Can we gat a cat too?

[Kmurch567]

We have three finches, a gouldian male and two male yellow stars. We have had them for about three years, in a large cage in our living room and they ae a big part of our lives. My kids really want to get a cat to add to our brood, but my husband and I are concerned for the safety and stress levels of the birds. Is it possible to do this successfully? Maybe if we get a kitten and train it to leave the birds alone from the get go....or is that even possible considering the natural instinct of the cat? I would love some feedback. Thanks!

[Smurf]

I have 3 adult cats for years and only started keeping birds again last year but wouldn't take the risk of them being in the same room, my cats are downstairs and have a cat flap through which they regularly bring back presents from both feathered and furry varieties. I don't allow them upstairs to where the birds are kept, as my cats were adults before i got the birds i just wouldn't take the risk of an introduction with hunting being in their nature but in saying that they also don't get along with dogs, i'd imagine it would be the same as getting dogs and cats to get along in that you would have to start with kittens and spend extra time training her/him.

[MiaCarter]

Yes, it is possible....with precautions.

I have 15 cats, so it's absolutely possible. We've never had an accident (knock on wood.)

The problem is that you can't leave the cage in a spot where the cat can access it. They can and will:
-knock the cage off onto the floor
-open the sliding doors to access the interior
-snag the birds through the cage bars.

All 3 problems can be deadly.

Unfortunately, cats are instinctual predators and instincts are VERY difficult to overcome with training.
I would NEVER trust a cat with a bird's cage. Ever. Sooner or later, the temptation will be too great and the cat may take action and you won't like the result.
(What's worse, it's a self-reinforcing behavior. The joy they derive from playing with a bird is rewarding for them, so it perpetuates the behavior. Therefore, once they go after a bird and get a taste of that delight, they're virtually guaranteed to do it again.)

The key to cat-bird co-existence? The cage must be kept in a location where you can segregate it from the cats. And you must develop a system that is absolutely fool-proof, which could be tough with kids. A mistake like leaving the door ajar can be deadly. (I use locks on my doors, which ensure that an ajar door can't lead to a breach.)
I have a bird room, where cats don't dare enter under the penalty of a mom freak-out.

You could train a cat to be moderately reliable around a cage using cat alarms and spray bottles, etc. But I would never allow the cage to be unattended with the cat. So you could get one on wheels and roll it out into a living area when you're around and roll it into a safe room when you're not around.
Or simply keep it in a room that's off limits to the cats.

I've been able to train my cats to co-exist alongside large birds like Af greys, macaws, etc.
But that's generally only successful because the large birds are intimidating and the cats were frightened of them. (e.g. I had a macaw who would screech, puff up to make himself look larger and flapped his wings if a cat got too close for his comfort. A very successful tactic! The cats quickly learned to avoid him, as he was loud and appeared much bigger than them.)
But even then, I never trusted a cat alone with him.

In short, it can be done if you have a "safe room" for the cage and take precautions when the cage is accessible to cats:
- use twist ties to close the sliding port doors
- reinforce the cage structure with zip ties
- ensure there's nothing around it so cat's can't sit on a nearby table and swipe at the birds inside the cage.
- And use bungee cords to secure it to the wall so the cage can't be tipped or moved. Just get 2 hooks, install them into studs on your wall, then wrap a bungee cord around the cage, hooking it onto the wall hooks.

I've also ensured my birds are all flighted (e.g. no clipped wings, ever) so if necessary, they could have a chance of escaping if the cage were to break apart or whatever.
The problem some finches encounter is they live an entire life in a cage and don't ever develop strong wings, making it difficult to stay airborne and navigate in the manner required to avoid a cat. So this makes it very important to either offer free-flight time (even just a few hours per week) in a bird-safe room OR ensure they have a large flight cage so they can develop those muscles.

These precautions, in addition to ensuring they're never alone with cats, will ensure their safety.

It takes some effort to get into the routine of closing a particular door, but once you're in the routine, you should be good.

[lovezebs]

Kmurch567

A little while ago, I would have said , no problem.... HOWEVER!!!
I have two cats, and quite a few finches. My cats are 12 and 16 years old and have lived around birds all of their lives. Always taught to leave the birds alone.

That said, a couple of months ago, my twelve year old cat, decided to pull a bird snack through the bars of one of my flights. My long tailed Shaft Tail lived for a few hours, then died. More recently, same kitty, snagged a young Gouldian right from under a door (about an inch and a half space between floor and door bottom) when I had my juveniles in the washroom to band them. Door was closed. Results, lovely Gouldian with a broken neck.

I love cats. Have had cats for over forty years. Would I recommend a cat and especially a kitten in a bird home? NO! A dog (quiet and calm non hunting breed)? YES.

You can't supervise a kitten (cat) 24/7 and I mean 24/7. The consequences can be devestating.

Good luck

~Elana~

[Kmurch567]

Thank you for the responses...sounds like maybe a cat isn't the best idea. I appreciate the feedback.

[jebediah]

We have cats, but they're not allowed in the bird room. The first day I had my finches, one of my youngest cats walked into the room, saw the boys, and promptly affixed himself to the cage side. Nope nope nope. He nearly toppled it. If you have a room to dedicate to a cat free zone, I think you'd be okay. But kittens are a bad mix with flying critters.

[MiaCarter]

jebediah - I'm glad to hear that the kitty didn't harm the birds!

That approach seems to be the most common from what I've heard. Kitty jumps onto cage or tries to jump onto cage; cage tips over and breaks apart, releasing the birds -or- cage tips over and the sliding doors open and the birds escape or the cat accesses the interior via the open doors.

Even if you were able to get your cats to be fairly trustworthy around birds, there's the stress that arises from having a predator peering at you day in and day out. Chronic stress can cause health issues at best, fatality at worst.

I liken it to this scenario: Let's say you have a house with lots of windows. There are men standing in the windows; each one has a shotgun that's aimed at you at all times.
That constant threat of attack is going to leave you feeling tuned up and nervous. It would result in lots of stress, that's for sure!

I'm in the midst of re-doing my bird room, so I took down the shelves to paint and put the cages on little tables. One of the cages now sits right up against the french door that looks into my greatroom, where all of the cats live. So actually put up a shade so the birds wouldn't see the cats and vice versa. It works nicely, as they're happy as clams and they even felt comfortable enough to raise 4 lovely babies into adulthood.
But I imagine things would be very different if the birds had a constant view of the cats.
That would be a lot of [very avoidable] stress!

[Sheather]

The level of stress caused by predators varies with species. When my societies used to be caged at my parent's home, our cat often liked to watch them. The finches quickly became wholly indifferent to him. The Javas however would panic on sight and had to be kept on a higher shelf out of his line of vision.

[WrenNAustinTX]

We have 3 cats, 3 dogs, and 30+ finches.

The only way this works is because we have a cat room (dogs cant go there, but cats can come out). Its an upstais bathroom they can retreat to when the dogs get annoying.

A dog room (downstairs master bedroom) where cats can't go (okay, we bent the rule on this. Tiiger thinks she is a dog. The dogs think she is a dog. They let her in their room. She insists on eating dog kibble when they eat theirs, whatever lol)

And a bird room, **with a door that always stays shut** where dogs and cats can never go, and if they try to sneak in, get a punishment. Whatever punishment you use which is your "omfg dont you ever do that again" punishment, use that.

Just today, we had a kitten sneak in, and knock the hospital cage to the ground. The bird inside had his leg anputated yesterday, and his girlfriend was in there as well, and she flew out the door on the side that opened when the cage fell (it was on a shelf 7 feet high) and she hid from the kitten until I came running. If the kitten was a better hunter, she could have easily killed both.

Cats and birds cannot share space. You can't train a kitten not to want birds. But if you have a dedicated space for cats and or birds, where they never are in the same space, you can make it work..

[Sally]

Most of my birds are in a separate bird room (spare bedroom), but the overflow is now in my dining room. My old, arthritic cats Callie and Coco never bother them, don't even go near the cage stack.

With the recent cold weather, I've been bringing my outside cat Maggie in the house, at least at night. At first she hated it, but now she lets herself in the doggie door and makes herself at home on the couch. This morning, I could not find her. She was on the windowsill behind the stack of cages, and when I yelled at her, she climbed up the 6' tall cage stack and down the front. Birds were in a panic. So now I have to figure out something else to do. In the meantime, I think I need to lock Maggie in the utility room at night. Or I'll work on bringing her into my bedroom, though Callie and Coco will have a fit, they don't like Maggie.

[finchmix22]

I got a dog exercise pen and put it around the flight,which keeps the cats away.

[Sally]

I got a dog exercise pen and put it around the flight,which keeps the cats away.

Maggie would be able to climb over a dog exercise pen, she can get on my house roof.

[Angela&Shalamar]

I have a cat and frankly she largely ignores the birds. She goes in and out of the spare room where they are housed and spends most of her time on the bed looking out the window. They don't react to her at all except if she jumps off the bed and startles them. I use twist ties or clips to secure the doors on the cages she can reach so she's can't open them even if she tries. Any time you mix species in a household there are risks. Cat to cat even...sometimes they go bad or don't work out at all...cat/dog etc....

[MiaCarter]

finchmix22 - That's super clever. Is this a big 6-foot pen like I have in my backyard? Or is it one of the puppy pens, that's like 3-feet tall?

Some cats are definitely more trustworthy than others. Though I'd never trust a cat 100% as those instincts are impossible to override completely.

The bird type also makes a difference.
I've had large parrots that were okay around cats. But it was fear that kept them at bay, so basically, a stronger instinct (fear) overrode the hunting instinct.
It all started with a parrot who would screech and slowly flap his wings to intimidate them if a cat ventured too close for comfort. It worked well, so the others started doing the same.
Over time, foster birds came and went, but the cats remembered how frightening they could be so they kept a distance.

But that fear didn't extend to smaller birds.
Just the big ones.

[guhloreea]

I know you have gotten a lot of responses, but here are my two cents. Thanksgiving day, my new cat jump on top of and dropped my small bird cage breaking one of my birds feet. She survived, but cost me over 200 dollars in vet bills. The cat is new to the house, but my older cat has been trained to leave them alone with no issues. Clearly there are exceptions, but unless you're watching this new cat and making sure to scold it and train it when she's around the birds, I would not recommend bringing one into your home.