Chemo gives parrot additional 9 months

TAMPA, Fla., March 19 (UPI) -- A Tampa, Fla. woman said goodbye to her parrot, a companion of 30 years, who died this week after undergoing chemotherapy for skin cancer, the owner said.

Areba, a 42-year-old Wagler's Conure, received weekly chemotherapy treatment for a year after she was diagnosed with cancer, the British publication Daily Mail reported Thursday. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, a year after owner Anne Lowery said she noticed a lesion on the bird's beak.

"When the doctors at Tampa told me that Areba had cancer, they gave her only two months to live," Lowery said. "As it turned out we got an extra nine months with Areba and the staff there ended up loving her as much as did."

Lowery, who takes in rescue animals and owns 11 other parrots, said she spent about $75,000 for Areba's weekly treatment. Areba died Tuesday.

Veterinarian Teresa Lightfoot said she believes the aggressive treatment "improved her (Areba's) quality of life and, of course, gave her and her mom, Anne, a lot more time together."