# Cats and Birds **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 24, 2000, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-birds/16308 "2000-04-24T04:20:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-birds/16308/1 "2000-04-24T04:20:00Z")
I have two house cats. Daughter wants a cockatiel. Can two Sylvesters and one Tweety co-exist in the house? Or is this a stupid idea? I think it’s a stupid idea, though “the boys” would probably appreciate a new hobby. But can such a scenario work out ? Thanks for any input. ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-birds/16308/2 "2000-04-24T04:51:00Z")
My girlfriend had both a cat and a lovebird. The cat, Fester, was a fat old orange tabby who showed plenty of interest in the little fluttery thing, but seemed way too long in the tooth to act on it, and besides the cage (one of those wicker or bamboo pagoda type cages) was suspended from the ceiling, out of reach, right? Well, she comes home from school to find the cage is on the ground, torn to pieces. The bird luckily is safe on top of the refridgerator, and Fester is nonchalantly napping on her bed. Our best guess is that the cat jumped a chair , got onto a kitchen table, from there he jumped and climbed a set of curtains, then to a high bookshelf (pawprints in the dust proved that) then a suspiciously acrobatic leap onto the cage. Cats are pretty resourceful. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-birds/16308/3 "2000-04-24T05:14:00Z")
I had a cat and a parakeet. The cage was hung from the ceiling, just as **Inky-** mentioned. The cat never managed to get at it, but she never forgot that it was there. She had her “hunter” face on most of the time. Even when she got old and fat. They both died of old age. I figure I was lucky. It would be very difficult to manage with kids in the house, I think. Peace, mangeorge * * * Teach your kids to bungee jump. One them might have to cross a bridge someday. ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Fortune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Commander\_Fortune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Fortune)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-birds/16308/4 "2000-04-24T05:26:00Z")
I have two old neutered male cats as well as a male cockatiel. The cats became completely uninterested in the bird by the third week we had him in the house. Every now and then the cats get a little to close to the cockatiel’s cage and he’ll puff himself up and start hissing and flapping. That ruckus of hsi is more than enough for the cats to be motivated to leave him alone and it makes the bird feel mighty and want to preen himself. The cats are 13 and 12 years old. The bird is 4 years old. With the snake and the fish, it’s a merry menagerie. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-birds/16308/5 "2000-05-01T04:13:54Z")
My household grew up with two cats and a blue jay. Yep - blue jay. Actually 2, but not simultaneously. First was kept for about 5 yrs before dying, of heat stroke I think. We went on vacation and the person who was supposed to look after it forgot. Poor birdie ran out of water. Second one lived with us for 11 yrs before we found it a home with an old man, last I heard the bird was 13 and still fiesty. We cycled through 3 cats with blue jays. No major problems. The biggest deal was to put the cats out or in the bedrooms whenever we let the bird out. And have a good sturdy cage for the bird, so the cat cannot break it. One of the cats did jump on top of the cage a couple times, but after he figured out it didn’t work, he gave up on it - as far as we could tell. It’s not impossible. But it does take a little effort to make sure you don’t accidentally leave a cat in when the bird is out. ---
**Author:** ![Jois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea666f/32.png) [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-birds/16308/6 "2000-05-01T04:48:46Z")
Friends have a cockatiel (was a pair, one died) who has chewed through most of the wood on the inside of an orieol (phew - fancy window with 12 panes on top and nine on bottom) window. Flies all over the place and is hard to catch. I think they are supposed to have wings clipped soit won’t fly and “forget” to do it. The female was a big time egg producer and that’s when they were told that if allowed to hatch a batch they were no longer pets but parents. Pretty negative, right? Maybe these friends just make it look like a whole lot of work and not a lot of fun. ---
**Author:** ![Michi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@Michi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michi)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-and-birds/16308/7 "2000-05-01T12:54:17Z")
I have 4 cats and 4 birds and they all get along fine. I also have 2 rats, and the cats don’t care much about them, either.