Catastrophe Averted!

[Bettagurl]

I can understand why you all say put the bird in a room alone, but did anyone think poor bird? My cockatiels go nutts when they're ignored. And I have 4 cats. They know not to go near the bird cages or they get squirted with the squirt bottle. (And my one cat has gotten really close to actually eating my one hand-fed baby tiel twice. The poor tiel now is not hand tame anymore. So the squirt bottle does work, for me at least.)

Your best bet would be to supervise the cat when he's in that room, and close the door to keep him out when you're not home, that way the bird isn't ignored either. Budgies are social birds and he won't do good cooped up all alone.

 

[lljdma06]

You know, cats are completely trainable. I have two cats, and 7 birds, mostly small finches, and the cats don't even try whole-heartedly anymore since I used the squirt bottle to train them. A squirt and a firm "No" is pretty good at discouraging. My older cat, Lily, doesn't bother, and Buckwheat is getting to the point where any attempts are really pretty half-hearted. It's just not worth the squirt and there are lots of furry toys (dog toys and such) that are much more accessable that he can play with. But because he still tries, he is put in a separate room when we go out. It may be something to try with your cat rather than put him outside.

 

[VampirePlec]

i had my first major scare with my little 5 wk old kitten - couldn't find her ne where! thought she may have gotten out side, after 2 hrs of searching we finally found her well hidden. i had heard about their saliva being poisonous to small animals - if bitten, not sure how tru this is either. a flick across the nose usually works as well with a firm no, i say no to nala now n she stops what she is doing and pulls a face waiting to be flicked (i don't flick her on the first no any more as she has got the picture, but if i have to say it again she does) and doesn't go back to what she is doing.