Cats and pet birds

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Agalena - 03 Nov 2003 22:41 GMT

We recently adopted 2 young female cats (18 months old) from the local
Humane Society. We also have a small parrot. Our previous cats were no
problem with the bird perhaps because they were older. What little interest
they showed was quickly discouraged with a squirt or two of water. However,
one of our new kitties is being a bone head and persisting in focusing her
attention on the bird. She hasn't out and out stalked him yet, but she's
awfully interested, watches him a lot, and tries to creep closer to his
cage. I've tried the squirt gun but have to practically soak her before it
distracts her. Should I squirt her every time she looks at the bird at all
or should I perhaps just let her look and only squirt her if she starts to
make a move toward him? Perhaps if I let her observe him from a distance,
she'll lose interest eventually. Any thoughts? Suggestions? Anybody else
dealt with this?

Agalena

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Sherry - 04 Nov 2003 00:32 GMT

>We recently adopted 2 young female cats (18 months old) from the local
>Humane Society. We also have a small parrot. Our previous cats were no
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>
>Agalena

Be *very* careful and diligent with your bird. (I don't know much about
parrots, but since you said he is small, I would assume a cat could kill him
easily?)
Anyway. I had a budgie for eight years and the cats didn't seem to pay much
attention to him. My complacency caused him to come to a very bad end..I came
home from work and the cage stand was knocked over, the bottom had fallen out,
and they'd killed the bird. If I had it to do over (although I love 'em, I just
can't bring myself to get anoother). I'd make sure the cage was practically
indestructable, and lock the bird up in his own room *any time* I was away from
home. Good luck. Just be really careful.

Sherry

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Sevyn - 04 Nov 2003 06:13 GMT

Depends on the cats. My last two cats went nuts when I first brought the
birds home but after a few weeks stopped paying them any attention. When I
brought my current cats home they spent weeks sitting and sleeping on top of
the cage, as if they were making it "theirs". As they got bigger, one
pretty much lost interest - the other still jumps up and sits on the cage a
couple times a week, occassionly snoozing. He will still sit and watch and
sometimes "hunt" the birds but never does more than bat the cage.

You can't stop the bahaviour completely - cats are basically tamed hunters.
What you can do is cat-proof the cage to prevent problems - secure the cage
to it's stand, floor, or wall; use clips to keep the cage doors from being
pawed open; keep the cage in a room with a door for when you are not home
and always supervise when your cats are in the area. Sounds like a lot but
a little prevention goes along way and your cats will eventually settle down
a bit.

What kind of parrot? A friend of mine has a Timneh African Grey that is the
boss of the three cats it lives with. Stalks the cats and chases them around
the floor sometimes too.

Sevyn

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Agalena - 04 Nov 2003 07:39 GMT

> Depends on the cats. My last two cats went nuts when I first brought the
> birds home but after a few weeks stopped paying them any attention. When I
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>
> Sevyn

Our parrot is a blue headed Pionus. He's smaller than an African Grey. He
could give the cats a good bite but would lose the battle, I'm afraid. Like
I said, our previous cats were never very interested in the bird, but these
2 are younger. We are supervising very closely and shutting the cage in
another room when we're not here.

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Alison - 04 Nov 2003 11:44 GMT

Hi,
How does the parrot react to the cats? If he doesn't seem to worried
, you could let the cat investigate the cage , under close supervision
.
With my cat , I would make a psst noise to gain her attention and
then distract her by playing or stroking her. If your cat is an
indoor cat then you might need to satisfy her hunting instincts by
playing with her more with a fishing rod type toy.

--
Alison

Links to animal information websites
http://mysite.freeserve.com/petinfolinks/

> We recently adopted 2 young female cats (18 months old) from the local
> Humane Society. We also have a small parrot. Our previous cats were no
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Agalena

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Agalena - 05 Nov 2003 03:28 GMT

The bird keeps his eye on the cats (we have two) and seems wary, but not
terrified. In addition to the squirt gun routine, we have also been trying
distraction. I'm hoping that once the novelty wears off, they'll lose
interest in the bird to some extent. As I said earlier, our previous cats
were no trouble in this regard although they were older. I've known a lot of
people with both cats and birds so I hope things will work themselves out.
The kitties have each other to "hunt". They spend a lot of their waking
hours chasing each other. They lose interested in chasing balls or dangling
type toys very quickly. It's MUCH more fun to chase each other, I guess.
That's one of the reasons I wanted 2 cats. And yes, they are indoor kitties.
Thanks for the input.

Agalena

> Hi,
> How does the parrot react to the cats? If he doesn't seem to worried
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> >
> > Agalena

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