chew
Flapper and Chewy are both feeling crummy, so today Chewy went to the vet. He hadn’t been there in a year so it was his turn. They’re not eating well and they’ve both lost weight. It might have been a bad bag of feed, but it also might be an infection.

george
George also went to have his foot checked again.

George’s foot looks just great. The scab on the bottom is super shallow now, and down to 2cm by 1cm in size. We will do one more vet visit to ensure he doesn’t have any more infection and keep trying to get that scab to heal as soon as possible so he can go to his sanctuary. He will always have a weird foot with an old broken foot bone, but if the scab heals well, he won’t be at much risk for future infections. And as you can see, he walks just fine.

tub
Flapper is sleeping in the house and he took a bath in the people tub this morning. He took another bath tonight. He isn’t eating well and right this moment we think he might have a respiratory infection. Chewy’s blood work could show what’s going on with both of them, and we might just do a round of antibiotics just in case.

Flapper’s arthritis is really bad now. He barely walks at all. He has also lost weight in the past few weeks and yet he still can’t get around even though he is lighter. He supports his weight by holding out his wings, which is a sign of pain. He can’t scratch his face very easily and he can’t reach around with his beak to get oil from his tail gland and spread it to his feathers. This means his feathers don’t stay oiled and he can’t stay dry when he swims.

Basically this all means Flapper is declining in health and he won’t get better.

His cold right now will get better, but it is important for everyone to know and prepare that Flapper may only have a few more months with us or maybe a little longer if he is not in too much pain. Please respect that we are not looking for tons of advice on building contraptions for him to walk around in or home remedies to cure him. Flapper will have the most comfortable and natural life he can have, and it will be his decision when he is ready to say goodbye. The leading cause of death is… life. And Flapper has lived a good one so far. We wish we had much more time with him, but that’s out of our control. We’re not going to rush him, but it’s time for everyone to start coming to terms with it.

This may seem out of the blue because I don’t always share everything that we’re going through here. But Flapper is struggling, and you’ll just have to trust me. I will not be sharing much of his struggles. It won’t help him and it won’t make it any easier for me.

mal
In other news, O’Malley wanted to snuggle and sit together in the rain. It was really wet and muddy today so I took a raincheck. He is a cute kid though, and I’d snuggle any other time.

geo
When George came back from the vet today he had some serious business to attend to.


George has a “test flight” routine he does several times a day. I could tell you about it, but instead I’ll show you. Once, twice… and a third time. This is test flight #1.


Test flight #2.


Test flight #3.

We’re not sure what George is planning with all his test flights, but it’s sure to be amusing. We’ll keep you posted on that, as well as Chewy and Flapper’s cold (or whatever).

And thanks for understanding about Flapper.