Question and giggles (in reverse order!)

[thistlechaser]

First, by way of mctabby this is the funniest LJ thing I've seen in weeks: My LJ as a CNN page!

From my CNN page, under a picture of activity on Mars: "both were wrong because Gai ends up like this" HEEE! Gai ends up on MARS! Excuse me while I laugh myself to death. Heeheehee.

Under the topic of "Education" we get: "Sasuke is forced to dress as a maid" and "Wow, a blowjob from a dog." Wow, do we even need to wonder what sort of school that is? Heh.

Wow, the more I look at that, the more I love it. I want to kiss whoever made it!

---

Okay, on to the question: How insane am I for wanting to get fish and a bird while owning a cat? I had a parakeet when I was a kid, and I'd really, really like another, but if something happened and my cat hurt it, I'd be really upset with myself for creating the situation. I can't suspend things from my ceiling, and my cat can get just about everywhere in my apartment, so how could I keep it safe? (In a cage, yes, but keeping the cage out of her reach? Poor bird probably wouldn't like being circled and watched by a cat all day.)

And a fish tank. I'm pondering this less than a bird, because fish seem less like pets and a tank would be a pain if/when I move. However, a tank can sit on its own stand, so would probably be safer from the cat...

I really want a bird though, a twittering, fluttering, tweeting bird. I wonder if birds have to be let out of their cages for exercise sometime? Or if you could just leave them in there forever? I could lock the cat in the bedroom if the bird needed to fly sometimes. (Though I'd rather not get bird droppings around in my apartment...)

Comments

[ladycosmos.livejournal.com]

Couldn't resist :D

Here's mine (http://www.topfx.com/cgi-bin/mixmaster.cgi?layouturl=http%3A%2F%2Fcnn.com%2F&contenturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.livejournal.com%2Fusers%2Fladycosmos%2F)

.....I think I whine about RL too much ^_^;;

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Aw, the site is down! I knew I should have made screenshots...

[tersa.livejournal.com]

You're probably better off without a small bird. But, fish are fine. I've had my current fish much longer than my cats. They've mostly stopped pouncing the tank (which can freak the fish out), but they will occasionally get *really* interested in it.

I call the fishtank 'Fish TV', for the way they watch it. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind her watching the fish, but pouncing/swimming would be bad news.

Thanks!

[webbapettigrew.livejournal.com]

How'd you get that to work? I love that, but it wouldn't do a page for me.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Here you go, a link for yours. :)

http://www.topfx.com/cgi-bin/mixmaster.cgi?layouturl=http%3A%2F%2Fcnn.com%2F&contenturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.livejournal.com%2Fusers%2Fwebbapettigrew%2F

(I just saved the link and edited my name for mctabby's, or yours for mine.)

Enjoy!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hee! Your top headline:

"Peter/Tessa! (Dilemma fans squeal)"

How perfect!

[webbapettigrew.livejournal.com]

I know! That was priceless!

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

My cat, meanwhile, totally ignores our fish.

I dunno about birds, though I know someone who has a bastich of a cat and a bird, and they live together ok.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Huh! I thought all cats would love the idea of having fish around... Maybe I watch too many of those home video shows, they always have clips of cats trying to fish and jumping into tanks and such.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Some cats do, some cats don't. Zeke loved the fish and used to try to chase them around. Freya occasionally watches them. As far as we can tell, Salem's never even noticed them despite our efforts to show them to him. He's kinda dumb. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

He's kinda dumb

*giggle* Poor kitty.

[sileas.livejournal.com]

Heh. My cat used to live together with fish and birds. She used to lie on top of the birdcage and she seemed to love doing that but I'm not sure if the birds liked it or not (they seemed to go *very* quiet). My cat never tried to get into the fishbowl but she loved drinking out of it. When we first got the cat, she wouldn't drink normal water. She drank water outside after four days, but we have considered buying a fish and a tank just to get some water into the cat.

But if the cat sees birds or fish in the wild, she will definitely smack her lips and go for a chase.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hm, interesting. Thanks!

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

I'll be blunt: I don't think you should get a bird.

First of all, there's tons and tons of research that ideally you should do before getting one. Parrots are a ton of work and there are thousands of them being passed from home to home, being neglected and abused in the process, because people didn't look beyond the, "Oh, this bird is pretty and would look good in my living room and would be a nice status symbol."

With your need to be alone so much of the time and not wanting to cook, a parrot is /not/ a good match for you. They are flock animals and need to be with their flock. When they are pets, their flock is you. They need to be out of the cage. They need to be with their person. They also need a wide variety of nutritious fresh foods, especially vegetables.

Perhaps if you want a cute little chattering, fluttery thing, you could maybe consider getting a couple of finches. While they're work, they don't require quite the same level of care and dedication as a parrot does and they usually do just fine without being played with as long as there is more than one of them. There are a number of caging options that you could possibly consider. Something like this (http://www.hagen.com/usa/birds/product.cfm?CAT=8&PROD_ID=08830250020101&SUBCAT=805) might be a solution to the cat problem, though I'm not sure how heavy or untippable the cages are.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I wouldn't consider a parrot unless it was my sole pet (and even then, probably not). My grandmother and aunt raised them, and when you left them alone in their cages all the time, they got mean. I was thinking of a little parakeet, where I could stick my hand into the cage and interact with it that way.

I did do some reading today, and decided if I do go forward with this I'll get two of them so that they can keep each other company while I'm at work.

With your need to be alone so much of the time and not wanting to cook, a parrot is /not/ a good match for you. They are flock animals and need to be with their flock.

Well, that only counts with people, I *like* being with animals. I'd rather be with a bird! :)

Yep, I was considering finches, but I'd really rather have a bird that could be finger-trained, and I'm told finches can't be.

That's a nice cage, and I was looking at one sort of like it. The stand looked a little like a coat hanger (so it was much taller than that). But "flippable" was my concern, yeah.

Thanks for the thoughts!

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Budgies (or parakeets, as you've been calling them) /are/ parrots. That means that pretty much everything that applies to bigger ones applies to them as well, both with capabilities and requirements. They're smart little things, can be taught tricks and a number of them even learn to talk. It also means that they need attention, playtime with their flock, and can be noisy.

To give you an idea, in the less than two weeks that I've had my budgies, they've generally made more noise than three cockatiels and a green cheek conure combined. Even though they're less than half the size of any of the other birds. Does it seem like noise to me? No, not really, and given a couple more weeks, I'll be able to tune it out completely like I do most of the other bird noises. For someone who hasn't had birds for the past decade? They can be considered very noisy. That's part of the reason why their previous owner gave them up.

Please, please, please don't get a bird unless you do a ton more research. Maybe subscribe to Bird Talk (http://www.animalnetwork.com/birdtalk/) or, better yet, Companion Parrot Quarterly (http://www.companionparrot.com/) and perhaps get some books by Sally Blanchard and Mattie Sue Athen. You clearly don't have the preparation needed for a bird.

As a final warning, if you do go ahead and decide to get one before doing a lot more, do /not/ get more than one. If the birds already have a flock, they're far less likely to bond to you and thus far less likely to be good, tame pets. Another bird does exactly that, /especially/ with budgies, which usually aren't hand-raised or co-parented.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Budgies (or parakeets, as you've been calling them) /are/ parrots.

Ah, I thought you thought I was wanting to get one of those big giant colorful ones.

Yep, I'm going to wait a while and read more so I can do it right (and be sure I really want one).

As a final warning, if you do go ahead and decide to get one before doing a lot more, do /not/ get more than one.

Hm, two sites I read said if you're the type who has to be out of the house eight hours a day, you should get a second one or it'd be too lonely. But yeah, I'd much rather have it bond to me.

Off to do more reading!

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it would be lonely. But if you have two, you're going to have two birds and most likely zero pets out of them, especially with budgies. This is why things like big cages and lots of toys are important. And it's also one of the reasons why birds are not recommended for everyone. They are very difficult pets to take care of right.

As an example, my first cockatiel was very lonely. He was in my room all by himself all day. I got my second to keep him company, and what happened? They bonded. They were hand-fed, so they have quite a bit of orientation towards people, but they're much more interested in each other since then. And I was very, very lucky as to the outcome. Budgies are usually raised in very large flights with little human contact, so they know they're birds. If presented with the chance to choose between interacting with a fellow budgie or a human, they'll pick the fellow budgie almost every time.

This very thing is the reason why a lot of people don't get birds until they retire. Which is also kind of sucky, because then the bird outlives them and has to be rehomed.

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

I've been craving a bird recently myself; I think it has something to do with the super-friendly sun conures they had at the pet store when we were shopping for guinea pig #2. They flew right at me and pressed their heads against the bars for me to scritch their feathers. So cute!

I have very fond memories of my childhood parakeets, and my dad has about seven assorted birds (African Greys, small parrots, cockatiels, etc.). You can indeed let them out for exercise, but it's easier to herd them back into their cages once they're really tame! I've never had a cat, so I don't have any anecdotes about how they might mix, but I've had friends who've had cats, fish, dogs, bunnies, a rat and birds all coexisting in the same house. Depends on the cat, I guess. I do know you could probably hang a cage from a hook on the ceiling if you were worried about Kitty being too curious.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Aww, I think I would have melted right there and gotten it. :)

And I'd like to hang it from the ceiling, but I'm in an apartment and the ceilings are oddly high. I have no idea how to reach it (a stepstool wouldn't be high enough), and even if I could, I'd have no idea how to find a... stud? (right word?) where I could hang it from. Plus it'd probably mess the ceiling up a bit. :)

I'm considering a stand, but I'm a little worried she might just knock that over.

Thanks!

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

I really doubt it you would have given in that easily. Sun conures in stores usually run between $500 and $600 and a cage is a couple more hundred. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

ACK! Okay, maybe I would have resisted...

[hamburger.livejournal.com]

My mother's cats totally ignore her parakeets, and the cats have been around much longer than the parakeets have. Their cage is on a dining table, so it's not like the cats couldn't closely observe the things if they really cared. I really suppose it depends on the personality of the cat.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Huh, interesting. Thanks!

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

I would jump in to say that this is most likely a /very/ rare circumstance, at least with the smaller, more eatable birds. All three cats I've had at the same time as birds have been interested to very, very, very interested in the birds. Small, fluttery, quick moving things equal prey in a cat's eyes, even if they don't know why they're so interested.