| Title: | Captive Breeding for Conservation--and FUN! |
| Notice: | INTROS 6.X / FOR SALE 13.X / Buying a Bird 900.* |
| Moderator: | VIDEO::PULSIFER |
| Created: | Mon Oct 10 1988 |
| Last Modified: | Tue Jun 03 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 942 |
| Total number of notes: | 6016 |
A question for the experts:
Does the existence of a cat create a potential stress problem with
small birds?
The details:
I have 2 half moon conures (little guys) and have recently moved
them to the sun room where the cat can have access. I'm not concerned
the cat will eat them since they're too high up and this cat is 15
years old and can't seem to get out of his own way. He does, however,
sit watching them at times and meowing at them which makes the birds
a little nervous.
They've only been in the sun room for 2 days but seem abnormally
quiet (probably don't want to get the attention of the cat). I've not
had a noise problem when moving them from one room to another before so
I'm blaming their quietness on the cat.
My concern is that the cat is stressing out the birds. Could this
added stress be a potential heath problem w/birds?
Rich
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 369.1 | COGITO::SPINNEY | Fay Spinney ** Merlin Rules! | Wed Jun 06 1990 10:30 | 8 | |
whenever I move my birds form one room to another they generally
get quite unitl they adjust.
We have five cats that seem to get more stressed out by the birds
squawking then the birds seem to get from the presence of the cats.
Fay
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| 369.2 | "CAT-astrophy" | FDCV07::BOURGAULT | Wed Jun 06 1990 13:21 | 27 | |
I agree with Fay. My birds do go through a quiet period whenever I
move them to a different location. And as Fay, I too have a few cats.
They are also very used to the birds and have long since given up the
possibility of catching them. My birds are (most) hanging from the
ceilings and the ones that aren't seem to be of no interest to the
cats. I do have a couple of cockatiels whose cage hangs near the
stair case. When I first put them there the cats loved to sit on the
stair closest to the cage (which was still several feet away) and
gaze at the birds. This made the birds rather nervous at first, but
after a few days, it subsided and the birds grew used to the cats.
Now they all accept eachother. However the cats are afraid of the
two large birds (Molluccan Cockatoo and Yellow Nape ) and stay as
far away as they can. (The yellow nape loves to bite their tails!)
The cats however still find the little finches facinating and at times
like to sit and watch them - but they never try to get them. Of course
they cannot get to them. The cats seem to have no interest in any
bird larger than a cockatiel. My indian ringneck sits in a very large
cage on my kitchen countertop next to the sink. The cats could really
pester him if they wanted to but never, ever bothered him once.
To wrap things up, I would expect that it is the move not the cats
that have stressed your birds a bit. But give them time and you will
see that they will become comfortable with their surroundings and
adjust .
Good luck,
Denise
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| 369.3 | Vocal chords are getting flexed again! | 2EASY::BUTTIGLIERI | RICH | Thu Jun 07 1990 13:16 | 9 |
Thanks for the replies. My Conures are smaller than cockatiels and
I've clipped their wings. Now I feel I should be cautious when letting
them out if the cat's in the house, they can't fly away very well.
They do seem to be getting adjusted to a cat in the same room, and this
cat doesn't even seem interested anymore, too far to reach.
Rich
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