I loved cats when I was little. I didn’t just love ‘em I was obsessed. – I know, that’s so hard to believe. I had no interest nor had ever thought of having any type of animal other than cats. The dog we had was an outdoor only pet, so he wasn’t a close part of the family. To me cats were the only animals that were perfect companions – cuddly, human like and intelligent.
When I was ten we had to move to a new city and of course, I didn’t want to leave the only place I had ever known with all my friends so as a bribe my mom said that when we moved I could have a cockatiel. I didn’t even know a cockatiel was a bird! I didn’t consider it much of a bribe at the time because the only birds I had known were wild birds that just flew around and sung the same songs all the time. I mean what kind of companion is that! My mom told me that they could be taught to talk and one of my uncles told me about cockatiels that could do tricks and all that jazz. I wasn’t convinced, but when we finally moved I wasted no time dragging my dad to the pet store to retrieve my bribe.
I picked a baby Lutino Cockatiel. I think there were four Lutino Cockatiels at the pet store, but I knew exactly which one I wanted. I named him Dino after the Dinosaur pet on the Flintstones and quickly fell in love with him. That bird loved baths and it was hilarious to watch him bathe in just about anything. We would let him run around the dinner table eating from our plates. One time we were eating Menudo (not the music group – it’s a Mexican soup) and he jumped right in and started to take a bath. The way my mom makes the soup the broth has a red color from chilies and tomatoes so my poor Lutino had stained feathers for quite a while.
Dino died after three years because we didn’t know that carbonated drinks and alcohol were bad for birds and my parents often gave Dino sips of beer. After Dino we had a few other cockatiels and parakeets. We also saved two canary-winged parakeets from a pet store that closed down. No one was feeding the animals so they practically gave them away. One of them died shortly after we got them, but none of those birds were as special to me as Dino.