Birds and cats...peaceful cohabitation?

[eyesroll]

I'm about to move in with my SO. I have two small birds (a pacific parrotlet and a meyer's parrot); he has a 12-year-old cat.

Who has tips for keeping predators and prey in the same house? We'll be keeping the birds in an office (with a door that closes and WILL STAY CLOSED when nobody's around) and the birds are caged unless someone's interacting directly with them.

Cat saliva can be very toxic to birds, even if there aren't any marks, so we're going to do our damnedest to keep birds and cat far apart.

Any other tips for doing so?

[Kat45]

1. Are you still on the parrotlet list?

I think some of those folks also have cats, and they'd probably have some suggestions. All I can say is to make sure the door stays closed. Give Olive and Logos extra scritches for me. :hi:

[eyesroll]

2. Will do!

:hi:

The parrotlet list seems to have gone dark, unfortunately.

[Kat45]

4. Did you know that Judie moved the list to yahoo?

She was having too much trouble with smartgroups so she switched to yahoo. You might not have been around when she switched and not known about it. You should sign up for the group again on yahoo, if you're not on that one.

[eyesroll]

6. Aha. That would make sense.

I'll take a look, thanks.

[purr]

3. My Amazon is NEVER in her cage and the cats leave her alone..

They got into too many fights with the bird and lost :rofl: now I dont necessarily recommend this but my bird is not small - Yellow Naped Amazon Parrot. Sometimes Bingo will hop off her cage - walk over to an unsuspecting cat that is sleeping and nail the cats tail HAHAHAHHA.. Laughs while shes doing it then goes back to her cage top. Its quite funny at times.

[eyesroll]

5. Heh...while Olive sometimes thinks she's an Amazon, she's only

28 grams. :D

[Beetwasher]

7. Can You Hang The Cages From the Ceiling?

So there's no way the cat could possibly have access or get anywhere near it?

I know you plan to always keep the door closed, but it's always good to go the extra step for precaution.

[eyesroll]

8. I'm not sure.

One cage is a California-type powder-coated way-too-heavy thing, but it is on legs so the bird isn't on the ground. That's where the bigger bird lives, in any case.

The other one is a smaller parakeet-type cage that could (theoretically) hang, but I'm not sure the ceiling could support it (I don't remember, but I think at least a couple of the rooms have drop ceilings, which wouldn't work).

A sturdy shelf might be useful, though...I'll look into it.

One thing, though -- there will be a desk, chair and probably a bookshelf in the room, too, so I think the cat could find a path (via climbing/jumping, inasmuch as a 12-year-old arthritic cat can do so) to just about anywhere in the room.

[flamingyouth]

9. My cats are all freaked out by my cockatiel.

Well, with one exception. I have a deaf cat and he's fascinated by the bird. But the bird tried to nip him once and since then he's been a little more afraid. The cockatiel has a spacious cage and doesn't like to come out too much. So yeah, they can learn to get along, it just takes vigilance on everyone's part. Good luck. :hi: