hello all :-)
need some tips please.....
ive wanted a parrot for quite a while and have been researching loads on them.we are looking at getting a african grey or a macaw.i would love a macaw but because i want to rescue one there isnt as many, i will be happy with either though.
we have 2 dogs and a cat and none of them have ever lived with or even seen a parrot before! i know the dogs will get use to it really quickly when its in its cage.but what about sammy (the cat) she hates birds! she leaves me there limp bodies as presents every morning! will she ever be able to be ok with a parrot in the house??? we have percy peacock that visits every few days and she doesnt really bother with him, he leaves her to it and she leaves him, but theres quite a lot of size difference between percy and a parrot!
any tips/experiences with pets and parrots???

We have 2 cockatiels and when we got them we had a cat and a dog and no we have no cat and 2 dogs so I can offer some hands on advice :)

Our animals have always gotten on really well with our birds, obviously when we let them fly around the dogs are locked away as you can never take that instinct away and why risk it?

Parrots are relativly easy to look after as they just need general care
IE clean floor of their cage which can belined with sandsheets from any petstore or natural sand which is what we use and the floor base should be cleaned once a week and disenfected once a month but make sure its absolutly dried out of any cleaning odour before returning it as birds have very sensitive nostrils and shouldnt be near kitchens or strong odours or near any drafts,

Fed a healthy diet of fresh raw carrot, grapes, apple, lettuce, cucumber, nuts and a seed based premixed food so they get all the essentials nutrients, also get them a sand block or mineral block as minerals are very important to keep a bird healthy.

They will need very heavy duty perches which can be brought at any Pets At Home/Seapets and need to be chew proof unless stated they are safe as Macaws/parrots WILL chew through them lol!! Give them quite a few so they have a bottom,middle and top level and some rope perches strewn around are always fun for them to hang off unside down lol!

Toys which are bright and make sounds are also great for parrots to keep them occupied when your not there, mirrors some say are good but I find theyre useless, annoying and just aggrivate the parrot.

And last but not least, you will need a greenhouse plant sprayer (One that has a mist function) so you can give him/her a shower with luke warm water and you can mimick a rainstorm by misting it over his/her head and mimicking rainfall :)

With the other pets whenever they approach the cage tell them a very firm no, not even letting them up to sniff the cage or anything as parrots are flight birds and if they try to take off in their cage due to stress/fright they may injure themselves and the flapping will excite any predator so whenever they get close tell them NO! Birds also become easily stressed and this can cause loss of feathers and heart attacks.

My 2 dogs dont even lift their heads when the dawn chorus starts with our 2 and when they flap round the cage they dont even care from not being allowed near them and have no intrest, cats are the same training is whats needed cause our old cat Scatty used to lay with our rabbits in the garden and our gerbiuls used to fall asleep on him infront of the fire when we let them out!!
So it can be done all they need is to be told how far they can go and with birds that aint far at all!

Hope that helps :)
Let us know if you decide to get one as we want a Blue Macaw as they are magnificant birds :)

Racheal xx

I think you will find a parrot cage will need cleaning out every day as they are very messy, parrots also need company so cant be left alone all day otherwise you will find they start to pull their feathers out.

My parents have parrots, I used to take my cats round when they were younger and the cats soon learnt that a parrot has a nasty beak !!  My dogs are only ever interested in the food on the bottom of the parrots cage and the African Grey would sit on the bottom of his cage and call them over and they would get a bite on the nose for their trouble !!!  The African grey is a great talker - he speaks with a proper hampshire accent and also whistles through his false teeth when he speaks but he is quite spiteful whereas their other parrot - the a maximillian is really sweet and friendly.

Im sure your cat will get used to the bird, you just have to be cautious when it is out flying around.

Dirty cage especially with wet food ie fruit and veg will develop fungal spores on it that become airborne and infect the parrots lungs in many cases causing death as they hide illness for so long ergo all wet food must be removed daily.  African Grey's are the best talkers but not necessarily the nicest bird to live with tend to be highly strung and can develop issues. Amazon's are more laid back and less inclinded to want to be top of the pecking order. Macaws are huge and very noisy also extremely good at taking the tops out of your doors/frames etc when out for a bit of free time, like to do it when you're watching too believe me tis done and in their foot for serious attention before you've got across the room lol.  Have handreared them for over 25 yrs and lost many a door frame when they're learning to fly and starting to wean everything becomes fair game and as the saying goes whoevers highest in the branches is boss, so don't allow them to climb onto your shoulder or head as they will gain status from that position.

Most rescue parrots have serious issues hence them being in rescue, we have one that bit my father across the nose after a yr of working with her, the bite became infected and lead to cancer which needed laser treatment not good. Even after all our years with them there are some you just can't rehabilitate to be safe out of their cage, so now she chats away to the radio in her cage and plucks her feathers to her hearts content not an ideal situation but the best for her as even aviary life didn't work help.

I've got Cockatiels (hand reared ones so supertame) -they live in our bedroom so the other animals can't ever get near them -their cage is open all day. I too had always wanted a parrot and when a friend of mine needed to rehome a Cockatoo I took it on a trial. It just didn't work. A parrot is too social to want to be kept in a room away from people most of the day, and having her out around cats didn't work as the cats went nuts trying to catch her. (A Macaw might have worked as so much bigger although I'd have worried more about the CATS' safety then.) I tried having her caged near me most of the day (giant Macaw sized cage) and just letting her out for a few hours and then locking the cats out, but it didn't work. She screamed blue murder when in the cage. I  couldn't stand the noise -ti was out of this world, like a demented seagull. <grin> So she had to go back to find a home without dogs and cats so she could be out and with people all day.

If you want more info about parrots can I recommed a parrot forum :)
www.parrot-link.co.uk
Great place for information and to ask any questions you might have.

You could say parrots are easy to look after but how many parrots have the environment they thrive in mentally?
How many of these  birds actually have the correct diet?
Not many!

They need very varied diet, not just seed and odd fruit/veg and are very messy with the food too!
I would say my African grey takes lot more time/effort than my dog to keep her content and happy! She is a lot smarter than any of my dogs have been and I do feel sorry for so many like her spending their whole life stuck in a cage eating sunflower seed!

I can see the reason you want to rescue but I would also recommend getting a hand reared fully flighted baby parrot from a breeder (not pet shop!)instead of a rescue. This way you will have the support of the breeder, also most rescues will come with their problems/issues and are not ideal as a first parrot as you will not have the knowledge to help them.

If you go down the rescue route, I do recommend you to spend time with the bird before you take it home so you really see what he/she is like.
If you go for a rescue you will need to be prepared to spend a long time sorting out problems and they might also come with health issues due a poor diet. Be prepared to being bitten as often it is the only way these mistreated parrots know to react. Even most well treated parrots will give you a paiful nip ever now and again but you can teach them bite inhibition just like you would teach a puppy!

Not many loved, properly handlered and looked after parrots will come to be rescued as their mummys&daddies will love them way too much :).

It is funny how the circumstances of so many 1-3 year old birds owners change and the parrot is looking for a new home for "no fault of their own".
This is when many species hit the adolence period and many became difficult/hormonal and owners loose interest.
So allergy, move, "insert any reason seen in papers", often stands for Screaming, biting, phobic teenager bird!

thanks for all the replys everyone! youve given me more hope on the cat/parrot front!

i forgot to add in my first post,i have a national diploma in animal care and where i was based we looked after quite a few different birds, it was the macaws that grew on me the most hence me automaticaly wanting to get one of them.so i know all day to day care of them.the reason i wanted a rescue was i wanted to give one another chance,ive found a few that have been use to pets in the house,but you just never know with a rescue do you.so i think because its my first parrot i will get one from a breeder.my boyfriend has lots of experience with parrots,he is from south africa and his family use to catch the hurt birds take them to the vets then keep them for a few weeks/months till they were able to be released agian.

i would never trust my dogs out with the parrot out at the same time on both sides not just what the dogs could do to it but what the parrot could do to them!
we wont be getting the parrot until around december because we are going on holiday in oct so would want to have everything ready for the bird,and find a good breeder.ive bought the cage,its very nice one,its ment for 2 macaws so the bird will have lots of space! :-)

thanks for the help everyone :-D

thanks for the repy noora! :-)

ive joined that forum, will be posting on it soon.

i am home all day and the parrot would be left for no longer than 3/4 hours without company.i am going to a breeders house tonight just to see what she is like and what her older birds are like,and im going to see a african grey breeder next week meet him and his birds.

heather :-)

I have a friend who is looking to sell a 10 year old Macaw, hand reared etc. she is having to work lots of funny hours so her time is limited and she feels he needs more company. His name is Fred and he talks and whistles etc. He is used to dogs [Border Collies and Brittanys when I go over there] and also cats as she has one.

Best place is the Parrot Society, full of excellent folk and very helpful information as well as local societies listed who can help with good reputable breeders etc.

http://www.theparrotsocietyuk.org/

I have an Orange winged Amazon.  Rescued and not hand tame!  You want as big a cage as you can get (mine is 100cm x 200cm).  She gets out to fly around every evening for a couple of hours.  I clean out her cage every day (when they eat fruit and veg. they have to be kept super clean).  I line the bottom of the cage with newspaper.  I have freinds who have Greys and a Macaw.  I certainly wouldn't have a Macaw, they are ultra noisy and have VERY large and powerful beaks!  A bite from a Grey or an Amazon is painful enough believe me!!! 
As for the dogs and cats, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.  My last Amazon used to chase the cat, not the other way round!!

I was given 3 orange winged amazons years ago when I worked in a pet shop, the lady had bought them from the freeads and realised she couldnt cope with them - they were in an awful little cage when I collected them.  Stupidly I took them home and then found they had psiticosis and 2 died :( they passed it onto my mums parrots who thankfully survived with antibiotics and also a parrot that was holidaying with us - they also passed it onto my mum who was very ill and we all had to be tested for it, its a reportable disease so we had to get the authorities involved too, it worked out that they had come from an aviary originally :(  The remaining parrot survived and blood tested clear so after paying out loads of vet bills I then did a 250 mile trip to a parrot rescue and donated him as they had someone who would put him in an aviary so I hope he had a happy life in the end.

You need to be so careful where you buy them from.

macaws should only be in an aviary! and hope you have no neighbours- parrots are very noisy!

What a shame!  Those poor babies (and your mum!).  It's a horrible illness.  Luckily I know where my wee one came from.  I originally got a "pair", but after a few months, they weren't getting on.  Male was pushing female off the perches and being a horrible bully so we split them up, giving the male to a friend of ours.  They are both much happier being seperated.
I agree about not having Macaws in a cage also.  Even my size of cage is not big enough for such an enormous bird!

thanks for that site schip,il have a look on there now :-)
the cage that im getting is 5ft across,3ft deep and 7ft tall! its big! good job we have a big living room! the parrot will be out of the cage for about 6ish hours a day.
no we dont have anybody living near us,we live in a little cottage in a tiny village, of course i understand that they are noisy they are parrots!

I see you are getting a big cage which is great... Just a word of advice.
If it is a macaw cage make sure the spacing between the bars is not too big if the birdie you are getting is not as big as macaw, some big cages have too big bar spacing for the smaller birds.
You can find the recommended bar spacings in the internet for different species...

Also you might not want a cage taller than you are as this can make the bird being higher than you are and give it a feeling of being the boss.
Also, if you can not reach over the cage and when it is time to go back to the cage he/she might play the height on their advantage and you end up trying to reach a bird that is running away from you on the top of their cage.

If you want, I can send you a link to a cage many people have and find good with Grey sized birds.
It is a cage with a play top and they have few different sizes...

yeah that would be great thanks :-)

I would also recomend wing clipping atleast until the bird is trained and trust worthy :-)

I love African greys- bought a cage in hopes some day I can get one. Right now its occupied with a cockatiel and 3 budgies I took in- have never had a problem with them trying to escape, they just love it cause they can really spread their wings and the budgies fly around. I don't feel as mean now cause they don't get out that often.

My young lady has one. It hates me and I really mean it hates me. Its in a huge cage with a ladder, toys and stuff but it still makes a mess over the wall and floor.
Even my Newfie stood clear when he saw it.
It was her ex husbands bird and just like the 2 labs who were his he did not want them when he moved out after she found out about his affair with her best friend. Horrible guy!!
His name is Charlie and I've no idea what type he is other than he's mean and grumpy, well us blokes are like that lol.

I have to say, I don't quite understand what people get from keeping parrots. They seem to make an infernal noise and mess. Would be interested to hear the up sides.

M.

My mum finds them good company, and my dad loves teaching them to say new things, the things the Grey comes out with and his timing is hilarious !!

Downsides is the screeching (the grey does this sometimes when he wants attention) and the mess they make, mum is constantly hoovering.

They are definately noisy and messy but have the most amazing characters!!  Mine has "tantrums" and jumps up and down on her perch making "hiccup" noises!!

We used to have two parrots (when I lived at home with parents).  Both were rescues and not hand reared...a timneh grey and an ornage winged amazon.

The amazon was a friendly bird but noisy in the extreme!  The grey was vicious to everyone but my Mum...and I mean seriously vicious!  Drew blood on all of us on more than one occasion but he got to stay because my Mum adored him and vice versa.  Fantastic mimic and, surprisingly, no issues with the ctas and dogs over the years...I think the other animals learned pretty quickly that they were likely to come off worst in an altercation with either of the parrots and gave them a wide berth.  The grey was an evil creature though...used to bark, miaow and hiss at the dogs to wind them up and, also call them using a variety of voices (he could perfectly mimic everyone in the household), driving them mad looking for the person who was calling for them. 

I love Macaws, but it is several years since my Mum has had parrots in the house and her doors and furniture still bear the scars....I'm afraid the level of destruction they are capable of puts me off completely.  That and the noise! 

Please do not get the baby clipped!
Why get an animal that is build to fly and then cut it's wings off?? I have to say people should not get a parrot if they are not ready to deal with the animal as it was born...
Maybe in a very bad situation of for example with behavioral problem like parrot attacking the owners etc I might consider to try it but never on a baby who needs their wings to grow up as parrot. Many parrots clipped as youngsters never learn to fly properly!

I also base this on the fact that I have had both, clipped (clipped at breeders before we got him)and not clipped parrot.
I didnt like the fact that with Merlin (clipped) he was kind of stuck where he was put and had to rely on us moving him about either and was lot more timid with many things and I feel this was because he knew he can't escape if he needs to. He was what only lightly clipped as well so was still able to kind of clide...
He would also fly to walls and crash land what our non clipped one has never done so Merlin definately was not safer for himself(which is what many pro clippers say, it stops the baby hurting themselves).
They also say baby parrots clipped young will not develop proper muscles where they are supposed to be and they will also miss out on excercise as just flapping wings is not same as flying!
My current one has never had her wings clipped and is so much more confident and agile in every way.
Yes, she has had her moments of trying it on and making me chase her around etc but she has learned not to do that because she has been shown what is accaptable, not because she can't do it.
We regularily go outside for a fly with her and she absolutely loves it :).

Also, clipping can be something breeder does to make the baby appear more tame as it can't fly from you like not so tame parrot would do...

>Why get an animal that is build to fly and then cut it's wings off??

You don't cut the wings off! You cut the flight feathers on one wing (and they'll regrow after a moult) so that the bird temporarily can't fly away while you're taming it.

We used to clip our bantams' wings like that when we first got them. The feathers regrew after a while and they flew again (and yes, bantams fly quite well!).

I know you do not cut the wings off :)
As I say I have had a clipped parrot...

But in a way you are cutting their wings, taking the ability to use them...
Cutting just one side is even worse than cutting both as this will make the parrot very unbalanced!

Exactly, JG.  We clipped our Amazon's wings after the windowcleaner startled him and he almost broke his neck when he took off in fright and hit a window.  As it happens, we lost him because he took off from my Mum's shoulder just as someone was coming in from the back garden...we hadn't realised that his flight feathers had grown back and he got out the door in a split second :-(

Our Grey's wings never really needed tobe clipped..he was blind in one eye and not a confident flier as a result.  He liked to go from his perch to the top of a door when allowed...and back again.  Even though he was perfectly capable of flight, if he wanted to get anywhere, he flapped onto the floor and walked to his destination where he would sqwak to get lifted up again :-)

>Cutting just one side is even worse than cutting both as this will make the parrot very unbalanced!

Exactly. If you clip both wings they can compensate much more easily, fly better and you could still lose them. Clipping one side only prevents this.

As a matter of fact a lot of birds that go missing are the ones with clipped wings, it can give you false sense of security...
If you have a fully flighted bird you will make sure not to open doors etc when they are out.
I still think it is more to a benefit of the owner not the parrot to clip wings.

I know accidents happen but many clipped birds have taken off from the shoulder of their owner in a fright when owner thought they can not take off...
Right wind and adrenalin can do wonders to a flying ability of a clipped bird.

It is more used in America, many parroty people in UK/all vets I have ever met are against it.
As said I had one that was clipped and every single vet we saw(all parrot specialists and we saw few as my boy was very sickly parrot) did shake their head at it and said why has that been done to this baby :(!

Based on what I have read and experiences with clipped and not clipped parrot I would never recommend to clip a parrots wings just for a sake of it, unless there is a very good reason/special circumstances for doing it...

No more about it as it is something people are against or for and we could "argue" about it forever :).

Wing clipping was widely practised in the belief that the parrots were safer clipped, science has now caught up with us and proved that a young bird clipped BEFORE it has mastered free flight will never be able to breath properly as the muscles of the shoulders and chest don't develope the strength they need ergo they rarely learn to fly effectively either.

>the muscles of the shoulders and chest don't develope the strength they need ergo they rarely learn to fly effectively either.

I wonder why they don't catch up after the first moult (when they have a completely normal set of feathers), like bantams do?

Clipping and pinioning

Don't know to be honest it was a big shock to us when we were told about it at a convention organised by one of the regional societies we had always clipped when they left for their new homes so they were safe whilst adjusting to new environment.

i have an african  grey  .  it hates female humans  lol. dogs not keen on it too much either. Never had his wings clipped . when he does take off hes a crap flyer

I think African Greys are beautiful birds- have also loved Cockatoo's to but they are a lil big and I heard much more noisier as well... I think if we ever get one I will get from a breeder and not a petshop cause they seem to get frustrated with all the people poking and proding at them and cannot say I blame them. Right now I have 2 finches (messy lil creatures thats for sure)  3 budgies and a cockatiel so no more lol

Good luck with your quest for a feathered friend.We have had parrots for the past 24 years,just after we brought our 2nd GSD home.Our first was a Senegal parrot rescued from a hospital where I worked.Lovely bird but hated women.Would walk across my husband,nip me then run back to him.Sadly he died of old age about 6 years ago.We now have a Timneh grey,crimson wing parraket,Umbrella cockatoo and a scarlet macaw.They are great pets to have around but need plenty of company as the Macaw and Cockatoo would soon result to feather plucking.I would never leave the Birds and dogs in the same room as I have Malamutes which have a high prey drive,even if I were present.They all have different personalities and cost a fortune to feed - fresh fruit/veg and premium parrot mix and do have health issues.EG can catch respiritory infections very quickly,cause Citicosis etc.Like most things,buy from a breeder or specialist outlet,Some parrots like my Scarlet Macaw have to be Cites registered.
Yes they are messy,and need cleaning daily to avoid fungal spores and a swarm of fruit flies.
P.S our cats have always ignored the birds when in their cages.

1 Mal is never enough

Looks like 1 bird is never enough too ;)

There is an article in the Telegraph today regarding the high number of parrots going into rescue due to the recession.  There is also comment on the effect it is having on dog and cat ownership with animals being put down as a result :-(