Hi everyone! My partner and I just combined households last month. Between the two of us, we have 8 rescued cats and a cherry-headed conure named Joey. The cats are for the most part seniors and the bird is probably 20 years old. My partner has had the conure for more than 15 years. I've been interacting with the bird for about 9 months. Her cats have a healthy fear of the bird, who screams and bites. My own cats are wildy intrigued by the new bird. The bird doesn't seem to have any fear of cats at all.
Before we combined households, the bird had free reign of my partner’s bedroom. She'd shoo cats out during the day. Cats who had run of the rest of the house definitely got much more of her time. Thus, the bird was lonely and would frequently scream for attention when she sensed that my partner was home. Since moving in with me, the bird has been caged most of the time with a blanket over the cage to keep him calm while we try to integrate our cats enough to clear out the bedroom so bird can have the back bedroom to himself. Joey is quite understandably not very happy about this.
I’ve been trying to get him out of his cage to play with him for several hours a day, with her cats lounging on bed but keeping their distance as they've been nipped before and have healthy respect for the bird. The few hours a day is clearly NOT enough for Joey.
To complicate matters, once I came into his life, Joey decided that I'm "his person" and has become somewhat aggressive with my partner whenever he's sitting on me, which has been upsetting to her. He's gone from nipping to actually biting her pretty hard.
Both my partner and I have to work so don’t have lots of time to spend with the bird during weekdays. I think getting a second bird is likely to just double the issues we have. I can’t afford it and frankly, since I’m 50, feel it would be irresponsible of me to bring in a 2nd bird that might outlive me. I’d like to find a way to better integrate Joey when we are around (for instance, watching tv with bird on my shoulder/lap in the tv room, where cats are also lounging) but am worried that cats might try to sneak up and pounce on him.
We have a neighbor with an infant upstairs and don’t want Joey’s screaming to result in our being forced to rehome him. His nipping/biting is quite disconcerting as well. Last night he took a dislike to my socks and attacked them out of the blue.
I need guidance from other parrot owners/experts to figure out a way to improve Joey’s life. I know so little about birds and am trying to learn quickly so thanks in advance for everyone's help.
Carolyn
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Before we combined households, the bird had free reign of my partner’s bedroom. She'd shoo cats out during the day. Cats who had run of the rest of the house definitely got much more of her time. Thus, the bird was lonely and would frequently scream for attention when she sensed that my partner was home. Since moving in with me, the bird has been caged most of the time with a blanket over the cage to keep him calm while we try to integrate our cats enough to clear out the bedroom so bird can have the back bedroom to himself. Joey is quite understandably not very happy about this.
I’ve been trying to get him out of his cage to play with him for several hours a day, with her cats lounging on bed but keeping their distance as they've been nipped before and have healthy respect for the bird. The few hours a day is clearly NOT enough for Joey.
To complicate matters, once I came into his life, Joey decided that I'm "his person" and has become somewhat aggressive with my partner whenever he's sitting on me, which has been upsetting to her. He's gone from nipping to actually biting her pretty hard.
Both my partner and I have to work so don’t have lots of time to spend with the bird during weekdays. I think getting a second bird is likely to just double the issues we have. I can’t afford it and frankly, since I’m 50, feel it would be irresponsible of me to bring in a 2nd bird that might outlive me. I’d like to find a way to better integrate Joey when we are around (for instance, watching tv with bird on my shoulder/lap in the tv room, where cats are also lounging) but am worried that cats might try to sneak up and pounce on him.
We have a neighbor with an infant upstairs and don’t want Joey’s screaming to result in our being forced to rehome him. His nipping/biting is quite disconcerting as well. Last night he took a dislike to my socks and attacked them out of the blue.
I need guidance from other parrot owners/experts to figure out a way to improve Joey’s life. I know so little about birds and am trying to learn quickly so thanks in advance for everyone's help.
Carolyn
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