I just thought I would share my story...
8 days ago on Monday I lost my best friend, my pet cockatiel Louie and I have been devastated since than. He flew out the door that was cracked and I immediately went searching for him and I also had hundreds of fliers made up to put in the neighborhood, stores and everywhere that I could think that people would see it. He was gone in a flash! I walked miles looking for him and calling in the trees in every direction and I left his cage outside to see if he could find his way back and I knew that he would be getting hungry also.
The first 4 days that he went missing that was all I did was search for him constantly and was VERY depressed and crying a WHOLE lot. I did not eat for 4 days and I could not sleep good either. It took about 5 days before I would even touch my computer or leave the house to do anything and when I did leave the house it was to search for Louie! This is the first time that I have lost a pet or anything for that matter and I am so devastated about it. Especially because I raised Louie from 1 day old because he was abandoned and I spent a lot of time raising him and hand feeding him for 2 months. He was 7 months old when he flew out the door last week! I also took him to the Avian vet for check-ups because I was scared when I had to handfeed him and I wanted to make sure he was healthy and doing okay, the nearest avain vet was about an hour away.. I love Louie so much! He was very tame and would fly over to me every time he was out of the cage, if I would take him out and run for fun he would chase me down to land on my shoulder, he would ALWAYS find me. I wished that I would have had his wings clipped now because this is so painful being without him and I am VERY much blaming myself. I didn't want to clip his wings because he was so tame and it was fun watching him fly!
It has been 8 days since I lost him and I can eat and sleep good now but Louie is still always on my mind constantly. I pray for his safety in the wild everyday and I still pray that he will come home, I guess I am praying for a miracle but I know that I do not expect it. Louie's cage is also still in my living room and I used to clean it and remove the paper towels everyday but since he has left I have just kept the cage the way it is, it is not messy but there is a little food on the bottum and maybe a couple of droppings from 1day of use from Louie but I don't want to clean it because it will hurt too bad.
The pain is still here but a little easier and I miss him so so much and I don't want to be in pain but I am. I kind of think that I should be in pain and that I deserve it and if I am not sad then it is cruel to my Louie and not fair that I am happy when he is out there suffering and hunting for food and avoiding predators. I just hope so much that he has been rescued and is happy right now!