My daughter got a parakeet two months ago and it was the first bird that we've owned.
We chose not to clip the bird's wings and let him fly around the house and hang out with us. Our cat and bird were co-existing peacefully together.
4 days ago, the bird was feeling particularly energetic and was flying around in everyone's face including the cat's, who was trying to nap on the back of the couch. I had gone in the other room with the bird flying around and then I heard squawking and saw the bird fly onto the lamp. I didn't realize until a few minutes later that his wing must have been hurt. No blood, but he was holding it funny.
I did some research (not enough) and decided to keep him in his cage and let him rest. I didn't think his wing was broken because he was able to stretch it out.
We hand fed him intermittently but didn't realize that he probably wasn't eating at all.
Yesterday morning, my daughter found him dead on the floor of his cage just 15 minutes after she had been talking to him.
I adore birds and had told my daughter when we got him that if she didn't take good care of him, he would become my bird and that I was his "ultimate protector". Well, I failed him and basically just let him die. I didn't think he was that hurt, and that he just needed to rest and heal, but in hindsight, I'm really mad at myself for having not researched more before hand and learned that he needed to be handfed a lot because of his fast metabolism, and given him extra heat, or learned that his puffed up feathers meant that he really wasn't alright. Even though I think my cat only batted him away because he was getting annoyed, I shouldn't have trusted them alone together.
I failed my little birdie buddy and now he's dead and I feel like ****.
