Me & My Budgie - "Troubles"

Troubles
My first budgie was Troubles. He was a my little blue bird of happiness. He loved to whistle and talk. His favorite sayings were "How we doing?" and "Love You." And he always knew the appropriate time to wolf whistle.
He always had problems throughout his short life. He had numerous blood feathers and would bleed profusely. There were a few times I thought we were going to lose him but we found the most wonderful vet who just loved Troubles. Throughout it all, Troubles always had the best attitude. He was very tame and would sit on my shoulder for hours. He would hang on the cage door and beg to come out and would never want to go back in.
One day in January 1999, he stopped eating his pellets. He would eat any people food he was offered but would not touch a pellet. All he wanted to do was sit on my shoulder. He seemed a little "off key" so I took him to our favorite vet. He hospitalized Troubles, force fed him, and gave him injections of antibiotics. After a couple of days, he began to eat his pellets again and the vet was thrilled. He had planned to send him home in the morning. But on January 20, 1999 I got a call from the emergency vet, Troubles had not made it through the night. Everyone was devestated. The vet, the tech who found him, and our regular vet all cried. Our vet tells everyone Troubles was his vaorite parakeet. My entire family cried for weeks. Our other budgie, Peppy, took it the hardest. I was never able to hand tame him and the only thing in the world he loved was Troubles.
I know that we did everything in the world possible for Troubles. The doctor is still not sure what caused his death, but he did have signs of kidney failure. According to the tech who checked on him throughout the night, he was fine at 4:30 AM and she found he had passed away at 6:00, so we know he did not suffer. I miss he had been at home but I know his vet did not expect to lose him. We still miss our Trubs! I have two new parakeets, Skyler who is Troubles' devilish twin, and Alidah. I also have a cockatiel, Sydney, and two baby parrotlets. But Troubles will never be forgotten. His picture remains on the table where his cage used to be. I gave Peppy his old cage because I knew he would be honored to have it. Troubles now rests under our bird bath in the backyard and has dainty yellow and blue flowers all around him.
- Submitted by jmeakim@bellatlantic.net