My cat turns 12 this summer

[LNCAG]

So, 12 years ago I had adopted a dumped kitten (named Zuri) and one of my biggest fears (since I worked full time) is that she would accidentally slip into the bird room and get injured sticking her little paw in their cages.

I always checked before going to work to know where my new kitten was.  But I guess I goofed one morning, probably in a rush.

I came home at lunchtime to walk the dog and wanted to check on the kitten and could not find her anywhere.  My worst fears confirmed -- she had slipped into the bird room before I left that morning!

I found her lying on her back, all four legs in the air, in pure joy, in the middle of the bird room floor.  All the parrots had come down to the bottom of their cages (huge tall cages) and my kitten was completely unharmed.  And I KNOW she must have poked a paw in a cage -- she was like 10 weeks old and very curious.

It was Snickers, my grey, who looked up at me and I swear if he could have rolled his eyes he would have.  He gave me this "we got this" look; like 'we know it's just a kitten, we don't hurt little kittens, lady, sheeesh -- give us a little credit!"

A lucky day and made me much more careful in the future to double check where the cats were before I left the house!!!  And now Zuri is happily and healthily 12 -- with all 4 paws intact!  lol  

[neoow]

Happy birthday to Zuri for when it comes round!

I have two cats as well as Alfie and they are bengals. I've had them since they were kittens and I was always watching them like a hawk when they were in the same room as Alfie's cage. Alfie grew up with a german shepherd dog and a cat so He knows how to rule the roost when it comes to other animals. The cats know better than to stick a paw in Alfie's cage. One of the cats occasionally jumps on to the top of the cage but as soon as Alfie makes any kind of movement towards him, he jumps off. Alfie is really good at giving warning shots - he will lunge towards the cat but will deliberately hit the bars to make a noise. The cats do not hang about when that happens and know they have pushed their luck. Alfie will only ever do the warning shots for the cats- if it was a human he'd go for the bite every time.

I had one close call which was due to my own stupidity. I was cleaning Alfie's cage out and he was still in it. I pulled the grill out and gave that a good clean and put it outside. I then came back and pulled the tray out to change the liner and clean it. Alfie started moving around the top of his cage looking a bit concerned and I wasn't sure why. So I looked over and saw Widget (one of the cats) wandering around the bottom of his cage - I had stupidly taken both the grill and the tray out at the same time when I usually do one then the other. I only ever take both out as the same time when Alfie is out of his cage and the cats are shut out of the room. There was a split second of panic then I realised I could tempt Widget out with a toy, so I grabbed the nearest 'wand' toy and waggled it round at the other end of the room. Sure enough, Widget came running after it. I threw the toy up the stairs and shut the living room door then put the grill back in the cage. Phew!

Goes to show we can always make mistakes, even when we're usually very careful!

[LNCAG]

My parrots grew up around cats (I already had cats when I first adopted my parrots; but they were older cats: Scooby 19, Mandey 17, Andy 16) and the parrots adjusted to them since the cats were there first.  My parrots were originally all kept in the living room together with me and the cats.  I had no bird room and things went fine even though the parrots were loose.  But I was a housewife back then and home all day to keep my eyes and ears peeled for any trouble.

But then I was widowed, I had to go back to work, and my original cats were long since Rainbow Bridge (I had 2 different grown cats that I had later added to my home over the many years).  The parrots had already adjusted to having different cats around, didn't seem to care much.  But I had to move to a smaller home and be gone all day working.  The bird room, with its door, ensured all was well while I was out of the house so many hours per day. 

But the new kitten had no idea the damage a bite could do -- esp from the macaw.  So thankful my parrots were cat-savvy and recognized the kitten was no threat to them, was just a baby. 

Edited August 11, 2019 by LNCAG
Cat ages: I gave RB dates, the cats were probably 16, 14 and 13 or so when I adopted parrots

[neoow]

I wouldn't trust the cats to be in the same room as Alfie when he is out of his cage. When Alfie is out, they have the top half of the house and Alfie gets the bottom half. (They are both indoor cats)

As they are bengals they are really playful and energetic and will chase anything that moves. I once saw one of them leap a few feet in the air to catch a fly (and they managed it!) so I wold never risk them with Alfie.

Similarly when Alfie was growing up with our german Shepherd I never let them interact when Alfie was out of the cage. I knew my dog wouldn't intentionally harm Alfie as he was as soft as anything but I knew it would only take one accident for one of them to get hurt. Similarly, our cat at the time was very prey motivated so I didn't want to risk it.

It would make life easier if I could have them all in the same space but I just don't want to risk it,

[LNCAG]

I understand completely.  I was always blessed with parrots mostly happy to stay on their play stands or playing on top of their cages (top opens for a play-area); and cats who preferred to nap or groom for 20 hours a day.  lol  Generally my parrots stayed up high, and my cats never jumped up on their play areas.  Just lucky I guess.  If I walk across the room with my parrot on my arm, my cat seems oblivious.

Bengals are so lovely and active!  I envy you!

Even today, when Snickers is on the sofa with me, my cat is just sleeping somewhere else.  I wouldn't have them both with me on the sofa at the same time -- my grey is liable to nip the cat, even if my cat was just napping on back of sofa. 

Zuri is an only cat these days -- the last 'kitten' I've had in 12 years.  I think she would enjoy another companion cat, but I'm not up to another cat yet since my last Rainbow Bridge cat. Glad yours have each other to entertain one another! This is the first time since the 80s I only have one cat.  Since I also have 7 tarantulas, a ball python and a bearded dragon; my pets keep me quite busy providing them attention and maintenance.  I'm so not in the market for another pet right now.  Introducing a new cat into my household would be a lot of work! 

Snickers can fly, but it's not that common for him to -- he's more of a climber.  Flying usually means something startled him (which is why I don't clip him -- if he feels he needs to take flight -- I want him to be able to do so and feel safe).  That said, I do like to be present when he's loose just in case he gets some ideas.... 

[neoow]

Of course, that's the other issue - Alfie could easily injure the cats! I wouldn't put it past him to give them a good nip!

Yes, bengals are something else. They are like no others cats I have ever known. I'm not normally much of a cat person as I tend to prefer dogs. My housemate convinced me to go for Bengals and I've never looked back. They are so energetic but also extremely loyal and affectionate (in their own individual ways). They are not lap cats but they love fuss and attention (on their terms). They never scratch or bite. They are so vocal with a range of different meows for different circumstances. There's the feed me meow... the fuss me meow... the worried meow... the sleepy meow... the curious meow... the 'chirp' when they can't get to something they want to hunt or play with... I could go on! I have a brother (Widget) and sister (Pixel) from the same litter so they can keep each other company when we're not home. They will be 9 in November.

I'm sure I've posted this story elsewhere... but Alfie did get out one time when I was still living with my parents. Nobody was home and I guess I didn't latch his food door closed properly so he pushed it open and climbed out. I can't remember if we still had the cat but if we did he was outside anyway. The German Shepherd, however, was indoors with Alfie. My sister came home and didn't notice Alfie wasn't in his cage (despite the fact she walked past it to get to the kitchen). She was hungry and mum had left her some food to reheat so she opened the back door to let the dog out and started re-heating her food in the microwave. I think it was chilli or lasagne or something and she had some garlic bread with it. She let the dog back in (so the back door had been opened twice now) and turned back to pick up her garlic bread to see Alfie sitting there happily munching on it.
My sister didn't really get on well with Alfie as she was quite scared of him (she's not a fan of birds). So she slowly backed away and ushered the dog into the living room. At which point Alfie decided to fly towards her. Apparently she screamed and legged it up the stairs - closely followed by the dog! (he was a big dog but so daft and soft!) She tried to ring me but I was at work and had left my mobile in my bag on silent. She then proceeded to ring my dad who was working in the middle of nowhere. He said "what do you want me to do? Ring your mother". She tried to ring our mum but couldn't get hold of her. She rung one of my mum's colleagues who didn't answer so she started to leave a voicemail message. Whilst she was waffling on about needing to speak to our mum urgently she crept back downstairs to see where Alfie was- who flew towards her again and landed on the TV. So the poor guy at my mum's workplace got a garbled message about needing to speak to our mum followed by a blood curdling scream as she raced back upstairs with the dog!
She shut herself in her room and rang my work's reception. Reception passed the call on to me and I had to listen to my terrified sister tell me all about how she had been chased around the house by the parrot who was out and please can I come home NOW so that she and the dog can come out of her room and she can eat her food. Oh, and by the way- the parrot ate her garlic bread!! (she was most upset about that part!). Of course by this time I was in hysterics and crying with laughter (much to my colleagues' confusion). I had to explain that yes I would check with my boss and see if I could come home early to 'rescue' her from Alfie... who was still minding his own business and sitting on the TV. I then had to explain what had happened to my boss, who found it as funny as I did and allowed me to leave early to go and sort the whole thing out.
I arrive home about 20-30 mins later, say hello to Alfie and ask him to step up from the TV and put him back in his cage, safe and sound. I then check the food door (twice) to make sure it's definitely closed this time and go and 'rescue' my sister and the dog from her bedroom.
To this day she has never forgiven Alfie for eating her garlic bread and it's become a bit of a long running joke between us.
Joking aside- it could have been so much worse. It was the first time Alfie and Ben (the german shepherd) had been out in the house together and they were all alone- potentially for a few hours. Thankfully nothing happened- I think if anything Ben probably just ran and hid. My sister did say he seemed a bit excitable when she got in and she just assumed he needed to go outside! Thankfully Alfie didn't take the opportunity to fly out of the open door the two times it was opened. So thankfully I was lucky on two counts- no injuries to either the dog or parrot and no escapee out the back door either! At least it's a story we can still laugh about.

[Timbersmom]

I have two cats (was four until last year when the 18 and 19 year old cats crossed the divide). They are lazy and not very predatory. When I'm home, I let the cats and Timber be in the same area. The cats were curious when I brought Timber home, but lost interest after the "new" wore off. I did have scare one time when Wilson jumped up on Timber's playtop (he's nosy). I'm not sure who was more surprised, Timber or Wilson. That said, if I'm not able to watch them every minute, they are separated. It only takes seconds for a fatal accident to happen.

I'd love to have a bengal! I can imagine that with their activity level and hunting instincts, they'd be much more likely to "chase and capture" even if they didn't have truly ill intent.

[LNCAG]

@neoow I admit the story of your sister running from a flying parrot was funny to me!  I guess now you have to buy her some frozen garlic toast for her birthday each year or something!  lol 

Lukaya (YN Amazon) was my escape artist.  She somehow learned to swing the little triangle that holds the cage's food doors closed and escape that way.  At first I thought it was an error on my part closing the doors properly, but no -- she was too smart for me.  I ended up having to add washers to make that triangle tight instead of loosely swaying, and then also put a thin flat magnet over it.  She never could swing that triangle again and escape. I tried Sellotape at first, but that got old fast (having to constantly remove, replace tape... smh!

Lukaya was lucky she has toes -- she'd be loose in the bird room, no respect for the other parrots, walking on their cages.  She's lucky one didn't get territorial and nip her toe off.  Snickers absolutely despised Lukaya. 

@Timbersmom Yeah, I agree on supervision!!!  I would only the leave the room for a couple seconds if the cat was asleep and Snickers was truly occupied by something (food/toy).  And I mean truly just a couple seconds. I honestly think it would be the cat who got the most injured if they ever met up face to face.   

 

[Blinkyspears22]

Happy birthday to your cat!!