Now that I am considering a full time post bacc, I am looking at the issue of my pets. I have a 14 yeqr old cat, a 2 year old cat, a 55 gallon tank of African Cichlids, and…and…a very beautiful and entertaining Sulfur Crested Cockatoo - he is about 18 years old. I know that the cheaper way to go is on campus housing, however, that does not accommodate my critters. The Cockatoo generally precludes me from any form of apartment complex as he can be LOUD - Occasionally he breaks into what I call the “jungle cry” which can literally be heard for blocks. My current landlord is totally cool with all this. I live in an old Victorian and occupy the entire first floor, with only one other tenant in the building, upstairs. I see a lot of posts about dogs, and I know that lots of apartments are cat friendly just from looking on Craigslist. However…my bird is a whole nother story. He was a rescue, and I rehabbed him and virtually had to sign my life away to adopt him. They live to be 80 years old!! The expectation is that they are a lifetime commitment. The more I look at all the moving I will have to do for med school, the more I am worried about how I am going to find places that will accommodate him. Am I going to have to give up my bird???
Do you have a close friend or family member who could commit a decade to the bird? That’d still give you a couple or three or more decades w/ the bird once you’re done with school.
Hi, I can kinda identify with the bird thing.
I have a Yellow Nape Amazon parrot. He is so hysterical and puts me in a better mood when things are crazy. He knows my emotions and can tell when I’m feeling blue . I bet your cockatoo is the same way! I am really hoping I can get into a DO school in my own state (FL) and not have to try and move really far. I would probably have to stay living in a house vs an apartment. Right now, I live kinda outside of town in a house with a large lot and all the neighbors even have farm animals so noisy birds aren’t a problem.
If you want to keep him with you, you will probably have to find very understanding neighbors especially if you end up moving into an apartment. I can’t imagine doing that with my parrot because he does sometimes makes the jungle noises but mostly he is an excellent talker and repeats stuff he hears from television. He knows how to get a reaction (people laughing) so sometimes likes to yell out the bad stuff LOUD lol! I never know what he is gonna say…
Ours was a rescue as well. He was living permanently on a play stand with only one perch in a pet store when we got him. He wasn’t tame at all and petrified of anyone with big curly hair (like my mother) or of towels. He would just go berzerk if he saw a towel. He is so much more tame now and our family is really attached to him so I couldn’t get rid of him now. My mom would probably take him for a while as a last resort but he hates her due to her hair LOL.
This is what I LOVE about old pre meds!! SOMEONE can always identify!! We moved to Maryland and have a house. It looks like I will do a second Bachelor’s as a way of doing Post Bacc, so the next move will not be until I actually get accepted at a school. My bird is doing SO WELL!! He has gotten so much better. Whatever happens, he will have to go with us…If you want to see him in all his rehabilitated joy and happiness, he has a video on YouTube, dancing with my husband. Search on YouTube under “Wiki doing the Harlem Shake” Watch it all the way to the end…he is such a ham!!