Need your help!

[Evanskiver]

Hey there,

Q1: We are looking to moving the birds into the living room so that we can spend some more time with our other animals as we spend nearly all of our time in the bird room now. We have 4 cats, 3 of which could care less that the birds exist. We do however have a cat that walked into our house one day (Yes, literally walked in and has lived here sinse then.) that has and will attack our birds.

Now beyond throwing the cat out, and locking her up when the birds are out (Which is a no brainer) do any of you have a way to keep the cats away from your cages? I want to make sure that the cats do not bother the birds or try and attack them through the bars of the cage.

Q2: If we move them, they will be about 12-15 feet from the kitchen. Now, I have NO problem and already plan on changing our cleaning chemicals to safe ones for the kitchen but I need some help knowing what those are.

Q3: While being close to the kitchen, obviously cooking will take place as well. Is there some things that you cannot cook around parrots? Is there some oils that cannot be used?

Q4: Other then Teflon, are there any other cookware that is bad?

Q5: Is there ANYTHING else that I should be aware of before attempting this?

It is possible that moving them will not be possible, but I would REALLY appreciate it if I could get some answers to these questions.

 

[josiesmom]

Hi,
I have 2 cats and when I first brought a bird into the house, I got a spray from the pet store that is safe for all that I sprayed around the bird's cage. The cats did not like the smell, so they steared clear. I'm not sure what the name was, though. They also sell motion sensored air that will blast the cat with air when he/she crosses the line. That was more expensive, so I started with the spray first and that was enough to deter my two. If you already know that one cat will go after the bird, you may want to start with the air blaster.

I hope this helps.

 

[andreavizzuso]

I think the best thing is to deter your cat to scare your birds;
I believe if you will be able to scold the cats when they will have the intent to attack the birds,then you will be able to educate them;

 

[mrgoogls]

i have 2 cats. neither of them even looked at the bird when i first brought him home. so thankfully i dont have to worry about that. i dont know if anything other than teflon is safe. i know SS and cast iron are good. i made my mom go out and buy a whole new SS set of pots and pans. good thing my grandma found some in Canada for sale for really cheap. i would just use SS. its safe and i like cooking with it btter than teflon. lol who woulda known!

 

[SandyBee]

Stainless Steel and cast Iron for cooking are safe. Any PTFE product is harmful and that is what most non stick pans use. Apparently there is some cookware out now that is called green cookware. It seems to get reviews for being safe, personally I won't take the chance.
Self cleaning ovens are dangerous to use as well

Vinegar, Lemon and Baking Soda are safe for cleaning. Bleach can be used with caution as the fumes are irritating to the birds but dissipate quickly and it leaves no residue. So if you bleach, lots of open windows.

Having the fids close to the kitchen, make sure that when cooking they are safe in their cages as some like to go find out what all those yummy smells are. Hot burners, boiling or hot food on stove tops all pose dangers .

No help with cats, I don't have any.

 

[Evanskiver]

Stainless Steel and cast Iron for cooking are safe. Any PTFE product is harmful and that is what most non stick pans use. Apparently there is some cookware out now that is called green cookware. It seems to get reviews for being safe, personally I won't take the chance.
Self cleaning ovens are dangerous to use as well

Vinegar, Lemon and Baking Soda are safe for cleaning. Bleach can be used with caution as the fumes are irritating to the birds but dissipate quickly and it leaves no residue. So if you bleach, lots of open windows.

Having the fids close to the kitchen, make sure that when cooking they are safe in their cages as some like to go find out what all those yummy smells are. Hot burners, boiling or hot food on stove tops all pose dangers .

No help with cats, I don't have any.

I believe that the stove we have has the ability to be self cleaning, is it only dangerous if you use the self cleaning function or bad in general?

 

[momto3]

When we first got our birds, I sprayed the cat with water to keep her away from the cage. Since I couldn't watch her constantly, or keep her locked up, I abandoned this plan and let her go near the cages. After she figured out it was ok to go near the bird cages, she did it only for a couple of days and then pretty much lost interest. She isn't, however, looking at them as prey in any way. I tried to have the birds scare her by nipping her (safely of course), but they just preened her so it kind of backfired--but they can all be together supervised now.

I think your cat needs to be afraid of your birds if it is trying to get at them. Can you hide and make a super loud noise when it goes near the cage? Unfortunately, cats are tough and you might not be able to curb its behaviors.

 

[SandyBee]

It's only bad when uses the self cleaning feature.

The Dangers of Self-Cleaning Ovens

A self-cleaning oven is an oven which uses high temperature (approximately 900 degrees Fahrenheit or 500 degrees Celsius) to burn off leftovers from baking, without the use of any chemical agents. As good as this sounds, it can be deadly if you own a parrot.

A self-cleaning oven is designed to stay locked until the high temperature process is completed. Most ovens, during the clean mode, will produce smoke and or fumes, so be sure to open and ventilate well the many areas in your home. These toxins are very deadly to your parrot.
If you MUST use this feature of your oven, remove all pet companions (including cats, dogs and other animals) from your home until the air is completely free of any chemical odors. Birds have a very sensitive respiratory system and will die from inhaling the toxic fumes.

Too many well meaning people forget this one!!!

 

[Sc0tt]

I wouldn't risk letting any of the cats have any kind of access to where the cages are. You can safe-proof as much as you want, but cats are also very intelligent and all it would take is one mess up for them to terrorize your flock. Casper's cage is in my bedroom, and our cat is NEVER allowed in their, even though he never shows any interest in him.

Watch an episode of Sylvester and Tweety :]

 

[Evanskiver]

Ok so as long as I clean the oven manually it will be ok to use the oven?

 

[Aruba]

What kind of birds do you have? My 3 cats are all indoor/outdoor and hunters as well...but the minute they see my big BGM waddling across the floor they scoot! They're also terrified of the sound of wing flapping. Whenever your cat gets near the cage, try rattling some coins in a coffee can w/lid...

Any cooking oils should be OK, as long as they don't overheat & smoke. If you have an exhaust fan, turn it on high. And NO non-stick ANYTHING! I don't even turn on my electric fireplace because the heating elements are treated with PTFE. And SandyBee is right, if they're free when you're cooking they can land on a hot stove or fly through steam.

 

[SandyBee]

Yep you can use the oven if you clean manually with safe cleaners., google safe cleaners.Oven off and those are very nasty as well so your looking at using baking soda and things of that nature.

Or you could remove the birds into another room far away with lots of open windows and use the self cleaning feature. Just remember if you do this that the birds should be out of the space for many hours after the oven cycle is finished(I would say the whole day), use the ventilation exhaust and open lots of windows.

 

[Sherry]

Just a thought but have you considered leaving the cages where they are and getting a nice stand for your living room? This way you could have the birds out in he main room when your there but you could have them safely put away when your not.

 

[Evanskiver]

Just a thought but have you considered leaving the cages where they are and getting a nice stand for your living room? This way you could have the birds out in he main room when your there but you could have them safely put away when your not.

Wow...why didn't I think of that?