I have been thinking about the relationship I have with each of my birds. By far, the most fulfilling relationship for me is with my male cockatiel, Silver.

I love my other birds, but they just aren't into me in the way Silver is. That's not a complaint, just an observation. That's actually how I ended up with four birds: the search for the birdie companion. It was Silver, and he was the fourth bird. I still love the others, and we have a trusting relationship, but only so far.

I have had cats as well as birds. I think birds are much more challenging than cats. What do you think? And, for those of you who have dogs, how would you rate them, in terms of the challenge of having a good relationship with the pet.

...edit..

I don't think they are challenging. I have 2 cats and I also live with a dog. The dog and cats are pretty much effortless. The birds are slightly more, but barely anything to me. I also have a snake and fish. My snake might as well be a pet rock, because she practically cares for herself! Out of all my animals, my fish is the most effort to care for. Mainly because of cleaning.

Thank you for taking the time to give me your thoughts.

I really don't feel anything is bothering me. I love my birds and wouldn't be without any of them. I didn't think of "challenging" as being a negative word. It's in the sense of taking pride in doing something not everyone can do. I feel satisfaction in that I am able to provide a good home for these amazing creatures and gradually earn their trust. Some don't have the patience.

When I think about dogs and cats, they are pretty much guaranteed to like their owners. On the other hand, I may be wrong. Dogs and cats end up in shelters too.

I was just interested in sparking some discussion, not really asking for help.

Dianne, I feel exactly the same way you do, with my birds.
I love Bubu and he's my soul mate, a bit in the way you feel with Silver.
Then there are birds who touch my heart in a special way, like George or Keith or Bimbo.
I love all the others immensely because they are my babies even though some of them are what you could say "challenging" but I get great satisfaction from the little steps, ie. Charlie used to bite me NO MATTER WHAT, now at night time he lets me pick him up, kiss him on the top of the head and put him in the cage. Huge satisfaction. It took almost two years

The only real negatively challenging birds are the ones who come to me completely wild and afraid of humans. I refuse to bend these birds' spirit, they had enough of humans, and deserve to go straight to an aviary.

I hate cleaning their mess so probably that's the worst challenge because I have to force myself, but I have had dogs, cats, rats, Guinea pigs, bunnies.... And the birds are by far the easiest to take care of. But I admit that my love makes me biased

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I also think that every single person (almost) would give you a different answer because humans are complicated and each of them feels a strong affinity with a different animal type. I personally find dogs dull and extremely demanding. A dog will never surprise you the way a bird does almost daily

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My luv is Obi the tiel.... I wouldn't be without the others,
but they don't pull at my heart strings....like he does
I'm looking after my daughter's dog at the moment,
for around 4 month's.....oh they are reasonable hard work
but the greeting in the morning is worth a lot.....
Birds for me tho.....easier to look after...

in this terms, my bunnies are very challenging... Again, are we talking about challenge of taking care or challenge of having a good personal relationship?
My bunnies eat fresh veggies and this requires frequent trips to the store (very often I have to do it when I would rather go to sleep). They also eat pellets but these are not enough. They are supposed to eat hay but they are not huge fans of it. I have to provide shelter from rain/snow if they are outside during the rain (and they are inside only for the night). This is a huge pain in the butt, I use 2 tarps but they leak thru... (of course we replace tarps from time to time). After the rain its usually a mess. Not talking about constantly monitoring for wild animals/ I do love my bunnies, but not having them would certainly make my life so much easier. The only problem: I am not sure that any other person in the world needs them. SO they stay with me.
Birds take a lot of work, too.... a lot of hard work.

I don't think that pets are very different than children when it comes to "satisfaction". You can't have from them a pure satisfaction like from a meal or a piece of clothes. What satisfaction do parents of a very sick child have? Definitely, such child is a huge inconvenience to their life. They usually undergo a transformation, and this transformation as persons is what gives them satisfaction (I think). Here is what parents of 2 very sick children wrote


http://www.thehartleyhooligans.com/p/ne ... -here.html

out of all my birds, I feel most sympathetic for Cuddles, for some reasons. She is a sweetheart, but she is often abused by her children, so I have to make sure that she gets her food, treats, and so on. She is kind of my "special need" bird She likes me too.

Lovely piece to read, Chipper. Thank you.