Introducing BFA to cats

[kozykitty]

I've browsed a bit and haven't seen this topic so I hope I'm not duplicating. Please move this thread if necessary!

Anyway--I mentioned in another thread that I will be adopting a 30 year old BFA. She will be an only bird. We have 3 indoor cats--two very mellow males and one young female who loves to hunt. She's great at mousing and getting bugs. The bird will be in our family room and a very sturdy cage and she will have supervised time out as we spend the bulk of our time in that room. How should I introduce her to the cats? I'm thinking I will set up her cage a few days before I actually bring her home to get them used to it.

Will it be okay to leave her in the cage in the family room when I am at work (retiring in June 2016)? I can't imagine the cats being able to do anything with her in a large cage which will be in a corner just opposite where we sit when we're home. I do not have a room where she can be left out of the cage all day but I will have a spare cage upstairs when she needs to be out of the family room for safety reasons. I just don't want to shut her in there all day. I want her to develop a routine.

We used to care for an Amazon when I was growing up and our cats were afraid of him. I remember my mom letting the bird nip at the cats --not sure I would do that but it seemed to keep them away!

 

[JerseyWendy]

I would never suggest and/or advocate letting the bird bite/nip any of the cats. IMO they need to be kept separated, until you know with 100% certainty that none of your cats have any ill intentions toward the BFA.

I'd be afraid that your cat with the prey drive may want to 'play' with the BFA when you are not home. A scratch and/or bite from a cat may prove deadly for the bird.

It's great that you are asking all the questions beforehand, and doing all the reading and research. Once the BFA is home, I think then it'll be much easier to assess if there will be a problem.

 

[kozykitty]

When you say separated, do you mean in different rooms or is the cage enough separation? My cats like to sleep in our room sometimes so I was thinking that they could be shut upstairs when the bird is out of the cage. I don't think the cats could get the bird while she's in her cage.

 

[Amanda_Bennett]

I have 2 indoor only cats and an Orange Wing Amazon. While an Orange Wing is usually smaller than a BFA, they are both much bigger than the little birds my cats watch out the windows.

My cats are afraid of Zilla and will run from her (trying to get a video of the 1 pound bird chasing the 23 pound Maine Coon cat down the hall) I took precautions when Zilla first got here to make sure the cats weren't overly interested in her. Having seed guards on the cage is a great deterrent for my cats and keeping any other furniture they might be able to jump onto away from the cage. Another deterrent is how loud and high pitched some of Zilla's noises are (it hurts the cats ears and they run to my bedroom at the other end of the house)

My female Lilac Point Siamese has a strong prey drive for bugs, spiders & flies, but is afraid of the big flapping bug uhh I mean bird!

That all being said Zilla is NEVER left out of her cage if I am not within a few feet of her. If I go down the hallway to the bathroom or bedroom I have a feathered hitch hiker on my arm or shoulder.

I did make sure they all know each other (but waited until Zilla had settled in) and being the feisty Zon she is, she does try to bite the nose that tries to sniff her! Which makes both cats run every time they see her beak coming at them.

My big challenge has been the opposite of what most would think it would be having cats & a bird. I have to pay more attention to keeping Zilla from chasing & biting the cats than I do to the cats wanting to chase her! Zilla has chosen me as her human and bonded very closely to me, so she sees the cats as trying to steal me away and is very jealous of them. If she is in her cage and one of the cats gets too close to me she will scream a loud high pitched scream to make them run down the hallway! Smart bird, it works every time!

 

[kozykitty]

Thanks! I remember my aunts BFA chasing the beagle around the house. The bird I'm adopting is 30 years old and I don't know much other than she lived with a little old lady all her life. I don't know if she lived with other pets. She seems pretty mellow.

 

[Christinenc2000]

We have 3 indoor cats--two very mellow males and one young female who loves to hunt.

That jumped out at me big time. I would make sure to keep them seperate

 

[kozykitty]

I'll have to see how she reacts to the bird in the cage. While the kitty loves to mouse and hunt bugs, she's very skittish about any strange person or critter that comes in the house. She typically ends up under the bed.

 

[Doublete]

I have to keep a very good eye when my birds are out on their play stand as my young (year and a half) cats are VERY interested in them. My zons PVC stand is made such that she is well out of reach of a cat even standing on it's hind legs. But they are far too interested. My older cats are actually scared to death of her and simply not interested. At all.

If I have her on her table top stand in my room I lock all but one or two of my cats out (generally the 13 year old fat cat is allowed to exist as a lazy lump)

So I'm generally very careful and I shut the bird room door when I'm not home (no kitties allowed in).

 

[kozykitty]

Are the birds left out in the closed bird room? I won't have a separate room for a while so I wonder about leaving the bird in the cage all day if the cats don't appear to be interested. I will have the cage in a corner (it's right across from where we sit) and the cage will be a sturdy floor cage big enough so the cats can't reach her. I've read about different toys that might give her a hiding place. I'm still checking all that stuff out.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

When my mom was alive,she had an indoor cat,PITA was his name < you can guess what the name stood for> and he never paid any attention to either Amy or Smokey,my TAG..<R.I.P. Smokes>..however,Smokey would torment that poor cat! She would climb down from her house and literally CHASE him out of the room.

One time,mom was sitting in her recliner in the living room, Smokes' house was on the floor a few feet away. In walked Pita,to mooch something to eat from mom. Smokey was on her roof top and the cat just walked around from the back of Smokeys house to the front,his tail held high in the sky, just a littttllllle too close to Smokey. As Pita walked past Smokeys front door,Smokey leaned out from atop of her house,and grabbed a beakfull of tail fur! All the while yelling at the cat "Damn cat...GO!" something my mom would say to the cat when he bugged her too much lol.
I never saw a cat run so fast in my life!

Jim

 

[mh434]

I'm not a fan of introducing predators to prey species under any circumstances. A close friend of mine had a cockatoo & an old, weary Jack Russell dog. The two had lived together peaceably for years until, one day, the 'Too flew to the top edge of a door in the house, missed, and had to land on the floor. Dog made a beeline from across the room, and killed the bird in a heartbeat. My buddy never really got over it.

It was heartbreaking for all concerned.

Personally, I think it's a real good idea to keep predators & prey totally separate, lest you suffer similar circumstances. You may be able to trust their normal behavior, but you can't count on training and past experience to overcome instinct...and cats hunt, pounce, and kill instinctively.

 

[Taw5106]

We don't have cats but dogs. When we brought Buddy home it took the pigs seconds to realize he was there and the bulldog 20 minutes. Here is my favorite "what's this" photo.