On March 7th of this year, we said goodbye to our little Emmy.

I wasn’t ready to post about it until now – first Cooper, and then Emmy. 2024 has not been the best year for our flock.
Emmy had started to throw up, so we took her to our avian vet. They ran some labs, and put her on antibiotics until the results came back. They suspected avian gastric yeast.
She started losing weight and was listless and poofy, even though she was still eating. So we took her back to the vet. She spent two days/nights there while they tube fed her, treated her and tried to find out what was wrong. Xrays showed a large inoperable tumor that was blocking the passage of food to her stomach.
We knew there was nothing we could do, and didn’t want her to suffer, so we held her and said our goodbyes. We told her we loved her and gave her kisses. She was given anesthesia, and while she was asleep an injection sent her peacefully over the rainbow bridge.

We found Emmy on Craigslist in November of 2013.The people who were rehoming her had bought her as a pet for their toddler. She still had her baby bars and was terrified of us. It took months for her to start to trust us. Emmy was a bundle of energy and very playful. Maybe too playful for the other budgies. Ozzie was the only budgie who would put up with her shenanigans, and eventually they became tweethearts.
Emmy loved being with the other budgies. She always wanted to be in the thick of things.

Emmy was our “big baby”. We think she had some English budgie in her, as she was larger than the rest of the flock. She was a beauty, too. And so soft – she had the fluffiest feathers.
I loved kissing her whipped cream belly. And she smelled divine.
Emmy was a sweet little girlfriend to Ozzie, and a good friend to Sunny and Cooper.
I hope she and the rest of the flock are together now, feasting on millet, shredding wood, singing and flying free.