Parrots and cats

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

So we have a Jardine’s parrot-- 11 years old. He spends a lot of time out of his cage but usually sticks close to his cage even when he’s out.

We would like to get a cat. Mr Capybara and I both like kitties – he feels a yearning for a petting-and-lounging-on-lap cuddly animal (the parrot loves me, not he, so their relationship is not cuddly, if you catch my drift, although they get along fine).

So, any advice on how to incorporate a kitten into a pre-parroted household with a positive outcome? Cat-apathy re: parrot is a goal, I suppose, or at least cat not viewing parrot as plaything or food source.

Murphy (the parrot) is fine with cats-- his prior owners must have had one or more (when we got him (age 9) he already knew meowing) and he spends a lot of time around in-laws cats (one is very mellow and the other is otherwise obsessed by squirrels, instead, and hardly notices the bird), so it’s not a problem on his end.

Anyone done this?

#2

Check with danceswithcats, if he doesn’t show up of his own accord – I believe he singswithparrots as well as danceswithcats.

#3

Can’t help you much with this one. We have very strict lockdown rules for our cats whenever a parrot, guinea pig, or parakeet is out of its cage.

I can’t imagine ever removing the cat’s basic instinct to pounce on small creatures, and even if the cat is really only playing, the other critter may suffer.

#4

I’m afraid I don’t know how big a Jardine’s Parrot is, but we have two African Greys that hold their own against my admittedly scaredy cat. The parrots stay on their cages, and occasionally the cat saunters over near them, and they sort of check each other out, but they don’t mes with each other.

Obviously, the birds are safe in their cages whenever we leave them home alone. My cat’s not a big jumper, and the top of the cages are covered with bird stuff, so we don’t have to worry about him menacing them from above.

If you get a kitten, you’ll be able to train him not to jump up on the cage if that’ll be a problem. Otherwise, I think that so long as you don’t let your parrot flutter around on the floor in best “look at me, I’m a cat toy” fashion, everything should be fine.

Just my humble opinion. :slight_smile:

#5

Indeed. :wink: Had a blue fronted amazon and a mitred conure who lived with an older indoor cat. There was a smackfest one afternoon when the amazon bit the cat’s tail for sitting on ‘his’ couch. Kitty slapped the parrot to the floor, but undaunted, the amazon climbed the couch and again bit the cat. Kitty gave me a ‘screw this’ look and wandered off, leaving the victor to raise his wings, Rocky style.

No longer with dedicated indoor cats, kitties come inside to see the green thing which screams at them through the window. The conure is able to remove wallpaper when he sees a cat-outside. He remains mute when one is four feet away. Go figure.