How do your pets and bird interact

Before I worry you, I don’t mean directly! I have five kitties and a green cheek conure. They are never alone together and if I’m not home Jethro is in my room behind a locked door. It’s just interesting to see them interact when I have Jethro in his harness. Four of my cats express no interest but my eldest cat meows at him and he chatters back and I just find it interesting.

We have a cairn terrier, Tinker, who is scared s**tless of Salty, who will try to bite her any chance he gets. The stinker will even call Tinker over, using Geri's voice, to see if he can get a chomp. "Tinker, Tinker, here puppy!" But Tinker is too smart for that. She gives Salty a wide berth. Now we dog-sat a relatives terrier, some Portuguese one, and she would not stop trying to get at Salty in his cage, jumping up to see him and snapping at the bars. We had to banish her to the basement during her stay. The rule about never leaving any pets and your parrot un-supervised should always be observed, and better still is to keep them separated by a door. The split second it takes for both cat or dog to decide that this is the time to try parrot for dinner is too quick for your reflexes.

wrench13 said:

The split second it takes for both cat or dog to decide that this is the time to try parrot for dinner is too quick for your reflexes.

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I agree. My opinion may not be popular but I do not mind reiterating.

With the possible exception (and here too one should be cautious) of some well trained dogs of some selected breeds , keeping predatory mammals and birds together is not a good idea -this includes cats, rats, ferrets etc.

You may have had them safely for 35 years but the 36th year could just be the year when there is Parrot blood on your floor.

My dogs and birds do not interact. My dogs are little (a miniature pinscher and a miniature schnauzer), and are naturally wired to be ratters, so they have a knack for chasing small animals - whether rodents, birds or the likes. My door is always locked when the birds are out of the cage. The only time they "interact" is when the birdies are in their downstairs/outdoor cage on the patio, and my schnauzer sometimes sits and stares at them, usually I usher her away when I see her doing it. I also catch her gawking at the aviary birds occasionally. Despite all this, I think she's accepted that she'll probably never get to them.

Our first bird, Tango, was killed right in front of us! We couldn’t move fast enough!
A little over a week ago, one of our members lost his companion to his pet rat!

I have 4 birds and one cat. I never allow them to interact at all - as I know our cat hunts when he’s outside. When the birds are out, the cat is either outside or behind a closed door elsewhere in the house. Thankfully with just 2 people in the house, it is relatively easy to make sure that the other person knows not to let the cat out.

I have 2 cats, a Maine Coon and a Turkish Van. The Coon is oblivous, i think he is a bit brain dead. The Van will stare at Rudy near incessantly, tremble when Rudy is flighted. Every once in awhile Rudy will go open mouth and wings and the Van will disappear like a bullet. The Coon, looks to roll over.

AM I worried? nope. Cats are domesticated to some point, Rudy is near wild. My estimate.. Rudy 1 - Van 0 - Coon 0

Cardinal said:

wrench13 said:

The split second it takes for both cat or dog to decide that this is the time to try parrot for dinner is too quick for your reflexes.

Click to expand...

I agree. My opinion may not be popular but I do not mind reiterating.

With the possible exception (and here too one should be cautious) of some well trained dogs of some selected breeds , keeping predatory mammals and birds together is not a good idea -this includes cats, rats, ferrets etc.

You may have had them safely for 35 years but the 36th year could just be the year when there is Parrot blood on your floor.

Click to expand...

That’s why I said they are never left unsupervised . My eldest cat is elderly and doesn’t hunt, but either way if she’s in the room Jethro is in his cage. I’ve had cats and various small animals that would be considered prey for most of my life and all of my small animals have died of natural causes. I take precautions around my home and Jethro and my cats have their own separate areas when I’m not home.

DiscoDuck said:

I have 2 cats, a Maine Coon and a Turkish Van. The Coon is oblivous, i think he is a bit brain dead. The Van will stare at Rudy near incessantly, tremble when Rudy is flighted. Every once in awhile Rudy will go open mouth and wings and the Van will disappear like a bullet. The Coon, looks to roll over.

AM I worried? nope. Cats are domesticated to some point, Rudy is near wild. My estimate.. Rudy 1 - Van 0 - Coon 0

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My four cats are oblivious too. My eldest cat likes to chatter through the door or when he’s in the cage and I’m in the same room. When Jethro tries to fly she gets scared. She’s scared of mice, flies, and hamsters. Sometimes I wonder if she has any cat instincts:34:

Jethro, your green cheek is like 1/10 the size of Disco's Red Wing macaw. Maybe even smaller. Bite size for a cat. Where as Rudy could snap the cats head clean off with his beak. If he's flying and the cat(s) are out , that is a danger.

Excuse me, Hybrid macaw. Does not suffer fools gladly. LOL.

wrench13 said:

Excuse me, Hybrid macaw. Does not suffer fools gladly. LOL.

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hahaha! ah yep, I often wonder with Rudy, who owns who?

DiscoDuck said:

I

AM I worried? nope. Cats are domesticated to some point, Rudy is near wild. My estimate.. Rudy 1 - Van 0 - Coon 0

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Cats are domesticated but not in the same way as dogs, that is why they revert to feral state within a matter of just 1 generation or slightly more.
Hence we have situations like this:

https://www.treehugger.com/endangered-species/wealthy-philanthropists-wage-war-cats.html

But even if domestic , they are still Predators and Macaws, even if closer to the wild in their instincts are still Prey animals.

wrench13 said:

Jethro, your green cheek is like 1/10 the size of Disco's Red Wing macaw. Maybe even smaller. Bite size for a cat. Where as Rudy could snap the cats head clean off with his beak. If he's flying and the cat(s) are out , that is a danger.

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True. Just checked the stats

Green cheek conure - Max body length-26 cm, Max body mass : 80 gm

Scarlet Macaw- (the smaller of the two Ruby parents)- Min- body length- 85 cm and Min body mass range 1050 gms.

So a conure is only about 30% the body length and packs less than 8% (1/12) of the muscle power of a macaw- all the more reason to be careful. Not that macaws are perfectly safe against cat claws. :red:

wrench13 said:

Jethro, your green cheek is like 1/10 the size of Disco's Red Wing macaw. Maybe even smaller. Bite size for a cat. Where as Rudy could snap the cats head clean off with his beak. If he's flying and the cat(s) are out , that is a danger.

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...And that’s why he’s not out while the cats are. I was very clear that they’re never out together. He only sees my elderly cat and those interactions are limited to walkby chatters when he’s in his cage. Interactions that barely last two minutes. My other cats are never on the same floor as Jethro. I’ve had different types of birds smaller than Jethro while I had cats and I took precautions with them. I wasn’t born yesterday. I repeated multiple times that they’re never out at the same time so there is no need to talk to me like I’m stupid. Especially when I’ve never stated that Jethro flies around my house. If our interaction is going to be based off assumptions and repetition, I kindly ask you to not bother replying.

jethrosgreencheeks said:

wrench13 said:

Jethro, your green cheek is like 1/10 the size of Disco's Red Wing macaw. Maybe even smaller. Bite size for a cat. Where as Rudy could snap the cats head clean off with his beak. If he's flying and the cat(s) are out , that is a danger.

Click to expand...

...And that’s why he’s not out while the cats are. I was very clear that they’re never out together. He only sees my elderly cat and those interactions are limited to walkby chatters when he’s in his cage. Interactions that barely last two minutes. My other cats are never on the same floor as Jethro. I’ve had different types of birds smaller than Jethro while I had cats and I took precautions with them. I wasn’t born yesterday. I repeated multiple times that they’re never out at the same time so there is no need to talk to me like I’m stupid. Especially when I’ve never stated that Jethro flies around my house. If our interaction is going to be based off assumptions and repetition, I kindly ask you to not bother replying.

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Hi,
Remember, your question, "How do your pets and birds interact"
I see the replies all in line with the question! I don’t think Mr. Good Wrench(sorry) was directly focused on you! As an open question, this is for everyone’s edification!
In my case, ignorance in thinking my dog knew I loved my Tango, therefore she respected the relationship, cost Tango his life!
In my stupidity, I used to leave Tango out when I wasn’t home! I really knew no better!

When I met D. (my second grey) she regularly banished all 5 cats from the kitchen in order to eat their dry food. Those were not nice kitty-kitty-cats, but the half wild working/barn/farmcats who will take on the occasional rat and bring in half grown bunnies.

I found this insane and not a risk I would be willing to take.
(one of the many reasons she ended up with me I guess)

One bite is all it takes to kill a parrot, even if it does not kill them instantly, al those carnivore-specific bacteria (mouth/ nails) ... if you miss a puncturemark ( an easy thing to do with all those feahers) you can be too late.
(Even people still die every year from cat/dogbite related infections, not many but enough to take it seriously.)


=


Am I being irresponsible? Yes...

I also have a few birdeating spiders -theraphosa species- (in terraria of course) and since they are the ones that fling irritating hairs about when stressed ... also NOT a good thing to have around parrots.
I keep trying to rehome them, but since they are both males not yet of a breeding age- nobody wants them. (Keep trying though)
They are big spiders and the only people interested in taking them are the ones who are in the "pirana-fish are c00l because you can feed them live animals"-fase of life.
So it is hard t find a good place for them.

Those hairs can do serious damage to eyes and lungs (and most likely airsacks as well).
So another thing to worry about...

I have cats and birds under the same roof and have never had a problem. I grew up with cats and birds and never had any problems. I have actually had to watch my hamsters and pet mice more when it came to my cats.

Now does that mean I think birds and cats ought to hang out with each other? Of course not, but you already knew that.