It is with deep sadness that we say goodbye to our cockatiel, Sweet Cheeks.
She showed no outward signs of being sick. However, on Thursday, we noticed she was
sleeping more. But she still ate, drank
her water, and had healthy poops. She
hissed at Mommy when she cleaned her cage, just as she did every other day
since the very first day we adopted her (she was never hand-trained). And she got excited when Mommy gave her a
special treat. Ditto for Friday. Everything was status quo.
But when we woke on Saturday morning at 4 a.m., Mommy found
the bird dead at the bottom of her cage.
We adopted Sweet Cheeks in 2010 from a Humane Society that
rescued 400 birds from a neglectful aviary.
Yes, we had a choice of 400 birds of various species, colors, and sizes. But apparently Mommy had as good luck picking
a bird as she has picking winning lottery numbers. We were assured that Sweet Cheeks was a female. But as time went on we realized “she” was
probably a “he”, especially based on our experience with our prior female
cockatiel.
Sweet Cheeks was very smart—she
could tweet “Jingle Bells”! And when we
watch the TV show, “The Middle”, she would respond to the crow call every
week. She loved the ticking of the
countdown clock on the series “24”, which we have been watching via Amazon
Prime these last few months. She would say “Hello Mamma”. And, best of all, she was a terrific alarm
system, signaling to me when my parents’ truck pulled up outside the RV!
