Desperately hoping he stays healthy and vocal, the way he is. We would be even more devastated if we lost him as well.

We WILL be significantly ramping up his diet – we will NOT let him meet the same fate. The vet was VERY VERY serious about how much their diet affects their life span.

I sobbed. It felt as raw and heart wrenching as when we lost Hazel. And poor husband was not here when she went.

We buried her at the Big House, and we placed a marker. We will greet her every morning, like we greet Commidus, and Hazel.