Interspecies conflicts: Can’t we all just get along?
By Gina Spadafori
August 26, 2007
My household is multispecies — dogs, cat, rabbit and parrot. I have one rule we live by (and “live” in the key concept): Never trust carnivores around prey animals.
Everybody had been getting along pretty well until Clara the kitten arrived. And even that went pretty smoothly. My dogs don’t have high prey drive (as in, they’re not terriers). Clara was of little interest to them after their initial curiosity, and a couple of “leave its” took care of any forward behavior on the part of the three retrievers and the Sheltie. The dogs were already cool with the rabbit and the parrot. And the rabbit, Velocity, was bigger than Clara at first, and let her know it right away. (He head-bumped her, hard.)
But the cat-parrot conflict had all the signs of a disaster in the making. No amount of squirt-bottling of Clara dissuaded her, nor did a very sharp toe nip from Eddie the parrot. Eddie’s a caique, not all that much bigger than a cockatiel, very active and brightly colored. To Clara, he seems the perfect cat toy.
Which meant poor Eddie, so used to having pretty much the run of the house, was getting a lot of cage time. Clara was using his play tree more than he was. Even worse: Eddie was starting to feather-pick from the stress and boredom, despite my efforts to add toys and have him forage for food.
What to do, what to do?
Solution: A hanging play stand, situated far away from the walls and too high for Clara to jump to .
So far this seems to be working. Eddie enjoy the hanging play stand, although I do need to add some shreddable toys to the set-up. And Clara can’t reach him, although heaven knows she has tried. In the picture, the very lower-right corner, you can barely see her jumping off the lid of a trash can in utter disgust, after figuring out that she couldn’t jump the five feet across and four feet up to get the parrot.
I still don’t trust predators with prey animals, nor do I advise any other pet-owner to let her guard down. Natural instincts are … well, they’re natural instincts, and you can’t expect a cat not to react to a fluttering feather toy just because you call him Eddie.
But at least now it seems we’ve found a workable solution so everyone can be reasonably safe and much, much happier. Including me.
Oh, Gina, be very careful.
A few years ago I had a wonderful singing canary. Also had cats. Everything went fine for years, had the canary hanging from the ceiling pretty high( needed a stepstool for feeding and cleaning). Then I acquired Kibbles, a male orange tabby. Found abandoned on street, about 3 thru 4 mos old.
Kibbles was mesmerized by Charlie. Would sit for hours watching the bird from about 5 feet away. Mostly on his hind legs. About a year later when I woke up, found the top half of the cage still hanging from the ceiling and the bottom half on the floor. No sign of Charlie, never found him, not even a feather.
Kibbles must have made a 5 feet jump for it, and his weight(he is a big 14 lbs cat) made the cage come apart in the center. They are generally made pretty flimsy, I think.
In the end I think any tenacious cat will get the bird. Just a matter of time,they will not give up..
I have no birds anymore, blame myself for the demise of Charlie.
Comment by Serijna — August 26, 2007 @ 1:45 pm
Oh, I know. But I cannot bear to place either one of them!
I never leave Eddie unattended on his swinging play stand unless I am in the room, mere 10 feet away.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 26, 2007 @ 1:52 pm
Here is a link on interspecies human predators.
Another busted puppy mill. This time in Maine.
Why oh why are people so ignorant when looking
for a puppy/dog to purchase. Either go to your local shelter or find a reputable breeder. Not a pet store.
BTW, their websites are still up.
http://pressherald.mainetoday......p;ac=PHnws
Comment by Serijna — August 26, 2007 @ 2:11 pm
If Clara is that interested in Eddie, you should probably consider training before separation. If Eddie jumps down for whatever reason, are you absolutely sure you can get to him before Clara?
I have five cats (three of which were ferals, four of which are serious hunters) and seven parrots, including three small ones.
I’d highly recommend sitting around with a squirt bottle, a shake can, or a book, and waiting for Clara to look interested in Eddie. If you can do something without her linking it to you, all the better, but either way, startle or disturb her whenever she looks at him.
An example — I have a flighted African grey parrot, and had at the time a newly adopted Maine Coon (well, I still have both, but Gus isn’t newly adopted anymore). Said cat really, really, really wanted to consider eating the parrots. I set up a situation in which the parrot would fly past the cat, out of easy reach, and I could stand near the cat but out of eye sight. The instant the parrot took off, I threw a book at the wall behind the cat.
1.5 years later, he has never looked at a parrot in a predatory fashion since. I would never leave them alone, but I know that if one of the birds lands on the floor, the cat is not going to instantly try to kill them.
Comment by Stephanie — August 26, 2007 @ 3:16 pm
You already tried a squirt bottle. There goes my reading comprehension. :)
Is there anything else you can try? Books may work better, or thrown shaky cans. That situation really does sound like a sad possibility for disaster.
Comment by Stephanie — August 26, 2007 @ 3:20 pm
I have lots of heavy books around here. I’m going to try that. I think even I could hit the wall with one.
And Eddie doesn’t tend to get off the hanging play stand.
We’ll work it out. Neither is leaving, so I’ll have to manage the situation.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 26, 2007 @ 4:03 pm
Gina - soda cans with pennies in them really shake up most cats. But beware, I’ve had Maines on top of an almost 7’ cabinet - with nothing but the floor for a starting off point. From the looks of Clara she’s a mainly Maine lady!
Comment by MaineMom — August 26, 2007 @ 6:05 pm
also, look into clicker training for Clara. I especially like some of the “zen” stuff they do on this site. I realize it’s dog centric, but the idea is the same for llamas and chickens and cats too. There is a yahoo group where you can ask questions as well..
http://www.dragonflyllama.com/.....evels.html
Comment by Schnauzer — August 26, 2007 @ 8:24 pm
Sue Ailsby is one of my “clicker gurus”, along with Shirley Chong.
http://www.shirleychong.com
Both of those ladies can read animal body language and come up with wonderfully benign yet effective solutions.
It’s really something to see (or read, as the case may be!)
Comment by The OTHER Pat — August 26, 2007 @ 8:45 pm
Now that we have scared the devil out of Gina, we should remember that Clara was never a stray or feral ,taught by mom how to kill prey.
I have watched in amazement how feral mom cats brought still living but disabled prey(like mice or small bunnies) to their 10/12 wks old kittens and then sit back supervising them.
Even though instinct prevails, there is also a certain acquired knowledge from feral Mom to become a fast effective killer IMO..
Comment by Serijna — August 26, 2007 @ 9:04 pm
Serijina has something there. Our Smokey(who unfortunately died this year at the age of 10) was a very small kitten when we got him. My son also had a hamster named Fred. Soon after Smokey came to live with us, we noticed Fred seemed to be making a lot of late-night escapes from his hamster habitat. One night, I saw Smokey hooking his paw under the exercise wheel on the side of the cage and popping it off. Still, Fred died a natural death. Smokey knew how to let him out but not what to do afterwards. He’d just follow Fred around with a confused expression on his face.
Comment by Diane — August 27, 2007 @ 3:29 pm
From watching and reading about cats for many years, I’ve concluded the hunting instinct is genetically imprinted - but feral queens and barn cats teach their kittens that prey is food, not just something to be played with or brought to us lowly humans as a gift. I’ve seen some cattery raised cats stalk and capture prey with amazing agility and speed - and also consume it. Breed seems to have a lot to do with it. A Persian may bat at a moth, but a Maine will go into true “hunt mode” and quickly capture and consume it.
Some of the big “natural” breeds will stalk and capture doves and rabbits. I had a retired show cat stalking and capuring pigeons on my roof a few years ago. His mom never showed him how to do that!
Comment by MaineMom — August 27, 2007 @ 6:08 pm
In “The Beast in the Garden: The True Story of a Predator’s Deadly Return to Suburban America
by David Baron” Baron has all sorts of interesting stuff about cougar moms and their kittens, how they teach the youngsters to hunt, and how if Mama has a taste for deer that’s what she teaches the kids to hunt, if she likes domestic dogs, thats what the babies learn to hunt. Makes sense.
I DO live with terriers and would not have the nerve to have a “prey” type of pet. There are some things that are just too hard wired.
Comment by Schnauzer — August 27, 2007 @ 9:07 pm