Yes, yes, we know. What does a girl do when she is delivered from crazy spinster catladydom only to find herself living with a parrot-toting bachelor?
Herd cats, of course.
No attempt will be made to integrate my bloodthirsty predators with a Senegal Parrot. Any Brady Bunch/Peaceable Kingdom delusion Mark and I held was forever shattered in the icy stare of my sweet widdle Sebastian's dilated eyes. The cute widdy puddy tat would have sunk his widdy fangs and widdy cwaws into the widdy froat of the widdy bird in no time.
So we have a routine. Parrots are pair-bonded and mate for life. Birdy considers Mark's head his mate of 22 years and wishes to spend every waking moment fused to its mysterious four-limbed "carrying apparatus." Since Mark works from home and Birdy is used to being out of the cage, the Keetains spend the day downstairs behind closed doors in the rumpus room (does anyone still say "rumpus room?"). There they have their toys, food, cat condo, treats, litter boxes and a fantastic crawlspace in which to hide, scheme and plot. Best of all, there are no less than four ground-level windows through which they may merrily greet the visitors to the bird feeder with a great chattering of teeth, followed by fantasizing about novel ways to rend, disembowel and dismember them.
At 7:30 pm it's Birdy's bed time, and he goes to his cage in the home office to sleep off a hard day's work eating, chewing corks, pooping and screaming. The night belongs to the 'Tains, who come out of their den and enjoy free reign of the house. They mostly just wedge themselves between us in bed, but the option to roam and strike terror in the hearts of their innocent Mylar balls is there if they want it. That is until we get tired of Sebastian carrying one in his mouth and yowling for all to hear and take them away.
So far the compromise has worked well.
With a parrot's long life expectancy, Birdy will have the last laugh, so don't worry about him. He'll be able to spend the next forty years doing a happy dance on the kitties' graves. And right now he's basically slated to be the beneficiary of both our wills. It's good to be da boid.
Do you have a "mixed household?" How do you navigate the waters? Please share!
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