I have two cats, Paris and Vienna. Paris, 8, is fairly well-behaved, while Vienna, 2, can be a trouble maker. Both cats are neutered and de-clawed.
I’m thinking of getting a bird or two. I have a beautiful antique sewing machine in my kitchen, in front of an easterly window . . . the perfect spot for a nice bird cage. But I’m worried about the cats, especially Vienna. I don’t think she’d actually be able to get into a well-contructed cage, but I think I could count on her to terrorize them, especially when I’m not around.
Do any of you have cats and birds, coexisting in the same space? I don’t want to be keeping the cats out of any rooms.
It would probably not end well for the bird. My parakeet could not stand being stuck in his cage all day and he is far to trusting of all other 2 and 4 legged creatures!
I grew up owning cats and parakeets. My grandmother had a cat and a parakeet. We have pictures of our cats playing with our parakeets. (They were carefully supervised!)
The cats paid no attention to the birds when they were in their cages, and the birds did not freak out in the presence of the cats.
I couldn’t speak for other kinds of birds. I’m thinking parakeets are particularly friendly and naive.
I had a cat and a cockateil. As far as I could tell, they didn’t even know each other existed. I would just make sure that the bird cage is positioned to where the cat couldn’t get right up next to it.
I used to have two budgies (parakeets) that occasionally shared living space with a cat. To be honest, it was a bit of a pain, but that was because the birds needed to get out of their cages and get exercise, and therefore had to be supervised (even though the cat was too lazy to chase them, if one had landed in front of him, it might have been too much temptation).
Even if you don’t let the bird out of its cage, if the cats are at all interested in the bird, they could make its life very stressful. It also depends upon the personality of the bird, as some can be completely oblivious and foolhardy, and some can be very timid.
Also, if you do get a bird without the intention of letting it out of its cage, then you will probably end up with a bird that is either depressed (if it is on its own), or doesn’t interact with you very much (if it is part of a pair). And looking after a depressed bird is not much fun, even if it is pretty to look at.
I, personally, wouldn’t recommend you get a bird, as it sounds like you are thinking about it from an aesthetic point of view - I think you may be underestimating the needs of a small bird. Maybe a fishtank instead?
At one point my ex and I had a cat, a peach faced love bird, a cockateil, and a brown thoated conure. We were always at home when we let the birds* out of their cages and after a couple of aborted attacks, the cat sort of learned to leave them alone----at least when I or the ex were around; if the birds had been out of their cages while we were not at home, I expect the cat would have killed and eaten whichever bird was the easiest to catch.
*That conure wouldn’t leave his cage; he was the meanest damn bird I ever knew. I traded a couple of Oscars for that bird without knowing his background. I actually wore welder’s gloves when cleaning his cage—he would attack whatever part of me was closest and he could bite like the very devil. I expect he might have killed and eaten the cat, if it came right down to it.
I have parrots and cats. The parrots catcall, target-poop and whip toys at the cats. They also STARE at the cats, and have on occasion snapped at them (usually tail-tips). We watch the cats if the birds are out, only one of them is dumb enough to go close, It seems to work because I have grumpy, stare-y slow moving birds and my cats want mice.
I have two parakeets and a cat. She was interested in them for a few days, until I just let her sit next to them and watch them (they didn’t freak out). Now… she doesn’t care about them, they don’t care about her. I guess they are just furniture to her.
I hope you mean you’d never let the bird out of the cage while the cats were in the room. If you DID mean it the way you said it, please don’t get a bird. Birds are more than just decorations. They like to interact with you, and they need the exercise they can get outside of the cage.
That being said, without keeping the bird/cats in different rooms while you were away, there’s no way to keep the cat from terrorizing the bird if she’s inclined to do so. But depending on the bird, it might not be terrorized anyway. My lovebird is absolutely unafraid of my cats (which is one reason she’s neverever out of the cage when they’re around–they’re either locked in a bedroom, or out on the screened patio when Sunshine is flying around.)
At one time, I had three cats and a cockatiel. If I was home, the bird cage was open, he hated being cooped up. They never bugged him in his cage (it was out of their reach to resist temptation, anyway), and seemed disinterested at best when he was out. He would walk around on the floor and climb over them if they were in his path. I wish I had pictures. They lived together in harmony about ten years. It makes me feel a little melancholy now, they have all passed away.
For the record: totally inside cats, never got used to the idea of hunting birds, though they enjoyed watching them through the window. Even when presented with a hamster to sniff, they just slobbered on and licked the poor thing.
OMG, that video is adorable. He’s petting the cat!
I have to say, FTR, though, that I’ve been taught not to allow any contact between bird and cat/dog/human mouth, because we all have the pasturella bacteria in our saliva that can be deadly to birds (and of course, cats/dogs lick themselves all over.)
My cats lie in the windowsill next to the birdcage and totally ignore the birds. However, if my peach-face lovebird is in a mood, I would never let her near the cat because the bird would mutilate the cat. She stalks the Rottie/pit, clearly convinced she could take down the dog. Our cockatiels just watch everything go by. They’re pretty low key.
I think it depends on the animals in question. I’ve heard more than once, however, that when you are in the room cats may act completely disinterested in birds or “critter” pets, but when you leave will immediately start scheming and plotting.
We have three cats, all older neutered males who usually like to spend as much time as possible snoozing in someone’s lap. Preferably, that someone should be wearing jeans–there’s just something about denim. So recently we had to look after a friend’s pet rats for a few days; there were two of them in a small terrarium. On high we placed it, atop a tall stereo cabinet, and seemingly well out of reach. None of the cats had seemed to have any interest at all in the rodents. But lo! when we arose next morning, one of the tall speakers lay prone in the dust, just like Ozymandius lay in the desert sand. Clearly there had been some predatorial scurrying during the night.
In all seriousness, even if a cat doesn’t succeed in killing its prey, the encounter can be so terrifying to the prey that they never really recover. Another time with the above mentioned rats, I inadvertently let one of the cats get near the enclosure. The cat’s single-minded, eager attentiveness towards the rats was unmistakable, as was the rats’ terror. One of them tried to burrow into the bedding behind the water dish and actually seemed to have a cartoon-like expression of fear on its face. I’m sure these rats had never seen a cat, and the cats haven’t seen a rat in about twelve years, but there was no doubt on either side as to which way the transaction was supposed to go.
My cat, Cleo and my Quaker, Sami, acknowledge each other’s presence but Cleo is absolutely TERRIFIED of Sami. I think it has something to do with The Evil Green Chicken not only biting her on the paw when she was reaching up to touch her cage, but she also got nailed in the nose shortly after. I do supervise them when she’s out and Cleo’s in the room.
For those of you who have cats and birds, how do you make this work? I’ve considered getting a conure, but never got any further than the above in terms of research, because it seemed like it would be too risky for the bird with two cats around (who are fond of grooming themselves and each other).
On the other hand, when I was a kid there came a weekend when it was my turn to take the science class lab rats home to care for. The rats were kept in their cage, in the bathtub, behind a firmly closed bathroom door, but I was curious to see what my cat’s reaction would be. So I picked her up, and made sure to hold her very very firmly. Now, the distance from door to cage was probably about 5 feet, plus the cat was about four or so feet above the cage. They weren’t anywhere near each other. But my poor cat was absolutely terrified by those strange little white things. As tightly as I was holding her, she clawed her way over my head and shoulders and took off running like her tail was on fire.
She was a weenie, but a very loving cat. I really miss her.
