Taylor….his Journey

This very precious Angel was found in a dog’s mouth and turned into animal control in Ca. It is unknown how he came to be outside wandering on his own. The best guess is possibly his owner had passed away and somehow he got outside looking for people to help him.  He spent 20 days in a vet’s office there and that is where they gave him the name of “Taylor”. Someone who had worked with Best Friends Parrot Garden heard about him being at the vets office and since nobody came forward to claim him they contacted Jacqueline Johnson the manager for Best Friends Parrot Garden.

Jacqueline said that they were already at full capacity, but after hearing his story she knew that this very special boy needed someone with experience to give him everything he deserved at this time in his life. Jacqueline contacted Bonnie Grafton, one of the very experienced employees at Best Friends and told her about Taylor. Bonnie was home in bed with Type A flu, but she agreed immediately to meet the transport person and bring Taylor to her home for ISO.

The moment Bonnie saw him she was astounded by his apparent age, she said he is the oldest bird she had ever seen and even his nares are wrinkled. His wings are fused, he is a little feathered challenged and he is dealing with tumors of some sort.  In all her years of dealing with avian rescue, she said she had never seen a bird in this kind of condition. He stepped up immediately for Bonnie and she knew in that moment that he was one special Angel. She vowed right there to make sure the rest of his life is full of good things. 

Taylor is now spending his life with Bonnie and Ed Grafton. They have fallen in love with this precious soul and said it is very apparent that he was at one time someone’s beloved companion. The Grafton’s say he is a very special old guy and for whatever time he has left, he will be staying with them. They believe he especially deserves the comfort of a home and are glad to have him.

” He stole our hearts the moment we met him. He is home now, and here he will spend the rest of his days”.

His first night with Bonnie and Ed, they mixed chop with his pellets and  he dug through and picked up 2 pellets in his beak, went to the water dish and dunked them and started eating. Obviously he knew what pellets were and had been given a good diet previously. When he sees them he says “Wanna come out”.  It is so very obvious that this boy has been loved and has shared his life with those that he loved as well.

Taylor has a new vet and even she commented that he was indeed the nicest Macaw she had ever met. Taylor has some injuries that are being taken care of by Bonnie, and also has tumors that the vet will be dealing with. For now Bonnie has been bathing him daily and treating the wounds. He very patiently allows her to do this, however Bonnie says he is a true Mac and has expressed his displeasure with some of the treatments, but he quickly settles back down and allows her to take care of him. His medical treatments are done twice a day and he is also has to take oral medications.  While he isn’t happy about all of this, he complies and is rewarded with a big walnut afterwards and as with ALL Macaws…food is always a motivator. Bonnie also says he is one of the most loving macaws she ever met,  he gently lays his sweet head in their hands and will snuggle against their chest for love right after his medical treatments.

Bonnie and Ed have also started lovingly calling him “Walter” or “Gramps”. They are hoping that someday he will tell them what his name is but for now he is just an Angel no matter what his name was.

So what do we know about “Taylor”… well we know he a very old soul. This is obvious by the wrinkles of time on his body. In captivity this means he was loved and cared for to make it this far in life. How did he get out on his own? We may never know that unless someone comes forward someday to share his story. Until that time we can only speculate on how it could have happened. It is very clear that this boy was very loved and cared for during his many years here on this earth. He shows this in his own ability to love and trust others so immediately. When these Angels are coming from abusive lives they do not respond with such trust so quickly. So while we may never know how he got loose…we do know that his journey has now taken him to the loving home of Bonnie and Ed Grafton and for however long his life may be, he will be spending it with two people who also truly love him. He is one special and loved boy and his life should be a celebrated! When the Lord calls him to the Rainbow Bridge one day, what a story he will have to share with all the other birds and animals there. He has had quite a journey….full of Love…and isn’t that what life is all about?

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Love with everything inside of you. Love because love is the center of life. Our souls are filled with love, so be sure to thoroughly love whatever may be in our hearts. Love the people around you. Love your friends. Love your enemies. Love the memories you are able to make. Most of all make sure you will love the legacy you leave behind on earth

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When you save the life of a parrot, you are not saving the life of someone’s pet; you are saving the life of a child from another world. — Dr. Michael Welch

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1/07/2014
For those of you following “Taylor”…Every few days Taylor needs to get into a nice warm bath. The warm water seems to help with a little lift in his wings and we can get things really clean and wash away the buildup from his wound care. However, in true mac fashion he has already figured out when we have an agenda. He will lay his head on my arm and completely refuse to step up. Anyway, everyone loves a cute bath picture, so here you go!

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1/21/2014

Here’s your Taylor (Walter) update from Bonnie Grafton. He saw the doc last week and got some RADS with our rock star vet tech Kristy. He’s had a broken wing along with way (untreated) but overall things look pretty good. Doc does not think we’re dealing with cancer (YEA!!). We still don’t have a solid diagnosis on the growths because the old guy doesn’t seem to have any veins. They’ll figure it out, so we’re still practicing quarantine procedures. We’ve made improvement on the wound area and changed things up a little to continue the process. Yesterday afternoon he climbed off the cage looking for me. He got to the edge of the coffee table, looked up, saw I wasn’t there, said “OH” and walked back over to his cage and climbed back up. This morning as I left for the doctor he saw I had the keys in my hand and told me “bye-bye”…smart boy..very smart. .He’s going to be just fine. Love is the greatest healer and he has plenty of that. Everyone adores (Walter)

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1/26/2014

Taylor aka Walter is definitely starting to feel better. Complaining to come out, then pulling hairs out of my arms when he did. I can tell you, that really hurts. When I told him to stop, he wanted to bite me…lol…he’s a mac thru and thru….when we put him to bed, he yelled “Nooooo!!!!!!” He is still complaining under the cover as I type…Taylor sees the doc on Thursday, so that will be our next update…..unless he climbs down off the cage and into Scruffy’s crate to steal his toys again, I promised someone a picture….Shine On~

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1/30/2014

Pearl the chihuahua was the official greeter at the clinic today. Pearl is a puppy mill mom who spent 13 years in a cage producing babies. She was outside today because she is learning to run. I’ll let you think about that for a minute. Pearl was fascinated with Taylor, as was he with her. Cutest interaction ever. This lasted only a few moments and was closely supervised by myself and Pearl’s mom, Kim. Neither animal was ever in any danger, each only curious about the other. Now…on to Taylor’s update..The doctor continues to be pleased with Taylor’s progress and we got the go ahead to use honey to help the healing process. Our doctor is concentrating on Taylor’s wound and general improving health before addressing exactly how she is going to get the blood draw. So, Taylor’s quarantine will continue in our home and he will go back to the doc in a couple weeks. He was a little upset after his wound cleaning today and stood for several minutes just holding my finger in his talon. He continues to offer his head to everyone he meets, including Pearl.  I will continue to wonder about the person who loved him so much before us and hope that where ever they are, they know that he is once again safe and loved.

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1/31/2014

All this time, we were thinking Taylor was saying “Hi Paco”. Tonight, Ed finally got it. Taylor’s real name was Popeye. When Ed said it to him, he answered with “What?” not once but twice. If you sing “Popeye the Sailor Man”, he whistles twice at the end…..too funny!

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2/06/2014

Popeye the Taylor Man has sure got me figured out. He knows when the water runs in the bathtub that it’s time for his spa. It’s been a long time since I’ve done any long term wound care and I know more now, so this has turned into a heart wrenching experience for me. I’ve gained a great respect for those of you that work with mutilators, it’s just so damn hard. He knows and he hates it and I can’t give him a choice. He raises his foot and tries to hold my hand when it’s time for his meds and refuses to come out when he knows I’m ready. The other night when we were done he called me the worst possible name. Yea, our boy knows some things and he’s pretty blunt about it. I have to walk away and wait for him to come to me. I don’t know whether he recognizes it is inevitable or if he knows it has to be done but he still comes to me. This is right before we went to the bath tub tonight. We show him all the love we can, we do what we have to and he forgives us every single night. Thank you for following his journey~Shine On~

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2/18/2014

Because I love this picture, I thought I should use this for Popeye the Taylor Man’s update. We are now almost 2 months in and it has been unbelievably rewarding to see Popeye’s personality emerge. He was so tired when we met him and so sad, he broke our hearts. Now he is a macaw. All macaw and he’s awesome. He’s pure joy, even when he’s being a brat. He curses like a sailor when he’s mad and lays his head on my arm when he’s happy. We are still working on his wound, I can’t believe how deep it was and that he has even survived this long with it. As we gain mobility in the fused wing (hydro and physical therapy), we could see that it went much deeper than we realized. I think we have finally gotten to the base of the wound. My theory is that this was caused by feathers trying to grow in the crevice where his wings lay, we’ll see in time.The doc continues to be happy with our progress and told me to “just keep doing what you’re doing”. I can do that. I think we have 2-3 weeks to go~Thank you for following his journey~Shine On~

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3/27/2014

 

Pissed off Popeye. 3 months in and we are still fighting this horrific wound.Yesterday the entire wound area was debrided under anesthesia and bandaged. All I’ve got to say about that is this is one tough old bird with a will to live that blows me away. When we got home, Popeye ate like we’d been starving him and then immediately started on the bandages. No soft collar available, so we had to go with the cone of shame until Friday. When he figured out he couldn’t reach the offense material with his beak he started pulling the bandages with his feet…more adjustments, more tape. It’s been a long night of dish throwing, towel chewing and collar snapping.

(All updates are directly from Bonnie Grafton )