This is my story about Skittles.

I had for many years wanted a large Parrot.

I always liked the Macaws, but never fell in love with one. Until one day I was shopping for a pet for my children. I was at a local large chain petstore.

This is where Skittles came into my life. A Greenwing Macaw. He was in the front of the store on a play gym. We walked through the store and looked at the rodents and reptiles. Nothing caught our eye. Except for Skittles.

In the time I spent talking and petting him I fell in love, not to mention my husband had as well.

We did not take him home then. We came home and discussed Skittles. I spent time looking through information on the Internet and found a chat sight.

I asked many questions. We went back to visit Skittles again. The decision was made. We then hunted for more information and spent 3 days deciding if we could handle the commitment this bird required.

After all that we went back to the store 4 days after seeing him and purchased the bird, cage and accessories.

Now we bring home our bundle of joy who is just under 1 year old. Within 4 days I had a veterinarian who specializes in exotic pets come to my home. He checked Skittles weight and groomed him. Gave em a lot of information on owning a bird like him. The Vet felt he was a healthy bird. We chose not to do blood test. My biggest mistake.

Well the day after the vet came Skittles’ droppings became more liquidy. Therefore, I call the vet contact people on the Internet. Everyone says it could be the change of diet. I let it go. This continued for 3 weeks. I came home from work one day and Skittles was not acting normal. He was "popping" his wings and making a "barking" sound. I again contacted friends from the Internet. Also called the vet. Each said sounds like he is just acting like a baby. I let it go one more day. I felt something was wrong. So I called the Vet to come look at Skittles. He came in a few days.

Much to my dismay I had a very sick bird. After cultures and blood work, the vet diagnosed my baby with Psittacosis. After spending over $400.00 in vet bills. I decided to contact the Petstore where I purchased Skittles.

The pet store at first tried to give me the run around. So I contacted yet another one in the chain. Finally getting to the original store Skittles was at. Spoke with the manager. He understood. I wanted the vet bills paid. I was going to need to treat Skittles for at least 6 weeks. The Manager then placed me in touch with the District Manager. My only option was to pay the bills myself or to bring the bird back. No other option offered to me. Although now I know there were many other avenues to travel. The store of course claimed the bird was not sick, Although he had not seen a vet his entire stay with them, which was over 9 months. They had 3 other birds die in the store with the same sickness. My story ends here. We returned Skittles to the store for a full refund and refund of vet bills as well. It was heart breaking for me, but in the light of everything the best decision I could make at that time.

We now are the happy pets to a Black Capped and a Dusky Orange Lory!

ALWAYS DO THE BLOOD WORK!