ok so iv never had a cat before, iv never really been a cat person.....until now
So we were helping my mover in law to move today and i asked her what she was going to do about her kitty (as she is going into a no pet housing estate). To my absolute horror she said quite dissmissivly "ill just leave him here".....!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EXCUSE ME!!!!!!! She was deadset planning on just abandoning her six month old kitty!!! Needless to say I was livid!! Honestly some people.....
anyway it was lucky for this little guy that there was a very big animal lover present when this conversation was taking place (being me) and i quickly told the mother in law what i thought of her, grabbed little kitty and left.

Now "Tobey" (iv decided to call him, she didnt even have a name for him) has to be introduced to the wrest of the flock including two dogs who have never been around cats before....
how on earth do i stop the cat from eating the birds and the dogs from eating the cat????? Im way out of my league with cats i really dont know.

Any advise on this would be really very appreciated. He is the most loving little fella and i would love to keep him here forever but need to get past this introduction and boundry hurtles first
any ideas?

Hi and I am glad you were there to save the kitty too...although, do you think you may wish to consider finding a home for him?

I only ask, because I have lived with birds and cats and dogs, for many years...although the last 10 years with just the birds has been so much more peaceful, and easier to let the birds out to play and such.

I am not sure how your dog is with your birds, but, please, please, never trust a cat alone with a bird. Remember, it only take a second for something to go very wrong.

I would say, as far as the cat and the dog, you could put kitty in a room and let the dog get use to his scent, through the closed door, and just have patience.

I wish you luck, and I am sure others will have advice too....I just feel great concern about the kitty with the birdie.

Good luck with whatever you decide, and I am glad, you didn't leave kitty to fend for himself.

Kudos to you for taking in that poor little kitty!

I have a household with four cats, one bird, and no dogs but we occasionally baby-sit a friend's dog. The fourth cat was a recent addition (kitten tossed by some jerk on the highway), so he's still in isolation, but the other three learned to respect the bird with lots of diligence and getting squirted with a water gun as needed. They initially learned with my cockatiel Bradley, who was fully flighted. With Truman they are good, but I lock him up at night and when we're not around for his own safety since he is clipped. They know he is off limits though so he's out of his cage all day even though the cats are free roaming (and I'm around).

For dogs, I'm not sure about introductions because one of my cats was apparently already used to them when we got him, judging by how he reacts to our neighbor's dog. One is nuts and hides 23 1/2 hours a day so it's no issue. The third cat was fairly young, and the dog is small, when we introduced them so they learned to deal with each other very quickly. I have no idea how the new kitten will react, but I think if you do a slow introduction, with the cat in a room where they can smell each other under the door, followed by supervised interaction, you might be okay.

I know that cats and dogs can live very peacefully because at the place where I kept my old horse, they always had a troop of huge dogs and at least eight cats. Some of the cats and dogs would sleep piled together, and one of the cats had a weird game with the German Shepherd. He'd be chained outside on a really long chain to go potty, and the cat would come up and he'd grab her in his mouth and toss her. She'd come back and he'd do it again. This was strictly voluntary on the cat's part, as the dog was chained so she could easily go out of reach if she wanted to.

I know a lot of people here have cats and birds, but I would be very hesitant to do that. The cats can't help wanting to hunt birds; it's just their nature. For that reason, though I love cats and always had at least one before, I don't have one now. That and the dogs I have now hate cats for some reason -- that's why we didn't have any when the birds came to live with us.

Cats and dogs can live together, and we had our last cat when George came to live with us and they got along fine and even shared a food and water bowl (my cat, Sunny, loved dog food, and mostly ignored his cat food!). After Sunny passed on, George decided he hated cats!

Since your new kitty is young, you might be able to teach him to stay away from the birds, but it will always be a concern and you should never, never let the birds out while he's in the room. Even if you're right there, it only takes a nanosecond for a cat to grab a bird if he's really determined to do so.

But poor kitty needs a home and love, too. I wonder why your mother-in-law got him if she didn't care anything about him and couldn't even bother to give him a name?

This thread also makes me think of a friend, who acquired a Quaker, whom she totally fell in love with...and she had cats and dogs, and it always worried me.

She keep the Quaker in a bedroom, and didn't let the other animals around him.

One day, I got a phone call from her, saying her cat got in the room and killed the bird.

I had a cat one time, that jumped up to the cage stand, of my Orange Chin, and actually, her weight, pulled the bottom of the cage off...poor, poor bird, woken in the middle of the night, to a big Boom aqnd then be covered with bird food and water...I actually thought he was going to have a heart attack! (He is quite happy for me not to have a cat around!)

I do miss cats a lot, as I have had them all my life...for me, bird keeping is just easier and much more pleasant, without cats and dogs around.


I have had numerous friends with similar stories....enough that I am super paranoid about it now. I know there are many cat and dog people here that will disagree. I have also seen dogs and birds, become very close friends.


I agree with the fact that especially with a cat (or a "hunting type" dog, it is just their nature...and no matter how sweet and loving they are...I feel, they should never be trusted with a pet bird.

I have 4 cats and 2 or 3 dogs along with my 4 birds. My advice is to make sure first that you have sturdy cages that can take the weight of a cat jumping on them if this should happen. Get a squirt bottle filled with water and squirt the kitten any time he goes near the cages - he will learn quickly that going near the cages means getting wet. Until he learns that I would suggest putting him in a separate room when you are gone so nothing can happen.
As long as you keep the 4 legged animals away during out of cage time they can have a fairly peaceful cohabitation.
My dogs usually go out back for play time with the kids or down to the basement - along with the cats when we have out of cage time - no one minds because my husband has his office down there and the kids will go down and hang with the dogs - this is often their grooming time.

As for the dogs and cats - introduce them slowly - with the dog leashed so the cat can get away if needed. I have always gated off and area for the new kitten so he could see and smell the dogs and the dogs could see and smell him without a lot of contact at first.

There will be some hissing and maybe some barking but if you stay calm and treat it like no big deal your dog will probably do the same thing.
Don't be surprised if your dog ends up being afraid of the cat in the beginning.

I have had dogs, cats and birds living together for over 10 years with out any major issues - I have had more issues with the other cats accepting new arrivals than anything else.

One other suggestion - no cat toys with feathers on them - that has always been the rule in my house.

Cats and birds is completely doable.


I have three full grown cats (until recently it was four) and a kitten. The kitten (only 5-6 weeks old) is in isolation at the moment because we are trying to introduce carefully to our full grown cats.


Our cats are all incredibly uninterested in the birds. However, for everyone's protection, the big birds are in rooms with closed doors and no one comes out when the cats are present.

A little planning and common sense makes really makes it no big deal. For a kitten, I recommend a water bottle. When the kitten is too curious about the birds, SQUIRT! If your cats (as some do) actually likes the water, add a little vinegar and it will be an effective deterrent. Just makes sure you have lots of positive alternatives available for investigating the birds (string, empty boxes, curled up blankets on the floor, toys, scratching posts, etc) since a bored cat is a probably a dangerous one (to birds anyway).

Good luck! I'm excited for you, cats are EXCELLENT, loving companions!

well thanks to everyone for your help and advise. Of corse i would never leave the cat alone with the birds in or out of their cage. the birds all go to bed in the laundry at night because otherwise we keep them up for too long. The cat slept with me last night and the dogs are locked in the shed now so the cat can go out to the toilet. while the cats outside ill have out of cage time with birdies. Then put birdies away and bring cat in and let dogs out. I guess this will be the new routine and same again at evening except kitty can stay out as long as he likes because the dogs get locked away anyway at night.

As for the dogs i will put the blanket that the cat had an accident on last night out side and as more things come round ill leave item with kittys scent on around the house for the dogs to get used to. the dogs are stricktly outside dogs as they are way too big to be inside. i was able to teach them not to eat chickens (when they have always been bird hunting dogs!!) so hopefully, fingers crossed i might have some luck with the kitty too.

Thanks again

You can keep a cat with dogs and other cats and birds, but have to set boundaries to keep everyone safe. I have a dog and two adult cats besides my quaker. The quaker (Amigo) is in a room with a lockable door; he only comes out in a smaller cage I can carry. I don't like to have Amigo near the kitchen when I'm cooking, and feel he's safer in his room upstairs unless I am with him. I'm pretty careful in the kitchen, but I am not the only one that cooks there. Amigo is kept fully flighted. His first line of defense is the cage - a very sturdy one that even the 80-pound dog can knock over. The second line of defense is that the cage is located in the bird room, with a closed door. Amigo has gotten his cage open a couple of times, but never out the door of the room. If he does get out of the room, he would have to fly downstairs, which isn't a natural direction to fly. Being fully flighted, if he did make it downstairs, he can fly to stay out of the dogs and cats reach. The kitchen and outside door are downstairs. I have an uncle with 14 parrots, mostly resuces, and he told me that in a home with cats or dogs, wings should never be clipped as that is their last line of defense.

The biggest thing with cats and dogs accepting each other is scent. When they first come home, they smell like someplace else. With some time in your home, your kitten will start smelling like your home to the dogs. It takes about 3 days for the scent to change. You can hurry this. When my younger adult cat (Cocoa) was neutered and came home from the vet hospital, the Sasha (the oldest cat) didn't recognize him, and hissed and growled every time he saw or came near Cocoa. I took a barely damp washcloth and ran it over Sasha, and then did the same to Cocoa. That fixed the problem immediately, but they had been good friends before the surgery.

Dogs look for a pack leader - which should be you and any other human family members. Let them know the kitten is part of your pack, and off limits. You can do this with commands or with spray bottles. Dogs can be jealous. It can be helpful to take them for a good walk or play with them to burn off some energy before you pay attention to the kitten.

I adopted two kittens (Jasmine and Jade, 9 weeks old) a week ago. I borrowed a large dog crate which is in the living room. Cocoa and Sasha spend a lot of time in my daughter's bedroom, where the door is normally closed. If we are not home and Cocoa and Sasha are out, Jasmine and Jade are in the crate. The first week, if Cocoa and Sasha were out, they were in the crate. This week, if we're home, Jasmine and Jade will not be locked in the crate as we monitor reactions with Cocoa and Sasha. Cocoa and Sasha are 14 pounds each, and play hard. These kittens are small, and I don't want them injured accidentally. It is working - yesterday, Jasmine and Cocoa curled up near each other and took naps.

My dog Sebastian, now 10 years old, is used to cats, and really loves them. He also loves to seem them run and play, and isn't above nudging them with his nose to wake them up. The first night Jasmine and Jade were here, he laid down along the long side of the dog crate. He wasn't looking directly at them, but looked more like he was guarding them. Jade kept poking her leg through the sides of the cage and tapping his foot. By morning, Jasmine was doing the same thing. The kittens came from the home where one of his littermates lives, so they are used to bigger dogs, and are not afraid of him. In fact, they love to pick on him.