I have a BIG, beautiful, loving, solid black, long haired cat who is the best. He has grown up with a rottweiler & another cat but sadly now, he is the only one left. Problem is, when my new baby CAG comes home I don't now how he'll react. I am hoping you cat owners can give me some advice on helping him adjust to the baby. How did you all introduce your birds to your cats? Thanks in advance!

I don't allow any interaction between my cats and birds.

Here's a link to a thread that you may find helpful in making your decision:

Cat Saliva

I have 4 cats, and close to 40 birds....we *thought* the cats were okay w/ the birdies. Until one horrible night when a budgie landed inches from Goober Mcnasty's face.. She grabbed the bird, I grabbed her...the bird died within minutes...

The other 3 cats are okay w/ the larger birds (greys, zons macs)...but I lock them up if anything smaller is out...except Buddy. He ran from a mouse, runs from even the smallest bird...finches. He is a huge cat...25 lbs at his highest...to see him running away from a mouse another cat brought in..well...
it was pitiful!

Please, be careful. I have fully flighted birds, but I blocked off the living room where most of them live so the cats can't get in. 2 of my greys like to be on the floor, and that is just too much temptation & not worth the risk. I still lock up the persians - birds can fly out of that room! I do have my tiels/doves in their own room, so they can be out w/o the cats being around.

I would be totally heartbroken if one of my cats killed one of my birds...again.


wendy

I would never allow any interaction at all. Cat saliva contains an organism that is very toxic to birds. Just a cat hissing in a birds face is enough to spread the deadly bacteria. Most birds don't survive cat attacks- and its in a cats genetic make-up to do just that.

I rehomed my beloved cat after I found it too difficult to keep him out of the same room as Ollie. He was just too interested in her.

I just heard from someone who has a caique. Should I say HAD a caique? The bird was left out unattended. The cat, who was previously "disinterested" in the bird, changed his mind. The caique is now flying over the rainbow bridge. I feel that, no matter how domesticated, cats still have instincts. I would not attempt a relationship with your fid.

We try to keep Jasmine in another room when the birds are out - or at least know where she is at all times and I keep a spray bottle filled with water within reach. If she even looks at the birds or tries to hang out by their cages she gets squirted. Some may disagree with my method - but it works for us. We don't have to squirt very often any more - she knows they're off limits. But that doesn't mean instinct won't take over if she had the chance to get one of them - she probably would. So we try to be very careful about not letting her out when the birds are uncaged - or at least not leaving her unwatched in the same room.

Mine are never in the same room uncaged and since the floor plan is open, birds are never left out of a cage if I am not around. Cats ignore the house birds (except when they are competing for my attention), unless they are flying around, in which case they seem a lot like those little moths that are such fun to crunch. No chances -- and locks on the cage doors.

Hi all, Thanks for the input! I may not have been clear in my question. I will never be leaving my cat and baby unattended, but I was wondering how you initially introduced the new bird into the animal families you all have.
Thanks again for the help!

Actually I did sorta think that was the question, but have had cats since the day I was born and birds for the last 20-odd years (yeah....those two values are about the same), so I really don't remember when I first got the two species together. The cats don't even notice one more in my madhouse!

I never allow the cats to be roaming free when the birds are out, the cats get closed off into a bedroom (the animal room, they have beds in there and a cat house and litter boxes and their food and water).

When we first got the birds (the cats were here first), we carried the cats one by one into the bird room and allowed them to see the birds. We just talked to the birds about the cats and told them their names, and basically introduced them all to each other. The cats are allowed in the bird room when the birds are caged, but it is impossible for the birds to jump on cages or even have their paws up on the cages.