Keeping cat away from flight cage?

[katlovesaandw]

Ok, our cat loves to watch the birds and will run up and smack her paw on the cage and run away.
I thought of the Scat Mat mounted on the front BUT then I went to look it up and saw it uses electric shock.
I have no problem with that.... but am worried that it could electrify the cage because the cage is metal?!

Anyone used one?
Trying to catch her with the water bottle, etc. doesn't work because she is quick, run up, smack and take off.

Nerf gun works IF we can get her but....

She can't get them, the bars are too close, etc. but I cannot believe that it isn't annoying for them to have this cat come up and do that....

[lovezebs]

katlovesaandw
Oh dear. One of my kitties shows no intetest at all, as in, big deal, birds... Too old, too arthritic.
My other one...you get the odd little show of interest, but nothing that an industrial strength spray bottle can't fix. A sptray with that up feline butt, cools the interest right down.

[Jen]

That's the trick I use too...water spray consistently when they are too close to the cage and their "bad" habit is eventually broken.

[Sally]

Is there any way you could lay the scat mat in front of the cage, so that your cat would have to step on the scat mat to reach the cage? Your cat can't get its paws inside the cage, but when a bird sits on the perch right next to the bars, cats can hook them with their claws and then pull them through the bars. My two inside cats are also old and so no longer pay any attention to the birds. It's hard enough for them to jump onto my bed, much less climb a cage.

[katlovesaandw]

We tried water. She sees the water bottle and knows the second we touch it.
She is an indoor cat and these are basically our 1st birds around her. She doesnt give a hoot about the rats we have, etc.

No perches at the front of the cage for that reason. They are away so she can't hook one..... thank goodness.

I could do the scat mat on the floor if I can find a skinny one as it is by going from one room to another and if it sticks out too far, we would step on it.....

Have to see...... she is almost 7....I keep hoping she will slow down....

[chirpy]

I use the spray bottle.

Now she hisses at me when I'm mad.
She never will attack me and its only me and never my hub or daughter.
You should hear me " Oh yeah? You think I'm scared of 'thfttttTTTtt' well guess what. IM NOT!"
Lol. She doesn't really bother them anymore. Its
Old news. She did jump on the cage to sleep but I wasn't liking that very much.... So I have boxes on too of the cage now.

I don't know about the mat...
I hope you figure it out cause I know its a little annoying.
Though my birds don't care now. She rubs and runs her body against the cage and they don't care continue bathing.

[katlovesaandw]

Yep, birds rarely startle anymore.....
She is a brat. Always has been.

Got to figure something out because she is like can't touch this....WATCH ME! Run, smack and take off.....

[chirpy]

katlovesaandw lol.
She's above the law!

They are so stupid fast lol they are my lovely but the most annoying pets I have ever owned. That's with love and not hate so don't judge ;)
The thing is my cat Poker knows not to -- I am certain yours does too which is why she runs away!

[finchmix22]

I use the forced air you can buy at PetSmart, called SCAT Away, I think. It is a can of air that is motion sensitive and shoots a burst of air hard and fast, so it scares the cat. My cats used to go up and try to bat at the flights before I put one on the floor about 5 inches in front of the flight. When they went close, SCAT! They got shot with a blast of air! Works pretty well.

[chirpy]

finchmix22 that's cool!!!
Does the noise of the air scare the birds at all?

[finchmix22]

No, at least I didn't notice any acting scared. Just the cats.

[chirpy]

finchmix22 lol do they sprint away? Knowing my cat she will probably get used to it...

Actually!!! I think I saw one of those on "my cat from hell" with Jackson galaxy I think on animal planet or something

[finchmix22]

Yes, they take off running! I've used them for over 8 years and the cats are still afraid of the air can.

[Nerien]

I put a clear plastic layer around the bottom of the cages, it doubles as seed guard and cat protection. The cages that have this are the big flights on stands, and the bottom 12-15 inches of cage is covered, which makes it high enough that the cat gave up, knowing she couldn't jump high enough to clear plastic and get the shot in at the birds. Then we also keep any nearby furniture, light the corner of a desk, blocked with something so she can't use that to get up to the cages.

We also used the squirt bottle method, but not just squirting when she's near the cage. You gotta jump up, squirting, and pursue her as far as you can, squirting, yelling (more like roaring or other horrendous noise), stomping, making it sound like armageddon is on her tail. A dish towel snapping and swatting at her through all this helps too, make her think she's going to be beaten within an inch of her life, tho actually you don't really hit the cat, just right next to her, behind her, all around her, so she feels like she's being swatted, even tho she isn't.

Basically, make her think all hell has broken loose and is in pursuit. Terrorize her. Go psycho. If she just has to dodge a single squirt as she jumps at the cage, it becomes a game. If the squirting follows her and soaks her, and all kinds of monstrous noise and action and threats of death, it's not a game. It will become not worth the risk. Then you will only have to repeat this once in a while to reinforce, not every time.

Another thing we did when a newer cat insisted on going up on the kitchen counters, we booby trapped them. Put some masking tape strips, made kind of a spider web of them, with the sticky side up. Connected a few strips to some aluminum pie tins. Cat jumps up, hits the tape, tries to get away, gets pursued by crashing bashing tins, cat no longer goes on counters. Masking tape (get cheap stuff) doesn't stick so tightly it's a problem to get off, and the effect of both having this sticky stuff try to grab you and then noisy stuff pursues you, makes quite the impression on a cat. (And is darned funny when triggered, you've never seen a cat run away so fast, wish we'd set up a camera.) So perhaps you can figure out some kind of tape barrier or trap near the cage or on the sides.

Until you cure the cat problem, make sure all doors and hatches to the cage are secured--if they don't have their own latches, then get clips or use twist ties--to make sure the cat doesn't accidentally learn to knock open a hatch and get a paw inside, or a bird out.

[30 Seconds to Bob]

I believe that Nerien has the correct mindset and has suggested some good ideas. Matter of fact, I think I've used most. You have to REALLY let the cat know that messing with the birds will not be tolerated (without physically hurting her of course). And you have to be consistent. You can't let her get away with it "sometimes" and punish her for it at others. For some cats (like mine), it's a long process. My daughter's new kitten has come a long way since we got her, but still has a ways to go. She cannot be fully trusted (yet) so she cannot be left with the birds unsupervised. I believe that someday she will. Bob