Animal House

In the midst of our moving madness we have acquired two new pets...Bijou, a cockatiel and Peppa, a sun conure. Feeling guilty that our house was too chaotic to house a homeless parishioner, I decided we could at least take care of his birds. How much trouble can birds be???

While the birds are quite lovely...fun, cute, responsive...they also suffer from separation anxiety! Yes, it's true. We keep the birds in the guest bedroom and keep the doors closed lest our pooches become too inquisitive and decide these birds are stuffed toys with which to be played (as Cletus did last month to a small bird in our yard...another traumatic pet tale). And generally, throughout the day, the birds are happy to chirp with their fellow feathered friends outside in a nice subdued tone.

This however changes when they hear me or Josh moving or talking nearby. Then the chatter grows louder and louder until we come into the room and comfort them. The minute they see us, they are silent. All they want is a little attention. But try to leave and the nice quiet, affection turns ugly. When anyone leaves the room, the poor parrots squawk like mad...

"Don't leeeeaaaaave me!!!"

(Okay, so they don't actually speak those words, but the tone of the cry says it all.)

This anxious, loud cry then turns our mostly calm dogs into two scared nervous wrecks, who begin to paw and whine and cry and shake...perhaps in sympathy with their bird brothers or in pain from the ear piercing shrieks. All of a sudden the house erupts in animal chaos!!

As you might imagine, with the stress of moving, it doesn't take much to tip the balance of restrained anxiety into full-blown panic mode these days. As it is, poor Cletus is anxious all the time, not knowing what to make of the packing and mommy's high stress level. Mostly he lays forlorn at my feet with the saddest expression, only to intermittently leap onto my lap in random anxious attacks during which only a cuddle can calm the nerve rattled beast.

It truly is an animal house around here these days....oh, to be done with moving!