Can Kitten and Pionus Live Together?

[feathersnfriend]

Help. I want to get a blue headed pionus in a couple of months. Dilemma -I have a 6 month old kitten. He's curious, loving and watches me feed the wild birds every day. He is an indoor cat and I've never given him feathered toys to play with. I refuse to traumatize a bird. I work from home so there would be supervision and they wouldn't be alone together. Is it possible to keep both as pets or should I give up on the idea?

 

[MikeyTN]

It is possible yes! Is it dangerous? Yes! Cats saliva is highly toxic to birds, all it take is just one bite! Do I trust my cats with birds? Never!!!! The cats are afraid of my macaw though.

 

[suebee]

if there together supervised thats fine, even if they get on?

but then again theres is no guarentee that the 2 will or won't get along, you'll only know after you've got the bird, but it will be in the cats nature to play/eat the bird, and i'd imagine birds nature to fly from the cat etc

 

[MikeyTN]

I've seen people's cats play with the birds nicely! I just don't take that kind of risk, especially after losing one of my bird to one of my dogs. That was painful enough to go through once....no seconds!

 

[Spiritbird]

I have a Maine Coon cat who is very laid back and does not bother the bird at all. You are talking about a kitten. Kittens will be kittens and chases birds or anythng else that is moving fast. Instead of a kitten can you get an adult cat?

 

[MikeyTN]

My maine coon likes to torture the dogs behind the door or behind our legs. Then he paws at the dogs making them mad. But the dogs don't dare cause im standing right there. He jumps by the smaller birds and tries to paw them too. Would I trust him? Absolutely not....he's turning 2 this summer..... I rescued him since he was a tiny furball less then 1 lb.

 

[patterson]

Our cat marvin loves our birds they groom him all time we also have kitten but I don't trust kittens with birds they might think they are playing but it could be to late kittens bite is very bad for bird. And they love to play hunt

 

[feathersnfriend]

Thanks everybody for your input. I'm taking kitty outside (on leash) every day while I feed the wild birds to get his reaction. So far, he just sits and watches, hasn't tried to chase. Telling him birds our our friends and he's a good boy :0).

 

[DallyTsuka]

6 months old... hes growing up. i have 3 cats as well as the 4 birds and chinchillas. we dont allow them out together. weve had one incident with our 7 month old kitten when she was 5 months. i checked to make sure all the cats were out of the room and couldnt find them anywhere so i closed the bedroom door to lock the cats in there. took toby out to clip his wings to start taming him after his illness passed. he flew out of my hand and the kitten ran out from under the couch and clawed him out of the air. we took him to the vets, there was nothing they could do to save him as the wound was way too deep and long. it was from under his wing to his leg along his flank and it went right through the abdominal cavity. we had to humanely euthanize him. the kitten was just playing. what do you expect? she saw a bright green object zoom through the air.... shes a kitten she will chase. we cant blame the cat. it was an accident.

do i reccomend letting cats and birds play together? no. not one bit. do i think they can be in the same household? yes. in the same room while birds are in cages? yes so long as the cat doesnt pester them too much, climb on cages, or jump on the cages. but you're thinking of getting a somewhat larger species, theyre slower than small birds and you should be fine. i have small species, but the cat always seems to like the lovies. and the budgie. theyre scared of the tiels. so i think you will be good with a cat in the household with the type of bird you're looking into.

 

[burley]

our kitten would climb to the top of our macaw cage and stick his paws in. on day Val grabbed on of those little paws! she could have bit the foot off , I am shure, but she held on just long enough to scare the kitten good.

 

[MikeyTN]

DallyTsuka,

That's so true!!!!! So sorry to hear about your budgie incident! Samething happened with my Quaker, but it was a puppy that killed him....

burley,

Our macaw got a hold of my dog's muzzle and won't let go. So the dog drag his cage around until he finally let go. Do the dogs bother my macaw? No they do not as they have learned that beak can do some major damage. Willie feeds the dogs now days...lol....My cats are terrified of Willie too, he's the king of the house....

 

[Robyn]

Hello, I have an eclectus parrot who is 2 in June , 1 kitten and an adult cat & dog. I got my parrot Jack about 21 months ago, he was 14 weeks old. We got our new Kitten at xmas just past, she was 8 weeks old. Our adult cat is nearly 3 yrs old.
We have never allowed our adult cat and Jack to get close to each other because she is an adult cat , but extremely patient with him flying around her , she has never attempted to get him at all, she shows no interest. But ...... our kitten is something totally different .... being only a baby herself, she does play with Jack all the time ( under very close supervision ), they even rumble . I hear Jack having conversations with our kitten , telling her to get " up" , come on Lilly quick and starts running hoping to be chased. Jack grooms the kitten al lthe time and most of the time she will just lay there with her eyes shut while he does it. I have taken video of them , they are posted on Jacks facebook page , you are welcome to have a look. I have even had my parrot telling me that " Lily is mine " , so he reckons he owns the kitten.
Anybody , who disagrees with my kitten and parrot interacting - Im asking you to please do not email me or contact me regarding this . I am fully aware of the dangers and I stand over the both of them extremely close to supervise and protect the both of them. You really have to know how your pets are to know if they will get along. Nobody else out there other than my family knows how my pets are, so please doooo not judge. My pets are very very happy, well protected , much loved and very closely supervised. They are very fond of each other and actually do play. He runs around the kitten yelling " Come on quick " . I just picked up Jack during this email and he was insisting that "Lilys a good boy " , although he doesnt know that lily is a girl , he only knows of one gender , a boy.
Please have a look at his profile and view his videos with his odd looking sister Lily ..... his profile is Jack Eclectus.
Thanks ,
Robyn

 

[MikeyTN]

Its wonderful your pets get along so great!!! I bet its cute watching them.

Personally I don't take that chance. Took me a long time griefing over mine when he was killed. I've had dogs and one cat that I trust that was good with all my other animals so I know exactly what you mean!

 

[Robyn]

Yes, you really have to know your pets to know if its ok that they interact at all. I know it wont be a long term thing, but I can never seem to be able to separate the kitten and Jack at the moment. I hear my parrot sometimes asking the kitten " Do you love Robyn ? " hahah And boy Im trying soooo hard to get that on video , I have posted their videos on youtube , under Eclectus parrots , Jack Eclectus. Ideally I would love to teach Jack to count to 5, he seems to know exactly when to say everything else lol.
Jack knows not to go near our adult cat and vice versa, so thats good. But they are all fully supervised at all times when in the same room together. They are never left alone. It is nice when unusual pets can get along.

 

[darkling]

I've had Hannibal for about a week now and he let my cat know who was boss within the first 30 minutes of being here. It was kind of funny, actually. Hannibal was perched on the back of the couch and Courage (my cat) crept up to sniff his tail. Hannibal just sat there absolutely still, absolutely quiet until Courage made the mistake of lifting a paw to play with his tail feathers and then Hannibal let out a squawk that was so LOUD ... I jumped and Courage flipped himself over backwards, scrambling to get away. hehe

Courage has never been outside. He's never hunted anything at all and he shows no interested whatsoever in Hannibal now but I wouldn't leave them alone together with Hannibal out of his cage. It would only take one time.

My biggest problem child with the parrot is my 3 lb chihuahua. Foxy likes to harass Hannibal by scurrying around his cage or trying to chase his tail if he's out. I will either lock her out of the room with a baby gate or spray her with a water bottle when she gets out of hand but yeah. Dog has no sense.