In December of 2000, I had decided I'd like to get a second macaw. I had Monet since July of the previous year (about 6 months) and just worshipped him, so I couldn't wait to get another macaw. I has seen a photo of a yellow dominant camelot. (At the time, we had no idea there were yellow dominants and red dominants.) I fell in love with the camelot, and after narrowing down my choices between a blue-throated macaw and a camelot, I finally decided that my next macaw would be a camelot.

I started searching the net for anyone who bred camelots. It took a while, but I finally found a place...called Birds N' More in Tennessee. Edith, the woman had a clutch of baby camelots born in December, so I faxed her my payment info and signed the contract and everything. Then I bought a plane ticket to Tennessee (I live in Mass) to pick up the baby bird...I didn't want him being shipped in cargo space, so I brought a carrier so he could ride with me in the cabin and I'd know he was safe.

On January 20th, 2001, I flew to TN to pick up baby Dali. After several flight cancellations and delays due to weather problems (we were expecting a bad snowstorm in Mass), I finally got to the Nashville airport. The so-called breeder, Edith met me at the airport with baby Dali. I took him out of his box and held him on my lap and cuddled him. The very first thing I noticed was that he was breathing heavy, then I noticed how insanely huge his crop was. I mentioned his heavy breathing, and Edith said "Oh, he's just nervous being away from his clutch mates for the first time." I knew this was bull. Then she told me "Well I just fed him immediately before leaving the house so he'd be all set for the flight home." Now anyone that knows anything about hand feeding knows you NEVER feed a baby his full amount of food right before any kind of travel, being a car or a plane. Not only that, but she wrote down how much she fed him per feeding, and I knew it was WAY too much for a baby of his age. But whatever...I was so thrilled to have this little angel with me finally....he was only 40 days old. I had already made an appt. for him at the vet that Monday (in 2 days) for his health check up, to keep Edith's health guarantee valid. We finally landed back home and the snowstorm was horrendous. I didn't think Id make it driving home, it was so bad. But we did, at about 1am we got in finally.

The next day I woke and went to feed Dali. I noticed he was still breathing heavy, in fact a little wheezy even. The following day was his vet appt. and I explained all this to the vet...she confirmed my suspicions that Dali had in fact been aspirated....he probably regurgitated some of his food while in the car on the way to the airport. She gave me antibiotics for him and told me to keep a close eye on him and call if it got worse. Two days later, it got horrible. Late that Wednesday night, Dali was wheezing so badly you could hear it in another room. I called Angell Memorial Hospital in Boston...a 24 hour emergency animal hospital, rated the best in the country. The girl on the phone could hear Dali's breathing and told me to get him in immediately!!! So I hang up the phone shaking. I get Dali ready to go in his little carrier. It had to be about 10 degrees out that night, so I wrapped his carrier in a big heavy towel and got in the car and off we drove. It was about 10pm, so the traffic from Worcester to Boston wouldn't be all that bad. The hospital is 45-60 minutes away, and I drove there at warp speed. When I finally got there, they admitted Dali, put him in an incubator with pure oxygen, and told me that they didn't think he'd even make it through the night. I almost had a heart attack right there. I broke down crying and asked the attending vet if I could go in and say goodbye to him just in case. She let me, and it was heartbreaking ...seeing this little featherless angle with a huge beak look up at me with those big black baby eyes, breathing in and out so heavy. The whole drive home I bawled. They said they'd call me immediately if he passed away during the night. I barely slept that night ...I kept waking up and looking at the clock, praying the phone wouldn't ring.

Finally the next morning at about 10am I got a call from who would be Dali's official doctor, Dr. Tracey Ritzman. She explained to me what she thought about Dali's condition and the treatment she'd like to start with. The next few days were really critical for Dali, but his doctor called me every single day to give me very detailed updates. I was able to bring Dali back home in about a week. Unfortunately, he had a relapse a few days later. I brought him to his local vet here so she could listen to his lungs, and she advised me to have him readmitted to Angell, so off we went! This was a Saturday, so we left directly from the local vet and drove right to Angell in Boston. It was much of the same thing...the aspiration pneumonia just wasn't going away, and now he had developed a secondary infection and his crop wouldn't empty properly. So now there were even more things to be concerned with. Dali would stay in an incubator with pure oxygen during all his hospital stays, and seemed to respond to that. His doctor did test upon test. Dali's white blood cell counts were up to 100,000 at times...the normal range is more like 10,000. The doctor took x-rays of his lungs to verify which arts had been damaged. Dali was back home in about 2 weeks this time, but not for long. The worst was still yet to come.

It was another middle of the night rush out to Angell. Dali's breathing got so bad within just a few hours time ....I remember I had given him a feeding and he sounded okay, but within 2 hours he could barely breath. Thank goodness it was at night, because if there was traffic we never would've made it in time. I got him in his carrier and we rushed...and I mean rushed...out to the hospital. I was going at least 90mph the entire way there. About half way there, I heard Dali started gasping for air. As I'm driving down the road at warp speed, I somehow ripped open Dali's carrier and pulled him out, bringing him up to my chest. I'm holding Dali in one arm, steering with the other. He was gasping really badly ....I was rubbing him, trying to calm him down, and then I raised him up to my face and started breathing air into his beak. I swear it was like giving him mouth-to-beak resuscitation. lol Between the breathing into his beak and rubbing his back (where his lungs were) it seemed to buy us time...it calmed him down to the point that he wasn't gasping anymore. I held him in my arm and breathed to him for the rest of the ride there. Finally we get there and I ran him in the building. The staff at Angell was used to seeing me at this point, so they rushed him right in to "his" incubator and got the oxygen flowing. The attending vet said he was probably aspirated again tonight ...I almost fell over when I heard that. It was MY FAULT this time!!! She assured me that it wasn't my fault, but that Dali was exceptionally prone to aspirating ever since his first experience. Even the doctors didn't want to feed him anymore in any way other than by the tube that goes all the way into his crop. They just couldn't risk him aspirating anymore. I, of course, still blamed myself.

They took x-rays within the next day or two and 50% of Dali's lungs showed to be permanently damaged. I asked his doctor if its possible to survive and live with only 50% of his lungs functioning, and she said yes it is, but he will be somewhat of a special needs bird. Well that was enough for me...if I knew he could live and function still, then I don't care what kind of special treatment he would need ...I'd most certainly give it to him. Well this third hospital stay lasted an entire month. I'd go visit Dali several times a week...as many times as I could get out to Boston. I'd bring him weaning pellets and fruits and toys. They let me have an empty room to bring Dali into to play with and cuddle with and teach him how to eat pellets. They really took good care of both of us. Everyone in the exotics ward was in love with Dali at this point. In fact, even people from other departments would come down to exotics just to visit with Dali!

The month he was in the hospital was like a roller coaster ride. One day was up, the next was down. I'll never forget one time I went to visit him and the second I saw him I started bawling. He was standing in his new "cage" (he was too big for the incubator at this point) and his beak was wide open, his tongue hanging all the way out of his mouth, and he was just gasping for air...not the same way he did in the car that night, but almost like he had just accepted that this was how he had to breathe. It was horrible to see, I couldn't bear to see him like that. I only stayed for about a half an hour visiting that day because it just broke my heart into a million pieces. I left the hospital in tears and feeling so helpless.

Throughout this month, the doctor would do everything she possibly could. They continued to gavage feed him so they wouldn't risk aspirating him again. He kept getting crop infections where his crop wouldn't empty out all the way. It got to the point where his doctor told me "honestly if he goes on like this for much longer, it might be time to start thinking about his quality of life." I couldn't bear to even fathom putting Dali to sleep. I just knew if I kept the faith he would pull through this, but I do have to admit ...keeping the faith wasn't easy. I continued to visit him and try to teach him how to eat moist pellets. About 3 1/2 weeks into his stay, the doctor asked my permission to try one more thing on Dali. She wanted to give him steroids for his lungs. It was always an option, but she wanted to save it for the absolute last resort because steroids can possibly cause severe damage to the bird. At this point, I felt I had no other option, and I really wanted to do everything possible. I also trusted Dr. Ritzman completely...she was so incredible with both Dali and me. So she treated him with steroids. I kid you not, like a miracle, within 3 days Dali was back home...this time for good. He never had another relapse again! He was still on meds that I had to give him, and still on hand feedings, but we didn't want to syringe feed him, so every single day I brought Dali to my local vet so they could tube feed him. You can imagine how difficult that was to keep in a schedule, so I worked really hard on weaning him. Every day I would sit with Dali and a bowl of warm, moist pellets. I would put them on a spoon and offer them to Dali ...he'd take some, chew it in his mouth, and sometimes by luck he'd swallow them. I wouldn't leave until the entire bowl of pellets was eaten. This would sometimes take hours upon hours, but I didn't mind. I wanted him to learn how to chew and swallow and enjoy his food without starving him by denying feedings. Once he started eating more and more pellets with me, we started cutting down on our visits to the vet for feedings. I started offering him other foods along with his pellets, like fruits, applesauce, peanut butter, etc. I didn't care how long it took, I would sit with Dali all day if I had to and teach him how to eat. He enjoyed it...he loved playing with his mashed pellets in this mouth. Eventually he would eat the pellets quicker and quicker until he didn't need any hand feedings anymore. Now Dali is an incredible eater...he will eat anything and tons of it!

The last time I brought Dali for a check up was just about 2 months ago. His vet listened to his lungs and said she couldn't hear any evidence that he ever had a lung problem! She said if she didn't know the story and know Dali, she would think he was never ill, because he sounded like a normal macaw. Dali is now a big beautiful macaw with a very wide vocabulary. He is extremely active...he loves to beat up his toys and yell at his toys and play with Monet. And the funny thing is, since the day he came home from Angell, he has never once been a "special needs" bird. His doctor really went above and beyond. Although they were happy to see Dali better and coming home with me, they were all sad to see him go too. They just adored Dali...they even got him a toys for his going home gift.

Oddly enough, just recently I came in contact with a breeder and owner of some of the most beautiful camelots you have ever seen. After briefly explaining Dali's story, she immediately guess it was Edith who sold him to me. Apparently Edith isn't even a breeder....she is a broker. Breeders give her baby birds and she hand feeds them until she sells them. That doesn't surprise me one bit. Dali's vet bills came to over $6,000. I had written statements from 4 avian specialists stating that they believed Dali was aspirated before he was in my possession, but Edith didn't care. She refused to stand by her health guarantee. I wanted the price of Dali refunded plus at least half of Dali's hospital bills. Nothing. I finally got a lawyer involved and all Edith offered was this: she'd give me back my initial price of Dali IF I returned him. Can you imagine???? 6 months after the fact, I spent $6,000 and endless blood, sweat, and tears on Dali, not to mention we had an incredible bond, and I'm supposed to return him for the price I paid for him? That doesn't even make SENSE! Well I couldn't really pursue the case much more because we are in 2 different states and I would have to go to TN...it would literally cost me more than it was worth. Although I wish this woman would get put out of business, at least I have my healthy, happy Dali. I have also recently found out about another person who bought a camelot from this very same woman around the same time I bought Dali. We actually suspect Dali and this other bird are probably clutch mates. This other woman also had horrible health problems when her camelot was a baby as well. I feel so bad for all the beautiful birds that Bird N' More takes in and sells, because this business is clearly in it only for the money without an ounce of regard for the health and well being of the birds they sell.

Dali is now 2 years old. He and Monet are the center of my world and I just worship them both. I am so glad I gave the hospital every chance to do whatever they could possibly do to save Dali, regardless of cost. No amount of money would've been too much to save Dali's life. The joy he has brought to me can't be measured in any dollar amount. Dr. Ritzman and everyone at Angell Memorial Animal Hospital truly went above and beyond, and Dali and I will both be forever grateful to them.