Bluekeet wrote:
It can be difficult with cats. Sometimes Q-Tip just doesn't want to participate so I can take the birds out.
Sing it, sister! Especially when you have an old cat who I'm pretty sure is going senile and isn't entirely continent and dang it, I feel bad taking away one of his few pleasures in life that is sleeping in the chair in the same room as the bird cage. Add to that that even though he's old, he still has sudden bouts of acting like he's a hunter when he looks at the birds (he's literally never caught a living thing in his entire life). It makes out of cage time with the budgies really complicated when you have a small old house with a weird setup. It's much easier with Coyote because he's tame, a strong flier, isn't super excitable, but still totally understands that my cat is a predator. My cat spends about 2 hours a day awake (seriously, I am pretty sure he sleeps 22 hours a day at this point, sweet old guy) and when he's up and walking around, Coyote goes on super alert. He doesn't freak, but he watches him like a hawk and stays very still on my shoulder. Then my cat goes back to sleep and the household goes back to code green. If my cat shows any interest in Coyote, into the cage he goes until nap time.
It's just not ever going to be that simple with the budgies. When I just had the budgies, I was putting my cat in my son's room but I wasn't happy with the situation and it's not something I can do for more than half an hour or so. I'll either figure something out, or the situation will, cough, resolve itself naturally. (sob!)