A 19 year old Cockatiel with such a story to tell!

07/06/2008 by Arielle.

I felt quite moved by the story behind my one patient today. Rocky is a 19 year old Cockatiel (!). He came in for a simple nail clip which I did very carefully for such an old bird as I was very scared of him dying of shock in my hands.

The owner brought him in with her 2 grand-daughters. She told me how her husband had died on father’s day of cancer exactly 16 years ago. The doctor was at her house declaring her husband dead when she noticed 3 year old Rocky flying out the window. She could not do anything and her heart sank as she noticed him go with all the chaos of that day.

Amazingly her sister went into a pet shop that afternoon to get her mind off the family sadness and she noticed a cage with a cockatiel in it selling for £12. She was sure it was Rocky and encouraged her grieving sister to have a look.

When the owner walked into the shop, she called Rocky and they let him out the cage and he flew straight onto her head. Apparently he had been brought in by a woman with exactly the same hair colour as the owner as Rocky had flown and landed on her head when he spotted someone with her similar style and hair colour!

The pet shop owner reluctantly let Rocky go to his rightful owner. I found this story very touching. What memories Rocky holds and how incredible that he has gone on to live (and is still going strong) for so many years!

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