Louie, My Amazon Parrot

Louie has been in our family for about forty years now. We don't know how old he is. My mom got him from her friend and we know he lived in a bar for a long time. Thus his love of swearing and saying inappropriate things.

But he is the sweetest boy. When my mom had him I was a little scared to get too close. I'd feed him a peanut here and there and talk to him but that was about it.

He loves to yell, "help", which has resulted in neighbors calling the police at least once for my mom.

When my mom passed, I inherited Louie. It was a learning curve trying to figure out what I needed for Louie. One thing I learned, was Louie was nice! Mostly. I say mostly because kids can make him nervous. We learned quickly he doesn't like too much action and screaming going on around him.

But when it's just him, me, my other two dogs and cat, he is just fine. He will open his mouth to warn the dogs and cat not to get too close, but in general they will all sit in bed with me and everyone gets along.

I always thought he was trying to bite me when I got too close. But then when I was reading about parrots, I learned that they do everything with their mouth. That is how they climb. I was so nervous so I put on a winter coat, gloves and a hood and stuck my arm out to let him climb on me to see what he would do. He climbed right up! Didn't try to bite or anything and was really gentle while climbing up me.

Since then I have learned that I can take him outside. He does not fly, he does not try to get down. He just happily sits on my shoulder. I got him an outside perch to sit on too. I can grill out and he can sit right next to me on the deck, but on his perch so I can get up and down as I need to.

He does like to chew holes in my shirts when he is sitting on me. It seems to relax him. He actually sounds like he's purring when he does this. So i went to the resale shop and stocked up on t-shirts and flannels that I didn't mind getting ruined.

Louie is pretty old, at least middle ages as parrots can leave to be between 80 - 100 years old. He has some breathing problems and has started having seizures. I think they are seizures. We have a vet in Iowa we travel to, to get his nails and beak sanded down and get basic meds for him like anti anti-inflammatories, but there is not any real aviary vets nearby other than an hour and a half away and I'm having trouble getting in there. (long story) So we are just making the best of every day and spend as much time with each other as we can. I am chronically ill too and spend most of my time in bed so ignore the yuckiness in my pictures lol, but the point is our bond, not our looks.

So anyways, that is my story about Louie.

Here are some pictures and videos. <3