Need advice on cat-proofing!

[ikethedeviant]

So I bought home my GCC on Tuesday, and he is an absolute joy. I could go on and on about him but I have a problem that really needs addressing at the moment, and would really appreciate any advice people are willing to give. I have a dog and 2 cats, the dog is fine. The cats...well I can't very well blame them for being cats, but I do need to find a way to cat proof the cage. Even though the cage is my height, (I'm 5'8) the cats are able to scale it, even when it's covered at night. Luckily the bird remains unphased by it all...but I'm stressed outta my mind. I'm just terrified of that one little scratch that could end it all. The bars are 1/2" spacing so the cats cant reach in, but their nails could still get him. The cats are beginning to lost interest in him after only 3 days though, so that's a good sign, but I still would never trust them to leave him completely alone. I do keep the cage in my bedroom with the door closed when I leave the apartment, but I don't want to keep either the bird or the cats confined for a big part of the day. Today I bought a ScatMat, which is a plastic mat that uses static electricity to keep dogs and cats off furniture and stuff. I bought it quite reluctantly because I'm doubting how humane it is, but luckily I got a defective one so I didn't have to watch my poor babies get shocked. So my question is: what do you fellow cat owners do to keep the peace? Has anyone tried the ScatMat? Any ideas? Anyone?

 

[PortaPerch]

Our two old cats have learned to ignore any other animal we accept and interact with. We just have to be careful to introduce them. However, when our son's pit bull mix shows up, they team up and attack. Our son doesn't find it so humorous.

I was gone, and wife failed to properly introduce a new 'tiel in our house to the cats, and one of them attacked her. She survived that, but could never fly again, much as she tried.

 

[MaraWentz]

We introduced our bird to the cats of our house and ther is no cat proofin lol . We jsut have a supervised introduction where the cat can sniff and touch the bird and the bird allows it and if it has enough the bird will scream and that frightens the cat enough to stay away for the moment but once all the sniffing is gone the curiousity is gone too

 

[ZoeS]

Short of covering the cage with plexiglass, there isn't much you can do... cat flaws are small.

Instead, put the cage in a different room when you are not home that the cats can't get into. When you are around, keep a squirt bottle handy and when the cat approaches the cage start with saying "No!" or "Aye, get out of there!" or whatever. If he doesn't react, squirt him. If still nothing, get up and boot him (not hard but enough to shove him out of the way unceremoniously). Eventually he will figure it out.

If it helps, I have two conures in a house with 5 permanent cats, none of which is remotely interested in the birds. I had a foster cat that once attacked Libby (she was fine but given antibiotics), and another foster cat currently that gladly would, but they both came off the streets and see birds as food so I just keep them separate.

 

[lizardsmells]

Our cats and dogs know the difference between 'pack' and 'prey'. A bird in the yard is fair game to the dogs, but Kazi is off limits. A chipmunk that makes its way into the garage is a free lunch. but when we bred mice for our snake and the two breeders got out, I woke up to 5 cats sitting in a circle keeping them both in the center. Not one whisker hurt on their little heads, just being watched until I got up. It was nuts.

Now I will say it's not all their smarts. It's because Kazi came in and took over. Before the cats and dogs could give him grief he dished it out in spades to them. Just a few of them had to get a bite before ALL of them learned to give him plenty of space. And they do. The cats actually run from him, the dogs cower. One of the dogs is a bird dog and another one is a retriever. I expected to have so many issues with them and a parrot. But no, Kazi decided to just fix the problem before it became one!

Note that I'm not suggesting you let your cats get bitten at all, just trying to tell you my experience.

 

[CheekyJuno]

I make use of a spray bottle to deter the cats from the cage. Eventually they learn that getting on the cage = water. But I have a GCC that isn't exactly what I would call "nice". I've never had to worry about the cats getting too pushy with her. I can keep her on her play stand in the living room (when I'm in there too) and the cats will try to sniff the play stand and Juno goes after them. One good strike and the cats know to get away. When Juno was a baby and my cat, Fred was a kitten he had an obsession with jumping on her cage. She bit his feet pretty good every time and he eventually learned. Generally it's something cats will get bored of quickly. Good luck

 

[GregPara]

I had 2 small cockatiels and I would always allow the birds out while my cat was around. Eventually, although I never left them alone, the cat would sleep on top of the cage and the birds would walk around the cat and sleep by her paws. Sometimes, they would preen the cat and the cat would pin their tails but never had an issue for over 3 years til my son took the birds off to college. Now I have my Blue & Gold MaCaw and the cat sleeps right by the bird when she is on the back of the couch with no issues. Just spending tons of time with all the animals at once seemed to help us. Hope that helps. We never left them alone.

 

[PortaPerch]

Greybeard and a cat were on the bed with wifey this morning. He put his beak to the cat's nose, like a kiss. First time we've seen that.

 

[ikethedeviant]

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences! It's comforting to know that birds and cats can indeed coexist I put my laundry basket upside down on top of the cage yesterday and that appears to be working so far, and the little guy even had a face to face encounter with one of my kitties today (closely supervised of course) and the cat was definitely intimidated by his beak. The cats do get better with him every day and they seem more curious than aggressive towards him. I can't help worrying, but I do think that things will keep improving!

 

[Ash]

My cats also know the difference between "pack" and "prey". They just know. My cats don't mind my fids and my fids dont mind my cats. Alex really likes the cats. He always meows to the cats. And I mean always. He sometimes crawls all over them and even tries to "preen" them.