the expensive leg-splint on my son’s bird
Saturday February 25th 2006, 4:14 pm
Filed under: personal, tv/movies

my eight year-old son is good at saving money (unlike my 12 year-old daughter). max saved all fall, and combined that with christmas gift money to buy a bird — a cockatiel — and all the stuff that goes with it. he named the bird sammy, and has been a great pet owner. so what’s a parent to do when the bird gets his little leg caught in a wire on the cage and breaks it? we didn’t do anything for 24 hours, wondering if the leg would, well, correct itself. but when, the next day, the leg was still protruding back and to the side at an unnatural angle, it was time for the vet. now, $180 later, sammy has had an exam, an x-ray (jeannie and max saw it, just like a human x-ray at a doctor’s office), and a cute-and-pathetic little leg splint. they actually had to “set” his leg (which seems about like ’setting’ a one-millimeter twig to me). i seriously gulped at the cost, and had sammy been a gift from us, i might have just suggested we get another bird instead — 1/2 the price. but, well, max had been so meticulous about saving that money and being responsible. we did have him ‘pitch in’ on the cost of the vet, so he’d have a sense of it. i just hope that’s a once-in-a-bird-lifetime affair!


11 Comments so far
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Maybe the bird was trying to be like your new tat and rise out of the flames

Comment by Diddy 02.25.06 @ 5:49 pm

I hear they taste like chicken

Comment by steve 02.25.06 @ 6:37 pm

You gotta take a pic and post it … I’m totally curious what a bird with a splint looks like!

Comment by Matthew McNutt 02.25.06 @ 7:36 pm

My daughter’s dog once swallowed a chicken wing in it’s entirety- $450. Then the dog had an allergic reaction to an unknown substance- $250. I swear we have reserved parking at the emergency animal clinic. But the things we do for our kids and their animals.

Comment by Jessi 02.26.06 @ 12:07 am

The story I heard is that you and Max tried to tattoo that little bird’s leg and it weakened it.

My wife, ever sympathetic, thinks you should buy a bird-leg-safe bird-cage.

Comment by Scot McKnight 02.26.06 @ 12:38 pm

omg, that made me laugh, scot. i read it to max — he giggled.

Comment by marko 02.26.06 @ 7:47 pm

Marko,
My family has had a cockatiel named Bo for close to 15 years. These things live forever, just so you know.

Comment by Dave Smith 02.27.06 @ 5:10 pm

I’ll tell ya what lives forever: stupid turtles. These things have a life expectency of about a century. Seriously. I think there needs to be a law against parents giving kids pets that live more than a few years - my in-laws gave my wife this thing when she was ten, and now I’m stuck with it. For the rest of my life.

Comment by Matthew McNutt 02.28.06 @ 12:48 pm

that really made me laugh, matthew!

Comment by marko 02.28.06 @ 1:33 pm

[…] , read this by Mark Roberts. 1. Things we do for love, and Marko’s done it all now: Bird splint. 2. I agree: something needs to be done about the behavior of athletes, Olympic or not. 3. Jor […]

Pingback by Jesus Creed » Blogs of the Week 03.04.06 @ 8:23 am

I sighed when I read your post. As a Dad I understand this. How many times have I spent money on something like this where my children were involved….Amazing, this parenting thing.
:)

Comment by Jim Martin 03.04.06 @ 12:06 pm

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