"Hopitus2" <Hopitus2@comcast.net> had some very interesting things to
say about Re: antifreeze warning:

My bird doesn't worry at all about the cat. In fact, Avery *teases*
Felix. We actually would be happier if Avery were more cautious about
cats, but we've seen him ignore a paw patting at tail feathers [that
was when we intervened. Felix isn't much of a hunter, being about 10
and very much an indoor lazy kind of cat :-), but we only allow Avery
out of secure confinement when at least one human is present and alert
enough to keep an eye on who's where].

As for how he joined the family, he adopted us by showing up injured
on the doorstep on a cold night [poor little guy was pretty hungry,
too]. By the time he healed up, we'd gotten attached, and it was clear
that he's a born-domestic dove with little or no ability to survive on
his own in the wild, so he's better off with us, we think.

Well, this is a little long winded, and, I can't speak for everyone,
but in my case, I had my birds for several years before the cat
invasion. To be honest, I invited the cats, as I've always put out
food. I've always liked to pet any friendly felines who come to visit
and eat, but didn't really intend to get a cat.

Then three years ago a very pregnant, skinny little 10 month old
showed up on the doorstep during an ice storm. I let her inside out of
the cold and checked around the neighborhood trying to find an owner.
But no one claimed the very friendly girl. She stayed locked in the
bedroom while I tried to find her a home. Clever girl that she is, she
never even looked in at the birds when I let her into the living while
I was home.

Once it warmed up outside, I tried putting her outside. But she had
figured out that it was pretty nice inside and was pretty insistent
that she come inside. When the upstairs neighbor saw her hanging
around the doorstep demanding to come back inside, she called her a
little bitty pregnant cat, and Little Bit got her name. I decided to
let her stay inside while I continued to try to find her a home. I
didn't find anyone who wanted a pregnant cat, but found several who
would take a kitten when they were big enough.

One night she had her kittens in the bedroom closet. To make a long
story a little shorter, somewhere along the line I stopped looking for
a home for Little Bit. By the time the kittens were big enough to go
to their new families, I'd decided my favorite kitten was going to
stay with me. So, that's how I got Sammy.

Anyway, during this time I was keeping close tabs on how the birds
were taking to this furry invasion. They've never showed any signs of
being stressed by having the cats around, in fact they hissed more at
some of the hoomins who came in to see the kittens than Little Bit or
her babies. At the time, if a choice had had to be made between the
birds, who had been with me for years, or the cats, I'd probably still
be reading a bird group instead of cat group.

After I made the decision to keep the cats, I still continued to put
out food those cats who had become regulars outside. I'd been putting
out food fo a couple years by this time, and there was a feral tom cat
who had been coming to eat for a couple years before Little Bit made
her appearance. For the first six months all I saw of him was his
tail, since he took off whenever he saw me. Then he would sit around
on the patio waiting for the bowl to be filled. By last year he was
waiting for me when I came home, and would come up to me for some
petting before he went off to eat. It took a while for him to convince
me that he was ready to retire from life on streets, but after a
couple trips to TED to get him fixed up after fights, I finally
decided to get him neutered and find him a regular home.

By that time he had visited inside pretty regularly - usually to steal
the girls' food. He noticed the birds right away after, but learned
that looking at them as prey earned him a squirt from the water
bottle. After the first few times inside he just started ignoring
them.

Anyway, I did find him a home, but when I went to pick him up at the
clinic after being neutered I brought him home here instead - with the
new name of Rocky.

As I said in earlier posts, of the three cats only Sammy pays any
attention to the birds these days. Little Bit and Rocky ignore them.
Sam sometimes climbs on top of the cage for naps - probably because
the lamp hanging over the cage makes it a nice and warm place.

I truely don't think the birds are afraid of the cats - though it
would probably be safer if they were. Sunny, my older cockatiel, was
abused before I got her. I got her free from a pet store because she'd
been handled roughly and had a broken wing. To this day, she freaks if
anyone comes in wearing brown gloves. Cockatiels may not have the
volume of the bigger parrots, but she screams as long as she can see
those brown gloves. The cats don't even rate a hiss in her mind.

That said, I don't tempt fate by having the birds out without locking
the cats safely out of the room.