Jasmine

Our family is blessed to have an adorable feathered friend named Jasmine. She is normally a beautiful, intelligent bird, and we have enjoyed her time with us very much. I love hearing her whistle or sing to herself. She's even learned to say Maggie and Maia!! She is normally very talkative, and would say things like, "I love you pretty bird", and "Hi Jasmine", and our favorite, "What are you doing?"

Sadly, Jasmine is not doing very well right now. She is a very sick little bird. Her speech is going and she has very little balance. She startles at the slightest movement, and almost seems to have reverted back to a baby bird. My mom took her to the vet last week to discover one of two possibilities. Jasmine has either some how been exposed to a toxin, probably through the paint on one of her toys (though they are all bought from well known pet stores) or she has a rare virus that she would have been born with, and is just now manifesting itself. The vet is sending off her blood work today to determine which of these possibilities is the real one.

The best thing would be for Jasmine to have been exposed to the toxin. She can be treated for that and may make very close to a full recovery. If it is the virus, she can have medicine that may slow it down, but she will never recover. In fact, her time with us may be very short if this is the case.

This picture is one I took of her today. We realized that none of us had taken a picture of Jasmine while she was healthy, and my mom wanted something to remember her by if she doesn't recover. I have to confess the picture is doctored. I wanted to remember Jasmine when she was healthy, so I used the makeover tool on my picture editor the remove the scratches and food from her face. She can't hold her balance, as I said, and eating has become a very messy ordeal for her. She has taken a few falls and has scratched her face in the process. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but one thing I did not remove was the blue ring around her eye. The blue ring signifies dehydration. With Jasmine's balancing problems, it's almost impossible for her to drink. I thought her eyes looked better this morning, so maybe it's a good sign...

We are all very worried about her, especially my mom, as Jasmine is her special pet. I hope for my mom's sake, and Jasmine's that she is treatable. I miss her cute little personality very much.