Multi-pet Homes and Birds

[Vampiric_Conure]

I was wondering how you handle having furred, predatory animals, and birds? I'm specifically thinking cats and dogs. I have a dog (service dog) who would sample my birds if I gave her half the chance. If I have my birds out, she needs to be locked in the bathroom. She does NOT like the bathroom and lets me know. Loudly.

Sigh.

So yeah... how do you handle having the birds and other critters? ANy tricks you've learned? Places you've found work good for you?

 

[BirdyBee]

I was wondering how you handle having furred, predatory animals, and birds? I'm specifically thinking cats and dogs. I have a dog (service dog) who would sample my birds if I gave her half the chance. If I have my birds out, she needs to be locked in the bathroom. She does NOT like the bathroom and lets me know. Loudly.

Sigh.

So yeah... how do you handle having the birds and other critters? ANy tricks you've learned? Places you've found work good for you?

My birds live in the bird room, and my dog roams the house, so I just close my bedroom door. My dog is terrified of my birds though, so I'm not too concerned, but I'd rather play it safe.

 

[StormyPica]

I was wondering how you handle having furred, predatory animals, and birds? I'm specifically thinking cats and dogs. I have a dog (service dog) who would sample my birds if I gave her half the chance. If I have my birds out, she needs to be locked in the bathroom. She does NOT like the bathroom and lets me know. Loudly.

Sigh.

So yeah... how do you handle having the birds and other critters? ANy tricks you've learned? Places you've found work good for you?

Pardon me for asking, aren't service animals supposed to be super well behaved? I would think a service animal wouldn't try to eat anything if the handler is telling them not to.

 

[chris-md]

largely you’re correct stormy. But even the best trained animals could have a moment where prey drive override any training.

Trying to train out prey drive is like trying to train out hormonal behavior in parrots. Simply can’t do it. So you adapt and learn not not lead with trust, even with the most well behaved dogs and cats.

 

[Briburd]

I have three little dogs and a cat. They are all terrified of my GCC Mojito. He is very bold. Tbh, my biggest challenge is making sure he doesn’t attack them but I also know not to trust the dogs and cat fully because they could really hurt him. When I first got Mojito the dogs would bark at him literally every time he moved and it took a few weeks of me telling them it was ok and to go lay down. I would mostly hang out with him in the spare room where he sleeps until the dogs began to ignore him or he had to hang in the cage if we were all in the same room. Now we all hang out on the bed/couch sometimes but I can never let my guard down when we do. Mojito is only allowed on our shoulders when we do too. I also roll his cage into the bedroom and it has a play top for him to hang out on. I placed perches and toys on the outside of the cage and hung some on the wall. Now we all coexist but I don’t allow them to interact at all. What’s kind of cute tho is when someone is at the door and the dogs bark Mojito does too in his conure way. Oh also, once the dogs got a taste of the nutriberries he would drop on the floor they were like ok this little guy‘s got the goods. He drops them for them now and my wallet doesn’t appreciate it but I guess it’s one way they sort of vibe so I’ve come to accept it lol.

 

[Cottonoid]

I use a baby gate to keep my dog out of Cotton's part of the house. If I'm hanging out in the same room, I'll bring the dog with me but she's not allowed to wander. She's scared of Cotton 's voice but would pounce on him in a heartbeat if he fell on the ground.

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

Pardon me for asking, aren't service animals supposed to be super well behaved? I would think a service animal wouldn't try to eat anything if the handler is telling them not to.

You are correct! However, My Winter isn't a typical service dog. SHe works from home and doesn't do public outings. This isn't a problem, as I work from home/am on disability, so I don't need a 'perfectly' behaved dog. But we're working on her behavior.

 

[hiriki]

I've learned to just keep separate. I have four cats. The oldest has of course been with me the longest and I used to let her roam when the birds were out because she couldn't care less about them, but the three younger devils are very prey driven so when they entered the equation I drew a hard line and cats are no longer allowed anywhere near my birds.

I used to close my cats up in one of the litter box rooms while the birds were out, but it felt unfair to them to be confined like that. So, we improvised a "wall" out of Ikea desks attached by hinges (no joke) to block off the living room from the rest of the house.

Supervised, when the birds are secured in cages, the cats are allowed to roam the living room. There's another pet fence in front of the cages that they'd need to scale if they wanted to mess with them and it's noisy when they do, so we just keep an eye out. But if the birds are out or we aren't home the "wall" is closed for safety.

Obviously our improvised solution worked for our floor plan and I have no idea what your home layout is, but if there's any way to make a "bird room" where you can close the door and enjoy your bird without fear of your pup, I'd recommend that.