One of my sweet birds is sick and hospitalized right now. I've had her for 14 years and I love her so much. She's beautiful, has a pretty voice, is cute, sweet, silly, funny, all the wonderful things you could hope to have in a pet. Unfortunately she's going into seizures and the vets don't know what the cause is. They did blood work and x-rays and took cultures. The blood work came up normal and in the x-rays, there was something metallic looking in her lower torso/tummy area so they've got her on medication that's supposed to expel any harmful metals. If that's not the cause, then I'm not sure what could be wrong with her. I'm hoping that's what it is because then the seizures would stop.

When I called and told my parents, they kept telling me to take her out of the hospital because it was too expensive and she's "just a bird." She's been my friend for 14 years. She's NOT just a bird to me.

I'm really torn on what to do with her--if I should take her out of the hospital to save money (it's very expensive) and do as my parents say and let nature take its course, or if I should leave her there and spend the money so she can have a good rest of her life. After all, the blood work came up normal.

I don't actually know how old she is because I got her as an adult. She could very well be 20 years old or older. I don't know what happens at the end of a bird's life, what symptoms they start showing as they're ready to go. I wish I knew what to do in this situation. All I know is that I love her so much.