Celebrating the life of Rio
How to begin this blog?
When I wrote about life with a Senior Dog and got emotional doing that, I did not think that I would be talking about my parrot's life and saying farewell to him a couple of months later.
Many of you may not even know I had a parrot, but I did. He was my first soul pet, and while my heart is still breaking in two, one of the best ways to help heal is to talk about him and share his story.
In the mid to late 90s, I worked one of my part-time jobs at a pet store; it was a bad idea since I wanted to take all the pets home. But I only ended up with one bunny and, eventually, a Parrot.
It was December of 1996 when a Yellow Collared Mini Macaw was brought in to be sold on consignment. He was purchased from that pet store 4 years earlier as a baby and hand-raised. Unfortunately, the owners felt they could no longer keep him since they were a young couple beginning a family. One afternoon, I came into work and was introduced to this Parrot; his name was Rio. He was frightened and confused, and when the woman I worked with took him out of his cage, he flew across the room. I have had birds my whole life, so I immediately went to get him, and she said, “Careful he bites,” as I picked him up. From that day forward, he chose me; he waited for me to come to work, stayed with me throughout my shift, shared my dinner, and would go to no one else. So the decision was made: he had to come home with me!
Baby Rio
Rio came to my apartment that already had 3 bunnies, 6 birds, and my boyfriend. He already had a bit of a vocabulary, saying things like “Love you, Rio,” “Night Night Birdie,” Bye bye,” Go Poo Poo,” and “Peak-a-Boo,” to name a few. He was always making people laugh at his silly antics. Like how he loved to shower with me and always came out of the shower looking like a prickly cactus or when he would walk over to you, look up and say in a sweet whisper “Whatcha doin’”.
Rio was a one-person bird, never trusting anyone else to handle him. He loved women, but hated men. One time while visiting my father, Rio ran down my arm, across the table, up my dad’s arm and bit him. No one was harmed, thank goodness but it was just typical Rio being his typical snarky man-hating self. Rio got to know both my parents who have both passed. He loved my mom, I think she was the only one that truly loved Rio like I did.
Throughout his life, he lived with me in 4 different locations until we moved into the house I have now. He outlived all the original pets he came to live with and also outlived his first dog brother, Duke. Duke was a bird dog, but Duke understood Rio was family.
The boyfriend eventually became the husband and Rio continued to rule the roost. Even when we got our second bird dog, Buck. Buck and Rio got along very well. Buck, as you have read in the prior blog, is a gentle soul. He would never hurt a fly. Rio and Buck would even go camping together. Rio enjoyed camping for a short while, but then he began being unable to settle for more than one day. He was a home bird at heart so camping eventually ended for him and he would stay home and have Dennis’s mom come and look after him. She was good to him and helped keep me at ease when we were not able to be home.
Rio was your typical parrot; he was sweet when he wanted to be, funny most of the time, and a snarky, unpredictable parrot the other times. My friends and family often said we had a strong bond, we trusted each other. This was evident in some of the fun games Rio and I played together. Like in this photo below of dead bird.
When people visited, Rio was always part of the gatherings. Either in person or from afar, regardless if Rio was in the main room or stayed in his room, everyone made sure to stop to say hi to him. While most did not hold Rio or put fingers in his cage, they were curious about him and knew how important he was to me.
Rio was not a sports fan but he loved it when anyone would get excited he would join in by screaming, laughing, and carrying on with strange parrot jargon. People never believed me when I told them the house would get quiet…. after they left. LOL
I started working full-time from home in 2015 and Rio was in my office the entire day with free range. Most of the time he played on his cage but sometimes he would climb down from his cage and venture out onto the floor. It always seemed to happen in the middle of a meeting and I would have put everyone on mute to chase a bird around my office. Having a parrot is like having possessed scissors. He chewed up so many cords, and furniture it was insane. I eventually outsmarted him by putting some “walls” around his cage on the floor so he still could come down and run around but just not everywhere.
Surprisingly most people did not hear Rio on conference calls, when they did they seemed to think it was funny. One of my bosses a few years ago asked me if I had a monkey. I laughed and told him no, it’s a parrot. Another one of my bosses/friends and I had some friendly joking about Rio. He would pick on him and say how much Rio annoyed him. It was a friendly banter that became something we have always had between us.
In 2016, Rio’s puppy sister came to live with us. This was not a match made in heaven. Finn was going to be my dog, and therefore, I was responsible for training her and doing all the puppy things. Rio was a bit jealous of her; I also needed to keep him away from puppy teeth and potential accidents, so Rio had to try to share his time with his mom. Eventually, they met, and I could tell they would be competing for my attention going forward.
Unlike with Buck, I never completely trusted Finn around Rio. She has a high prey drive and if Rio pushed her I think she would have struck back. So their relationship was always protected and with safety first.
Throughout Rio’s life, his health had never been great. He struggled with liver issues, and while we tried to work on a healthy nutritional balance, he would have rather starved than go without his favorite foods. If he wanted something you had, you better be prepared to deal with a lot of loud screaming and carrying on.
About 10 years ago, Rio began removing some of his feathers. It progressively got worse, and 3-4 years ago, he started self-mutilation. I did not notice the giant hole he put in his body until it was almost too late! The wonderful people at Hopkinton Animal Hospital helped me get the right treatment for Rio, and we stayed on top of this issue, for the most part, over the years. Three times a day, we did what we called “checks and balances,” and I would inspect every inch of his body to find any problem areas he may have caused. If I stayed on top of it, we were all good. He didn’t love it but tolerated it better than being in a cone.
This is probably why so many people did not see or hear about him that much. Only my closest family and friends experienced this with me. I did not want others we were not close to, to see just how my poor guy had changed. Maybe by keeping it private, it was my way of trying to pretend it didn’t exist. While I was very much aware of how it had impacted our lives, I always worried about the next episode or problem and felt like a complete failure to him. But I was determined to make sure that no matter how much time we had left together, we would make it as wonderful as we could.
Rio went to the vets every month, they would stay on top of his beak and nail trims and keep an additional set of eyes on him. He would have his last vet appointment on February 5th, 2024. It was a normal visit, quick beak and nail trim and check by Dr Peel. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then on February 13th Rio seemed off. He was still eating and drinking and came out on the regular for his normal routine. I called the vet on the 14th and left a message for the Dr to call me the next morning. But by evening things went downhill fast.
On February 15th I called the vet first thing and got an appointment. My husband came home to go with me. I knew Rio would not be coming home. My heart was breaking. I got the car pulled out of the garage and let it warm up super hot (it was a very cold day here). Rio was in his travel carrier, I created a little bird nest for him to sit comfortably in, although he kept climbing out of it. I repositioned him one last time, kissed him, told him I loved him, and covered him with his travel blanket. After placing him in the car I did what I always did, I turned to check to make sure he was comfortable for the 30-minute ride but I couldn’t really see him in the darkness of the car. My husband put on his cellphone flashlight and we both looked back. Rio had crossed the bridge on his own terms. He was not going to sit in a car, not going to go to that awful place that he hated so much, and be handled by strangers, he wanted to be with his family at home. By the way, the vet was not a stranger or awful, but to Rio, it was not a place he looked forward to going to.
My heart shattered into a million pieces at that moment. My baby birdie, my soul bird, my best friend for the last 28 years was gone forever. I knew this day would come and I knew it would hit me hard. But you are still never ready.
It has been 3 days of grieving before I could sit and write this. My house is too quiet, it is foreign to me. Every corner is a reminder of what I will never experience again. I can’t take the cage out until Spring, so I turned it into a memorial for Rio. It is better than looking at the empty cage and having a constant reminder he is not there. Not that I don’t get that every day anyway, I no longer hear his cute voice greet me when I come home, or his impatient screams when I am making food or not coming to get him quick enough for his liking. I will never kiss that sweet beak or touch his little head again. Rio would have been 32 years old in May of this year, 28 years with me seems like such a long time, but time goes by so fast and it now just doesn’t feel long enough.
We have lived over half my life together, and we have gone through so much as a team. So many memories now just exist in the photos and videos I have of him. I am grateful for them, but at the same time, they make me miss him more.
I held off writing this, not just because of the grief but because it is a closure, it means he is gone and that part of my world has forever changed. Writing about him has been a way for me to celebrate him and show just how important he is to me. I don’t want him to ever be forgotten.
I’ve put together a video, with more photos and some clips with sound. I am hoping you will take the time to watch it and share with me in the memories of my beloved Rio. May his memory live on.