Why does my bird attack my cat?!?

[rreekers]

My jenday conure literally attacks my cats. I initially worried about the cats hurting that bird, but they pay ni mind to him (I know things could change in a heart beat)
But if my cat is sleeping or stand on the couch and the bird decids to come to the couch to visit my husband and I.. he will randomly run towards my cat/s with that beak just chomping at the air. He has pulled out hair from 1 cats leg. It he gets ahold of then I know it could injure the cat.

Any idea why he does this
And
What can I do to try correct the behavior

 

[Rio Mom]

Don't let your bird out when the cat is in the room. Please put your cat in a different room with the door closed while the bird is out. It could end in disaster.

 

[MonicaMc]

Charlie, my mitred conure, chases the cats if they get too close to him.

The cats, particularly Squirt, chases the dog. Mind you, the dog is half akita, possibly half pit.

The dog? Kodi will chase anything outside that'll run for him! Including cats... but he wont get within more than 5-6 feet of a cat outside, if he or she refuses to run.


I wish I could get the cats and dog to get along more than I wish for Charlie to leave the cats alone...

 

[MikeyTN]

I would have to agree with Rio Mom here! Should try to avoid the disaster cause of the cat bites back, as you know cat saliva is toxic to birds, it would be the bird that would suffer as it only take one nip!

Monica, I wish my dogs and cats would get along too....the only one I really have a problem with is my girl husky, the boys would play with the kitties. BUT if it's outside, it's fair game. As long as my girl is there, whatever in the yard won't be leaving alive if they catch it. It bugs me they do that as we usually check the yard before letting them outside but sometimes they would come into the yard while they're out. I got really mad at them when they killed a kitten out in the yard.

 

[MonicaMc]

My dog has never killed anything... but Squirt (cat) has killed mice before and possibly a quail.

I can't imagine if my dog actually did manage to catch something what he would do with it. He's a happy go lucky pup and I hate how much he gets abused by the Squirt. Squirt loves to torture him.

 

[MikeyTN]

Fiyero, mr kitty, would torture the dogs cause he knows we won't let the dogs get to him. So he hides behind us while trying to paw at the dogs. He paws at them and the dogs don't dare to go behind us cause they know better then that. Now our other kitty Pearl, mrs kitty would rather hide.

 

[Thingamagigs]

Of course the bird will chase the cat, its a natural predator :|
They may be your pets but a bird is still a bird and a cat is still a cat.

 

[lene1949]

I was left with 3 cats, when the kids left home... Eventually 2 of them were reclaimed, and I was left with the mother cat...

At the time I had a female cockatiel..... and one day I saw a whole heap of cockatiel feathers outside... I raced in to see if Baby was OK, and she was...

Some hours later, the people around the back, knocked on my door to check, if I had seen their cockatiel... They had let the bird fly in their back yard, because the thought she could do with the exercise... All I could do was point to the feathers.. I was speechless... I couldn't believe that someone would just let their tame bird out, and I couldn't believe that my cat would attack a tame bird, when she had just been fed...

I will never have another cat... Mother cat died of old age, still in my care...

 

[Inverse]

What can I do to try correct the behavior

Get rid of the cat and get another bird.

 

[Remy]

I'm not sure what can be done to correct the behavior, aside from separating them.

Darcy attacks dogs! He will go up to a dog, bite it, and/or pull our hair, when presented with the opportunity. So far, he has ignored cats. On Thanksgiving, he actually walked across a cat as if it didn't exist. The cat also ignored him.

 

[Remy]

In the wild, we sometimes see little birds attacking predatory birds. I wonder if it is related.

 

[rreekers]

They just think they are so tough!!

I don't know why they do that.

I just tell Sinna no, and put myself between the cat and bird. Blocking his path

 

[MikeyTN]

Years ago when I first started, when I had dogs around the birds they're fine....BUT when I brought in a cat, they all freaked out. I believe birds can sense the difference between cats and dogs. But sometimes you do have parrots that likes cats like my ekkies, they go meow for the kitties but freaks out when they see the big dogs, but they're fine with small dogs as they don't freak out with the chihuahua. But Willie the macaw, everyone is scared of him including all the dogs and cats....lol....Chihuahua cries if he gets too close to him....

 

[rreekers]

After last night. I think the bird is trying to show dominance over the cats. The bird was flying around and landed on top on the cat twice while it was sleeping .. the cat didn't react through I held the cats head done so it wouldn't hurt the bird. Also I think Sinna gets jealous when I give the cats affection and gets mad when I protect the cats from his powerful little beak.

 

[MonicaMc]

There is no such thing as dominance in parrots... however, some birds will take odd fascinations with different people, items or even animals. I've heard of some birds that no one could handle, then a child shows up and the bird goes gaga over the child!

Birds have a natural tendency to preen others as well, and cats and dogs do have a lot of fur.

Not to mention, if a bird has a nest with which to protect, they can attack anything that gets close to it.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Cats, dogs and parrots should NEVER be allowed to interact. PERIOD.

Each is a different animal with different instincts all together. You may trust your cat and/or dog 100%, but please never make the mistake and trust him/her UNSUPERVISED.

Accidents can and will happen. It only takes 1/100th of a second for a cat (or dog) to turn the table and lunge or bite a bird. And it happens to the most trustworthy pets.

The bird will most definitely lose most of the time.

Do NOT ever take any chances. Please.

 

[momto3]

Our cats, birds and dogs all get along fine so I can't really help you there. But, I have a friend whose Quaker bit the ear off of her cat. The cat jumped on the sofa and the bird was snuggling her husband--bird attacked cat and took his ear off!! I think that I would separate them at all times. Has your bird always acted this way? We introduced our pets to each other when they were babies and have made it clear that we are all part of a family. Not sure if we got lucky or this works.

 

[Karigan]

The birds are only out of the cage when I'm in the room or if the cats are locked outside. That said, sometimes I'll have Kito on my knees when I sit on the couch and the cat lies on the back.

If I don't give the bird enough attention, she walks up to the cat and puts her head down in the "scratch me!" position. If that doesn't work, she takes a step forward and tries it again...and again...and again... until the cat is so uncomfortable that I have to remove the bird or have her risk flying across the couch. So far so good, but I do find it odd that they don't see cats as predators.

 

[rreekers]

Sinna has had the new great idea of swooping down from him cage and attacking the cat and then flying back to the cage. I just dont get it. But then yesterday Sinna did his side step foot touch /grab. This is how were are slowly gaining trust. And how Sinna works his confidence up to stand on human hands. But he did it to the cat... it was the strangest thing.

 

[crimson]

If we bring our Senegal Safari out into the living room, all 4 cats are put behind closed doors, and three of our dogs are crated.
that way we can relax and enjoy spending time with Safari, and not worry about the other animals getting to him.