Hi! Help on cats & sun conures

[mihasm1]

Hi,

I am new to this site and find it very informative! It is great to be able to share experiences like this. I have a question and would like some help on it.

I presently have 3 cats and have recently taken a liking to sun conures. I used to have parakeets when I was in highschool (a long time ago), so do have experience with birds. Two parakeets were family animals (purchased one after the other) that were allowed to fly in the living room, bathed in my hands, and the last one was a "wild one" who teased the big dog we also had, diving over its nose for fun over and over.

Since cats naturally prey on birds, I am wondering if it is a good idea to purchase and introduce a son conure. I have heard from many people that they have both cats and birds, but I am rather cautious. I would hate to have my cats think of a parrot as "live entertainment". Any suggestions and/or advice will be happily accepted!

Thank you very much!

[RubyMuse]

Hi,
Well, I think it is great that you are asking that question BEFORE getting a sun conure. I think you can do it but you must be very careful. I have cats and dogs and birds. But, any interaction is very regulated. I do not allow the cats access to bird rooms when I am not home and so I guess I have a limited contact situation.

I would consider an adoptable sun conure - maybe one that has lived around other animals and not a baby with no experience. I also would recommend having a flighted bird that could get away, although I would not rely on this if the cats have claws because one swipe or one bite and that could be it...

It can be done if you are willing to make some reasonable safety precautions.

Best of luck.

[kiki114]

well I'm not an expert, but I have a lovebird and a cat and I don't have the nerve to let Capri out while Xanny (the kitty) is in the room, but as long as Capri is in her cage they are a very happy pair and get along very well lol. Hope that helps :) Also, my kitty is declawed and very tame, so if there were a situation where Capri got out I would be confident that there would not be an issue.

[expressmailtome]

Welcome to Bird Board! I have no experience with cats, but think that it is great that you are doing research first. Enjoy!

Matt

[mihasm1]

Thank you all for your good advice. I guess I will wait until I have a living situation with a room for the bird and a door that can be closed! My cats are of different ages, 10 years, 5 years and 8 months. I did come ot realize that even my old girl gets the hunting fever when birds try to nest outside of the window although she usually spends her day sleeping.

I had thought that keeping the bird flighted would be the best thing to do to give it a chance to get away and that unsupervised times together would result in terminal desasters.

Once again thank you everyone!