Meet Our Animal Companions

Belle : Belle is a blue-eyed Siberian husky and malamute mix that we adopted at the age of 1 1/2 yrs in November of 1996. Her favorite activities are running while Bill bikes, walking in the park, meeting other people and dogs, and more running. She also really likes snow. Her two best friends in the neighborhood are Digger and Roxie.

Jasmine : Jasmine is a black lab mix that we adopted at the age of 6 months in June of 1996. She was obviously abused and is deathly afraid of kids (especially if they are on a bike or roller-blading) but she is getting better. Much to our surprise, we discovered all four of her legs had major orthopedic problems. Her front right leg was previously broken and healed incorrectly. She will always have a slight problem with this leg, as it is an inch shorter than it should be and has joint damage. She has had two major surgeries to correct her hip dysplasia and misaligned back legs. About the only major surgery left to do is straighten her front right leg. Since she is not currently having problems, we are hoping to put this surgery off indefinitely. Although not perfect, she is now able to run around and enjoy life and is relatively pain-free. Our thanks to Dr. Slocum in Eugene, Oregon for doing such a great job on our puppy!

On new year's eve 1999, Jasmine had knee surgery on her back right leg. Dr. Timothy Munjar of the Surgical Specialty Clinic for Animals (in Beaverton, OR) performed the procedure. Dr. Munjar is not only an excellent surgeon, he also really cares about animals. We would recommend him to anyone. At this time, we also discovered Jasmine had bladder stones which required her to be on a special diet the rest of her life. Unfortunately, her life was to be only two years longer. In the end, Jasmine's hip surgery failed and we helped her precious spirit leave her crippled body on January 30th, 2002.

Dora:

Max : Max is a noble macaw who is definitely Cathy's bird. She purchased him 15 yrs ago (in the year of 1983) at the age of approximately 6 months. Amazingly, Max survived being the bird Cathy (before she knew better) made many mistakes with (No, Dr. Pepper, Doritos, and M&M's are NOT food that should be given to birds). Max intensely resented the addition of Bill to the household and manifested his frustration in the form of feather-plucking. A testimony to a bird's fragile psyche, the feather-plucking is now a bad habit that will probably never be cured. Despite the fact that he looks like he's ready to be stuffed and put in an oven, he is an otherwise healthy, grumpy old bird. Here are some pictures of Max.

Princess : Princess is a blue-crowned conure and buddy, of sorts, to Tommy (see below). Princess and Tommy were kept in the same cage before they came to live with us in 1994 - both being about a year of age at the time. Princess learned to push Tommy out of the way whenever she felt like, so picked up the nickname "Butthead". Having recently been told by the vet that Princess is probably male, Bill wanted to rename "her" the "Bird Formerly Known As Princess" or "g" for short. Call her what you want, as long as you pay attention to her she's happy. She's says a few phrases including: Hello, Come Here Pretty Bird (or Butthead), and I Love You. She also giggles, clucks like a chicken, and makes kissy noises, as well as assorted odd sounds.

Tommy : Tommy was sold to us as a St.Thomas conure . He may actually be another one of the subspecies of brown-throated conures. If you can help us identify him for sure please contact us through email. Tommy is as cantakerous, if not more so, than Max. He has a nasty habit of flying to, and biting, people he finds objectionable. He can say Hello and ring like a telephone, as well as laugh (something he's been known to do before biting). Despite the fact that he has been bitten by Max (and is less than half his size), he still tries to sneak over to Max's cage for a challenge every now and then. He is basically our little bird with an attitude.

Cassidy : Cassidy is a sun conure and the only one of our birds that we hand-fed ourselves. She came to us at the age of 2 months in 1995, but will always be thought of as the baby. She will lay on her back on our hands and likes it when Bill doesn't shave, because she enjoys rubbing her beak on his stubble. She also likes to show off her agility by teasing Princess. Princess is rather lazy and Cassidy knows just how close she can get (either by flying, sneaking up on the same perch, or hanging just out of reach on a higher perch) to her on the jungle gym without getting 'tagged'. She also likes to sneak a nibble on Red's (see below) tail when he isn't paying attention. Her only really annoying trait is throwing her expensive food up in the air and onto the floor just for the amusement of watching it fall.

Red : Red is a yellow-backed chattering lory. He came to us in 1996, at the age of 3 yrs, already saying Hi Red so the name stuck. He's had at least 2 other owners, who found him too messy and hard to deal with; but he has a permanent loving home with us. The phrase "Carpe Diem" fits him perfectly. Not only does does he manage to find fun in everything he does, he literally loves to grab whatever catches his attention. This bird has no fear and anything noisy, colorful, bright, or in motion is seen as something to investigate. His favorite way to play is on his back clutching his toy. He will also toss any object that isn't attached and expect you to throw it back. He quickly trains most of our company how to play catch with him. Red's vocal and mimicking abilities are too numerous to list, but some of his favorites phrases are Peekaboo, I'm going to get you, Hi Red, Hiya Butthead, and Come here Belle (followed by a whistle). When playing with toys he often utters Ow! , Red!, Stop it!! He'll say Cathy in a deep voice, then responds with What? in a high voice. He can scream like a red-tailed hawk, ring like a phone, gurgle like running water, and cough like he's bringing up a lung. He imitates a squeaky door, our car alarm, a smoke detector, and the whine of the kitchen faucet. He whistles like a cockatiel, wolf whistles, and used to whistle the Andy Griffith tune, but has changed it around so much that only we can recognize it. His attempts at singing make us laugh. And that is just the beginning! Red is officially our "2 yr-old on a sugar high" bird.

Fish : (2) 55gal tanks, (1) 50gal tank, (2) 20gal tanks, (2) 10gal tanks including African cichlids, a tiretrack eel ("Roadkill" is 2 feet long and no longer fed by hand!), a green-spotted puffer ("Spot" is at least 4 yrs old and going strong), and your typical community fish.

Having gotten down to only guppies, Texas cichlids,  plecos and the eel, we lost our eel on the eve of Sept. 11th 1999. In February 2002, we gave our remaining fish away and sold all the equipment to make a move to San Diego, CA.

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Copyright 1998 Bill and Cathy Strahm.
Last revised: April 23, 2002.