Bubbles story started long before I came into his life, he was already 21 years old when I first met him. Sadly, our first encounter was under some upsetting circumstances. His previous owner has sadly passed away and Bubbles had been living in the empty house for a few months. During that time Bubbles was left alone, and the only person who took care of him was my father's work friend who knew Bubbles' owner before she passed. Bubbles was given fresh food and water every day but that was the extent of his time spent with anyone. The cage he was spending every day in was massive, it had plenty of space for an African Grey. But it only contained one toy which was destroyed to the point of it being just rope. As for the perch situation, it wasn't any better. All he had to stand on 24 hours a day was a wooden dowel and a cement perch. I could only imagine the state of his feet after being left in there for so long. But I'll get into his medical situation a little later in this story.
The day I met Bubbles was the very same day I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. My parents knew I loved animals, more specifically parrots since I already had two Budgies. That day we met up with my father and his work friend and went over to meet Bubbles. Once going inside, we were told that Bubbles hated women ever since his owner didn't return home. But despite the warning I opened his cage door and held my hand out. Bubbles ran over and started to kiss me and rubbing his head against my hand. Everyone was amazed at how much he liked me just at first glance. I for one was shocked I didn't lose a finger and was truly touched by how gentle and loving he was. After that day I was determined to bring him home with me, though I knew it would come with some major learning curves.
This is the only photo I was able to get of Bubbles on the day we met.
I admit, going from owning budgies to a much larger and much more complicated African Grey was quite the jump in skill and knowledge. From that day forward I spent two weeks educating myself. I found a local avian veterinarian that I made a first appointment with. I talked with larger parrot experts online through multiple forums. I even took the time to read the famous book 'Alex & Me' by Irene M. Pepperberg. Not to mention the many educational YouTube videos I watched to help understand his complex body language. But after all that, I was still very nervous about taking him in. I worried that I might never be good enough to handle such an intelligent creature. But the thought of him being alone in that house with nothing but a radio and his empty cage, I decided it was time to bring him home.
I was so excited the day Bubbles would be coming home with me. I couldn't wait to get his cage set up with all the toys he could dream of. But what I couldn't imagine was the stress he'd experience on his move. Bubbles was dropped off at my house in a cat carrier, nothing was in the bottom of the carrier, and I can only imagine how stressful it must have been for him to slide around in the carrier on his hour drive. I ended up leaving him in the carrier on the floor in his new room to allow him to calm down and get used to his new space. While he crawled around on the floor, I was outside with my mother taking apart his large cage to be cleaned. The cage was disgusting and had looked and smelled like it hadn't been cleaned in YEARS! It took my mother and I over 5 hours to get it clean. The smell alone had us gagging as we scrubbed with brushes on our hands and knees. It was at that time that I realized the horrible conditions he was truly kept in.
Here is a photo of him after he finally came out of the cat carrier on his own.
After getting Bubbles' cage cleaned and set up in my bedroom, I got him to step up on a perch and put him in his clean cage.
Here is a photo of him relaxing later the same day in his cage. I had put a few toys in but kept them to a minimum so that he wouldn't get more stressed than he already was.
From day one I noticed he didn't look like your typical African Grey. He was missing a lot of his feathers, and from my research, I knew he was feather-plucking, but was unsure of the exact cause. I could only theorize that it had to do with the loss of his previous owner. Unfortunately, we had to wait a while before his first vet appointment since the soonest they could see him was a month out, and they were the only avian specialist nearby.
While we waited, I did my best to bond with him, and we were making great progress. In the first week, I went from giving him treats in his food bowl to him directly taking them from my hand. Within a week he let me pet him! It was all moving so much faster than I thought it would since I knew African Greys typically took months to bond with a new owner. But it only got better from there because in under two weeks, he was stepping up onto my arm unprompted. He quite literally jumped into my arms for cuddles. I never knew a parrot to be so cuddly and affectionate. Many other parrot owners that I talked with during this bonding process told me that Bubbles had adopted me, and not the other way around, and I agreed with them. From that point forward Bubbles and I were inseparable.
Bubbles enjoying one of his favorite snacks, almonds.
Sadly, not everything was all sunshine and rainbows, because with two weeks left until his appointment, he was taking a turn for the worst. I had woken up one morning to find blood on his favorite swing that he slept on every single night. I panicked knowing that even a few drops of blood loss from a bird can be fatal. I called the avian vet, and they were able to get me in that very morning. I was grateful they made room for me and rushed Bubbles to see the specialist.
Since the situation was going to be stressful, they decided to take Bubbles to a quiet room in the back of the clinic to do the exam. I agreed since Bubbles was already very stressed and with all the other animals around it wasn't helping. After waiting half scared to death in one of the exam rooms, they came back, but without Bubbles. The avian vet began to explain exactly what was going on. They had found what was years' worth of damage underneath his left wing. They theorized that this self-mutilation had been going on for some time based on the scar tissue but had gotten worse with the recent move and death of the past owner. They informed me that they needed to remove all of the dead tissue and clean out the large open wound under the wing to assess all the damage. After that, they left to continue to work on Bubbles' wing, though they assured me he would be okay and that I did the right thing to bring him in. I was terrified at the thought that I could be even a little responsible for the damage that occurred, but I did my best to stay calm until they brought Bubbles back to me.
Once they came back with Bubbles, I could tell he looked very scared and stressed. The vet told me that they found some pretty bad damage to his wing. Bubbles had completely torn his ligament in half, which is what allows parrots and birds to move their wings. They said there was nothing they could do to fix it since it was already fully healed and looked as if this injury occurred years ago. I was told Bubbles would never fly and never be able to move his wings without experiencing pain and discomfort. They also said his feet had red sores on the bottom due to poor selection of perches from his previous home, and he had severe arthritis in both feet and wings. So, we decided to do some blood work, and X-rays to cover our bases. We made a few more appointments that spanned over the next two weeks. By the end of everything he needed ointment put on his wing injury twice daily, tramadol twice daily for the pain, and meloxicam once daily for the inflammation in his wings and feet. They also gave Bubbles a plastic collar to prevent him from plucking his feathers and mutilating his skin since they figured the cause of his picking was the pain he was experiencing from arthritis.
I was distraught, Bubbles was in so much pain and I hadn't known. But I knew that he needed me and regardless of the cost of the vet bills, he was my responsibility and I'd ensure his happiness no matter what. But it wasn't easy, with the sudden change of needing to give him medicine and put on ointment every day, our bonding work was thrown out the window. My vet had taught me how to towel him since that was the only way to give him the medicine and put the ointment on since he wasn't doing it willingly. I unfortunately had to prioritize his health over our bond. For the first month of this new twice-daily routine, he hated me. I got bite regularly and did my best to give him his space since he was honestly scared of me.
Things only started to change once he no longer needed the ointment. Because then I didn't need to towel him and could start training him to take his medicine willingly. Once he started to take the medication on his accord things began to go back to normal. He was happy, healthy, and no longer in pain. The only problem was that he still was overgrooming his feathers and picking at them. Bubbles' avian vet said he most likely would always pick at his feathers since it has become a self-soothing habit for him and is similar to addition. This is when I started to explore different e-collar options with the help of our avian vet.
We first tried some cheaper solutions recommended online. Some people said scrunchies could help deter them from picking, but unfortunately, he quickly figured out how to take them off.
I also tried a sock with some holes cut in it for his wings, feet, and tail. It worked at protecting his chest but didn't quite stop him from picking at his legs, wings, and neck.
Our avian vet put this bubble collar around his neck, but it was very heavy and very thick plastic that ended up leaving sores on his neck, so we decided to try other options.
In the end, we went with the typical plastic e-collar that our vet had provided. In this photo, you can see I put a layer of scrap fabric on the plastic cone as well as some scrunchies to try and stop him from ripping the metal buttons off the plastic collar. The only issue was he started to rip the plastic cone around his neck, and it started to cut up his neck. So, we still had no good solution to his feather-plucking problem.
This is when I turned to online handmade small businesses. But this was back in 2020 and only one seller was making them, and they were charging $60-$80 per fabric collar. I was mind-blown at the cost and started to do some research. After doing a bit of math I found out I could make my very own fabric collar out of much better materials for under $20. So that's exactly what I did! Later that day I drove to Joann Fabrics and got myself some on-sale fleece since it doesn't fray like normal fabrics. It was recommended by my vet since it can't be accidentally digestion by the bird wearing it.
This was the first ever prototype I had made. I had sewn it by hand which had taken me a good hour to do. But I was so proud of what I made that I decided to continue to redesign until I had something worth selling.
Then three days later came the actual finished product. I had taken the time to learn how to use my mother's sewing machine and got all the equipment I needed to start my business on Etsy.
My reason for getting this product off the ground so quickly after the prototype? What I've failed to mention thus far was the progression of my Crohn's disease over this past year of caring for Bubbles. Things had only gotten worse, and I knew I needed major surgery soon. Just a day after taking the photo you see above, I was in surgery having 4 inches of my small intestine removed, as well as the connecting valve between my large and small intestine and my appendix that looked as if it would burst at any moment. I knew after the surgery I'd be stuck in bed for a good two months. And I knew I'd be too sick to upload my product on my 18th birthday. So, a little under a month into recovery, when my 18th birthday hit, all I had to do was hit publish since I was finally an adult who could own my own Etsy storefront.
From there the rest is history, since October 21st, 2020, began some of the best years of my entire life. The business has grown beyond anything I could have ever imagined. It's gotten so large that I quit my full-time job and even dropped out of college to continue to put everything I have into this amazing business. I'm so very grateful to get to help people with their birds every day. This is the dream job I never knew I wanted. Thank you all for your support, Bubbles and I love you all very much!
My fiancé, Bubbles, and I. <3
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