apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Introduce them to each other on neutral ground and have them spend time together there on a regular basis with plenty of treats. This will help them become familiar with one another and feel positive about it and no one feels that their home territory is being threatened. Best of luck!

Cats and birds??? I can't imagine this ever being a cozy relationship. But perhaps you can minimize risk.

I suggest, though, that cats prefer to get to know a place slowly. Giving them free reign of the new home immediately is much more stressful than giving them a quiet room (like the bedroom) in which to get used to new sounds and smells. Close the bedroom door, leaving them with food and water and a litter box. After about a week, start leaving the door open and let them explore. The idea is that the bedroom has become a safe zone (and you all sleep together at night); if they feel insecure while exploring, there is a safe retreat nearby.

I'd leave the birds in an adjacent room where the cats can hear the birds. And I'd use a squirt gun or spray bottle to deter them from investigating the cages to closely.

Good luck!

You can't. Eventually, someday, someone will accidentally leave a door open and the cats will kill the birds.

If you really insist on trying it, though, get a couple of Scat Mats, which give the cats a mild electric shock when they step on it. But even then you'd be better off sending one set of pets or the other to a new home.

As someone with experience in this matter, I hate to break it to you, but this is not going to end well for your cockatiels. Birds are natural prey for cats. And they will seize any opportunity, and I mean ANY, to unleash their feline instincts. Sure, there are exceptions where cats and birds get along, but don't count on a miracle- just ask my dearly departed zebra finch.

Cats and birds is tough but it can be done! My landlord has 3 birds and two cats, the birds are enormous and spend most of their supervised time out of their cages, the cages protect the cats more than the birds.

I have never kept birds but most people I know that have them always have a special quiet room for them, where they can rest and not be startled, especially if there are cats in the house which will make them anxious.

As for the cats, make sure they know that any hunting style behavior around the birds is forbidden. squirt bottles, at hand, keep a close eye. If they do anything really bad scruff them (it doesnt hurt the cat and mimics what their mom would do when they were kittens) and put them in a time out room- like the bathroom. If they ignore the birds give them lots of treats, and definitely have toys available that they can take out frustrations on

Lose the cats.

Good advice has been given, I'll just say good luck.

it depends, my cat loved my es boyfriend's dog, but with my best friend's schnauzer and my cat hate each other.
get them to know each other, may be they'll surprise you and botht he casts and the bird will just ignore them.

or not.

have you discussed it with your vet? He or she may have some very good input or ideas for you, and whether there is a workable option.

I have one cat and five cockatiels, seven parakeets (it's a long story involving rescuing them from an amateur breeder and nursing them back to health from a variety of malnutrition and unsanitary condition based diseases). I want to offer a bit of hope to the bird owners. Based on the cats ages and experiences they may not know the birds are prey. If they have never been outdoor cats/learned to hunt birds, they will probably leave yours alone. My cat still kills mice despite being fourteen years old, but has no interest in the birds at all, even when they land next to her on the bed. I suggest that the birds cage be kept on a cage stand, not a table, so there is less temptation for the cats to jump up and investigate.The suggestion given above about introducing your cats to your new home slowly is good advice. Cats tend to be more territorially attached than dogs and tend to stress about moving more. Your birds also will probably find the novelty of the move stressful and take awhile to acclimate. Use common sense and supervise your pets introduction and all should be fine.

Ever watched Tweety and Sylvester? That will be your home life.

Depends on the cats. I could probably do it with one of mine but almost certainly not the other.

There are a bunch of photos circulating in the emailsphere of a kitten playing with a parakeet, and the parakeet grooming the kitten with its beak. Obviously it's easier to start familiarizing the cats with the birds when they're young. But that's not to say it can't be done when they're older.

Unfortunately Luca and Marco will be drawing the short end of the stick in this move - unless the kitties had a lobotomy, they will try to explore these fluffy cuddly things, whether to eat or to play with and it will be traumatic for the birds.

I think you will have to keep a tight "out" time schedule for the 'tiels, assuring every time that the cats are locked up somewhere else. Also, if you can designate a room, for example the office (never a kitchen) as the birdy room, while the rest of the apartment can be cat space - that would allow the birds some out time to explore and keep them very safe. Of course one will have to be super vigilant about the door. However, since you are moving to a new place, the cats will not know the entire apartment and should accept that that one room is off limits. If you just put them in the same living room as the cats, the 'tiels might be perpetually stressed, noisy and worried, which is bad for their and your mental health.

All that said I strongly feel that you should try this arrangement and not try to re-home your cockatiels - they are such beautiful and friendly looking guys and it's easy for them to end up in wrong hands.

PS: Oh yeah, another suggestion is to get rid of ALL the feather cat toys the cats might have, so that feathers are not associated with fun anymore. You should also contact people at www.mickaboo.com for any advice, I am sure they have dealt with such a situation before.

It could work... first off, have these cats been indoors all of their lives? if they have been, there is hope. There's even a good bit of it.
I've had my cat, Six, since May of 2004, she was tiny a shelter kitten, and never lived outside thereafter. She routinely gets very worked up about birds and critters she views outside the windows... but lives gleefully alongside Kiwi the Budgie (parakeet) who joined our home in the Fall of 2006.
Initially, it was indeed nerve-wracking. She made the threatening at-the-window barking noises at Kiwi in his cage. We reprimanded her, and when she attempted to stretch up the pole of his cage stand, scruffed her, told her 'no', and countering more aggressive behavior with a light flick on the nose.
Her worst behavior was her pulling the cloth cover off of his cage in the middle of the night. Bothersome, but not bad...
After a weekend of this, we decided to let Kiwi out with us and Six at the same time. Kiwi is highly socialized and loooooves his people: rides around on shoulders, heads and flies around the house wherever he pleases.
Six was baffled. We didn't swat at the bird, but rather talked to him and let him sit on our fingers. Our behavior was intended to show her that Kiwi was ours, not hers...

She started acting differently around him. The threatening mows and barking ceased entirely. Her time spent staring at him in the cage went from prowling to lounging. Six no longer wanted to pet Kiwi with her teeth...

The bird became part of the household.

Now, lots of cat owners know how much kitties like drinking out of the bathroom sink, or watching drips come out of the spigot for as long as you keep it turned on...
And, bird owners know that a wonderful (and necessary) treat for birds is to let them take a shower in the bathroom sink.

Through time, close observation, and reinforcement of Six's behavior, the two of them happily share the bathroom sink. They are even playful. After drinking and bathing, the two of them will zip around the house almost playing tag. I have hopes that in even more time they will come to enjoy each other's company in a more relaxed fashion, but at least I can trust that the two of them to be out together when we are home. When we are not... he's in the cage, and she can lounge underneath all she wants.

So, be firm and consistent in establishing your expectation of the cats. Don't encourage them to interact/play together from the start. Show the cats boundaries, use proper tone of voice (quiet, solemn, reassuring) to guide them. Your body language should indicate 'ownership' of the birds. Once the kitties understand that the birds belong to you and not them, they will have fear of you, and will start looking at the birds quite differently.
Hope this helps.
And anyway... the 'tiels can hold their own against house cats better than a little 'keet. :)

@magdelane I just found it funny that you named your cat Six because I named mine Nine (and no not because of the 9 lives thing totally forgot about that until my mom pointed it out).

*stares at picture*

OMG TEH LITTLE PINK BIRDFEET. I must kiss them NOW.

I agree with those who think this can work. You'll need to work at it, but cats can eventually learn. I had an outdoor/indoor cat and my mom had a bird. The bird bit the cat's nose when the cat investigated and we were clearly on the bird's side, so the cat just became afraid of the bird. He still hunted bird's outside though. But always supervise, and if you can close the door to where the bird's live so much the better.

You have to be realistic. The danger is not just at first when you guys move in together--it is every single day that the cats and birds live together. Cats can cohabitate safely with large parrots that can defend themselves, but that does not include cockatiels. Basically the birds must be in their cages 24/7, unless the cats are safely in another room. 100% of the time. I have a friend who manages this, but this is with a cockatiel who isn't hand-tame so he wouldn't spend much time outside his cage anyway.

If you feel that outside time is important for the birds' happiness, find them a new home. If not, or until the new home is found, keep them in the cage all the time, to be safe.

PS Don't trust the cats, no matter how they behave. Like I said, it's one thing with a bigger parrot. With a cockatiel, forget it.

My husband has a cockatiel- and I haven't gotten a cat though I would have liked to since we couldn't have dogs in the building. I didn't get one because of all the things above BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY- cats contain an enzyme that is deadly to birds. Even if they didn't kill them from pouncing or swiping or whatever- the cockatiel's can contract a deadly disease from the cats. I am sure any vet will warn against for this particular reason alone. I am soooo sorry! I really hope there is a solution for you all. I feel for you.

Hopefully it will go something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI_7pZw1a2Q

:)

It's tragic that people have lost birds to cats, and that should give one pause about moving to quickly, but it's simply inaccurate to say it *can't* be done. I had several cockatiels' whose cage door was only closed when I left the house. They walked around the floor with the cats. I've had that with pet rats and cats, too. The message might be more: you cannot assume that the cats will not be a danger to the birds, and be very, very slow and cautious about if and whether they interact.

Bottom line is you have an obligation to the quality of life of all these animals, so warehousing some in another room without a lot of dedicated attention is not an ethical solution (esPECially with birds, who have intense social needs). And if you have patience, interest, and animals who seem like they can work with the situation, it's very short-sighted to ditch some of them. Safety first: make sure they don't have the opportunity to hurt each other (the cage won't allow the cats to catch a leg in them or isn't too light that it can be knocked over).

this are the best group of caring thoughtful and entertaining answers I have ever seen on the net. Bravo to you all. And good luck to the pair of loving peeps figuring this one out. I'm in awe.

those look like HAPPY birds.

meganross1, I am very curious about this enzyme you talk about. Could you tell me what it?