$75,000 in Cancer Treatments Couldn't Save Areba the Parrot

$75,000 in Cancer Treatments Couldn't Save Areba the Parrot

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Courtesy Anne Lowery


With two years of cancer treatments at a cost of over $75,000, it
seemed as if Areba the parrot would win her battle over the deadly
disease. After all, the upbeat bird was dancing around merrily just two
hours after one of her final surgeries on March 16 and was even happily
eating one of her favorite meals—a blueberry muffin. Sadly, that day
would be her last.

Owner Anne Lowery, a longtime parrot
rescuer, found her best friend just hours later dead—standing—with the
muffin crumbs still inside her beak.

"I was devastated,"
Lowery, 54, tells PEOPLEPets.com. "But it was unconditional love, that's
pretty much the extent of it. We did everything we could to save her
and we really thought we had conquered it."

To pay for the
enormous medical bills, Lowery, an income tax specialist, says she had
to stretch her credit limit on her credit cards.

"I was just
honest with [the bank] and told them the situation," she says. "It'll
take me two years to pay it off but that's not a long time for me. It
was all worth it to me because we really thought it would work out in
the end and that she would be cured."

The Wagler's conure
parrot, who was in her late 30s or early 40s, had been undergoing
chemotherapy treatments at Tampa's Florida Veterinary Specialists. She
was diagnosed with skin cancer in February 2009, when Lowery first found
a small lesion on the side of the bird's mouth. Under the care of Dr.
Teresa Lightfoot, an expert in the avian and exotic animal ward, the
parrot was being treated with around-the-clock care.

"It's just
strange to walk in the morning and not have Areba there," Dr. Lightfoot
says. "She was such a loving bird."

According to the
veterinarian, the green bird would to love hop out of her cage and plop
onto someone's chest and cuddle with anyone who was willing.

"That's
not that common for that type of parrot," Dr. Lightfoot says. "Most of
her kind don't like to be touched on the back, especially by strangers,
and cuddling isn't something that conures do. She was just really bonded
together with people, and, of course, she loved Anne."

Today,
Lowery—who owns 11 other parrots—says she is still trying to cope with
the loss of her friend, who she says was like her own child.

"She
was strong and was like a real little champ," she says. "She would say
'mama' and come to me whenever I visited. I miss holding her every
night."

See more pricey pets on PEOPLEPets.com:
'Bionic' Dog Has $25,000 Worth of Artificial Joints
Woman Spends Nearly $20,000 For Cat’s Meow

I don't have that kind of $. But people will spend it even if they don't have it.

yeah true im not that ritch lol wish i was tho