Parrots Around Pets

I just cannot stress how dangerous it is letting your other pets around birds. No matter how " trained " it is anything can happen. A birds bones are hollow to help them fly, but it make them very vunerable to breakages. No matter how much you trust your dog, you can't tell what they think about your featherd friend . Cats are even worse, they were domesticated in the first place to KILL unwanted birds and small animals. Cats also have LETHAL poisons in their saliva which can KILL your bird in just a matter of days. Some working dogs were bred to kill ducks and geese or rats. How is your parrot different ? Ferrets, no matter how cute they look are also PREDATORS . Some ferrets can even squeeze through the bar spacing of some of the larger cages. Though the biggest threat are dogs and cats. No matter how much the breeder said about your dog and how " all creature " friendly he is, would you risk the life of your fid to see if he is right ? The purpose of this thread is to educate bird owners new and old about the dangers of letting your pets have direct contact with other pets. No matter how many YouTube videos you see of a macaw piggy backing a Great Dane , don't assume if one uneducated person does it you should.

I have been rescuing birds for 40+ years, and have taken in many birds injured by other pets. My "Snowflake" was an SC2 that had been savaged by a dog that it had lived & played with for more than 10 years. She lost a leg & half a wing. In the natural world, dogs & cats are predators, and birds are prey. It's that simple. Yes, many birds do get along with other pets. But, natural instincts can be triggered at any time, for any reason. Many times I have heard that "they have been raised together, they play & sleep together". But, something kicked in, and the birds ALWAYS lose! On the other side of that coin, I know a dog that has half his nose bitten off by a Macaw. But, that is really an exception. Birds & other pets should NEVER be together unsupervised.

I lost my first budgie to a cat. It would have never occurred if my house didn't have to be sprayed for bugs, which resulted in the animals having to be relocated to my grandmothers house where we had a cat (and her kittens). Cat knocked over the cage when my grandmother was in a different room, both birds inside the cage went flying, and she got one.

My third budgie came close to being killed by a cat. (she was the surviving budgie from the previous attack) I had her with me outside, visiting a friends house. I had thought she'd be fine as long as she was *with* me. Something spooked her and she jumped off of me. Right as she hit the ground, a cat swooped in from the shadows and took off with her. I, obviously, chased after the cat, who had fled underneath the house. Fortunately, the cat dropped my budgie halfway there, and she survived with no injuries. (I made sure to check her over thoroughly and gave her a bath!) She survived for several years after the incident.


My cherry headed conure was previously attacked by a ferret two homes prior to mine. The first owners could not afford the vet care for him, so wanted him put down to end his misery. Vet gave Noel to one of the assistants who in turn gave Noel to a friend. He had some disabilities, and potentially health problems, due to that attack. He was never "normal".



Been there, done that. Don't ever want a repeat! Live and learn, but a very harsh lesson to learn. I was 12 years old when I lost my first budgie, and back then, information on the internet was quite limited. I didn't feel comfortable leaving my birds at my grandmothers house, but I could have lost both if I didn't move them. I regret that I wasn't there to watch over them.

Yes, even if the bird survives an attack, it is never the same, or right again. My Snowflake was traumatized severly, and lived 3 more years with me before passing away for no apparent cause. The vets blamed post traumatic stress, even 3 years later. Other rescues have also exhibited various stress symptoms. Never a good thing, and the bird always loses.

I don't recall how long I had the budgie for that survived being taken by the cat, but I honestly do not believe it was due to traumatic stress or shock of that experience. It was several years ago, and I think it was before I even knew that necropsies could be performed on pets. She never really seemed overly effected by the incident weeks later, and was acting normal afterwards.

Wish I knew then what I know now. Maybe I could have gotten a necropsy to have found out why.

Thank you birdlover11, I'm sure a lot of new and old parrot owner will benefit from your post.

A lot of owners thinks they have a well behaved, bird friendly cat/dog, and decides to add a feathered friend to their family. The two animal might seems to be best friend 99.99% of the time, but you never know what might happen. My avian vet have told me, every day, there is at lease 2 pet bird that is injured by anther pet in the household, the number one reason is by cats. I don't recommend having a cat and a bird/parrot in the same house, it is just too risky.

NEVER LEAVE PARROT(S) WITH OTHER PET UNSUPERVISED!

Thank you, thank you, thank you...Birdlover. This is extremely important. Many parrot owners don't understand or are even aware of the "predator-prey" relationship.

We have a german sheperd and a standard poodle. The poodle watches Hahnzel when there is any flying motion or he lands on the floor. I dont trust either of them as far as I can throw them.

Ive also been told by breeders that birds can die from the stress of being constantly stalked by cats or dogs outside of their cages.

Maheen, THANK YOU for posting this! This is from me - to you!

We have cats in the house and are extremely careful about their proximity to Mac.

We make absolutely sure they have no access to our Macaw.

Your welcome guys ! Sorry wenz, I was looking through the stickys to make sure I wasn't copying a thread, it must've skipped my eye . I just get so mad and frustrated when people BRAG about how much their kitten snuggles and SLEEPS with thier fid. Bill and Monica have perfect stories on how that can turn out. I think this should be a wake up call for everyone out there who let their pets come in contact with birds. And yes, in the wild , the reason which some birds are nomadic is not just for food, but to not keep and permenet settlement where there are PREDATORS . Birds have this feeling when they see a pet. They can't move, so it makes them get additional stress.

The only pets I'm concerned about are my fish. I have a 180 gallon saltwater fish tank. The top is only partially closed off

I do not let my bird or dog enteract or play with each other. To be honest I perfer my dog ignore the bird then try to get him to pay attention to it. But yes I agree I would not let bird enteract with your, dog, cat, or ferret. You never know what could happen when your dog and bird enteract. Cats have high prey drive. As a child my sisters cat was aways trying to get my budgie (luckily he got put outside the house since we lived on a farm). A ferret would not hesitate to kill a bird.

Here's a good question, how many of us have both predator and prey in the same house?

Cats and dogs have been a part of my life for far longer than birds ever have. I grew up with dogs and cats. If they didn't live with me, then they lived at my grandmothers house. For ~13 years of my life, I lived in a place that didn't allow cats or dogs, so if we had any pets, they were at my grandmothers house that lived 1/4 of a mile down the road (if that). Except for the birds, and a hamster that belonged to my sister.


My dog is half akita, and, we think, half pit. A combination of two highly prey driven species. He's a happy go lucky idiot of a dog! He's around 80lbs, give or take 5 lbs, and he's terrified of cats that have a vendetta against dogs! Case in point, one of the cats that lives with me.


Sprite ("black" cat) and Squirt ("white" cat)




And Kodi





Squirt loves to terrorize the dog! If Kodi is sleeping on his bed, Squirt will occasionally lay down at the edge of the bed, and then slowly wiggle his way onto the bed, eventually "forcing" Kodi to get up and relocate, which is when Squirt takes over the bed. Or maybe Squirt is laying on a chair and as Kodi walks by Squirt puts his claws out to snatch his fur/skin. Or maybe the dog isn't doing anything at all in particular, and Squirt decides to rush the dog, claws out! Squirt received his name because he's a pain in the arse! Oh, and he brought home a (dead) california quail when he was 4 months or so old? We don't know if he killed it or not, but it wouldn't surprise me, because he is a hunter!


Sprite on the other hand? Not a hunter. Ya, sure, she likes to chase things, but it's not in her to hunt to kill. Squirt and Sprite are siblings! In our old house, she used to pry up the heater registers, crawl through them, and end up in the birds room. She would freak the hell out of the birds, but she never harmed them - even when the birds were living cage-free! Since the registers didn't have screw holes, we ended up duct taping them down! Tacky, but it fixed the issue of her getting out or into the birds room.


I do trust Kodi and Sprite to a degree. I do not trust them with the birds unsupervised, but both do have some trust with me. Squirt on the other hand? Absolutely none!



However, one needs to keep in mind that predators aren't the only danger. Other birds can also be a danger. I lost a bourke parakeet because she escaped from her cage, got into my cherry headed conures area and lost her upper beak. Unfortunately, it happened on a Sunday and I *could not* locate an emergency avian vet in the area. Years later, and we still don't have an emergency avian vet in the area, and the closest one still remains out of state. I ended up losing the bourke the next day.

My mitred conure is another bird that went through a similar incident as the bourke, only he survived. In his foster home, he bullied around two lilac crowned amazons and possibly a yellow nape hybrid? Figuring he could bully them around, he decided to go after the blind ruby macaw. Charlie got the short end of the stick, and two surgeries later, he's missing half of his lower beak. This results in his beak "scissor-beaking", and because of this, he needs his beak dremeled for the rest of his life. It's a two person job that I do myself, since neither one of us can handle someone else doing it for me!

angiern said:

The only pets I'm concerned about are my fish. I have a 180 gallon saltwater fish tank. The top is only partially closed off

Click to expand...

Get some Oscars. No cat will fish in that tank...

The place where I work had two cats. One was a hunter, the other was terrified of my conures shriek.

I brought George to work one afternoon. As usual the one cat immediately took off and hid. The hunter was nowhere to be found. I allowed George onto the shoulder of my boss. I looked around to see if the hunter had emerged, which she had but was 20 feet away, sitting calmly. I spoke with my boss for a moment. Turned to look for the hunter but she was gone. I looked down and she had gotten one foot away from George! Never heard her, saw her move. Picked him up and placed him back in his cage.

I mostly agree. I have to add that I do have Rosie and my dogs out in the same room together, they don't interact though. I'll have Rosie on my hand or on a towel and my dog sugar will be sitting next to me, normally sleeping. I don't allow my dogs to play with Rosie, and if they are getting riled up I let them put in their crates. Understanding what your pets can do to one another is important, animals have instincts and that they may follow at any time.