Bethany's cat, Grey, jumped on the wire cage we were using before the aviary was built. He made it fall onto another surface leaving it leaning. It was at night, so no one heard it crash from upstairs. The doors stayed closed, but the very determined cat figured out he could force the bars apart by forcing his leg through. He forced his front leg through to the shoulder which had to have caused him quite a bit of pain. He hooked with his claws, pulled out, and killed four birds. I woke up to walk downstairs to find the body of a bird with its decapitated head lying next to it.
The pictured bird was actually uninjured when we found it. It flew away from Bethany as she tried to catch it. Grey came out of hiding, lept in the air, and caught it in his mouth in a split second. It would have been a beautiful display of the cat's speed and graceful agility if it had not been so horrific for the poor bird! Bethany caught Grey and popped him on the head until he let the bird go. Grey was stubborn, so he got a few whacks.
Bethany was very upset her cat destroyed the birds. She cried because she thought we'd make her find a new home for Grey. She finally heeded my instruction to work with Grey to make him a better house pet. He was causing more and more trouble, but she was afraid correcting him would make him not love her.
I figured the injured bird would die, but I wanted to give it a chance. Within 10 minutes, I had treated the wound and gave it topical and oral antibiotics. The first five days, the bird was hurting from the injury. I could see the hole and some bad bruising. It pulled the feathers away from the wound on one of those days.
At one point, Clint said he would put it down because it looked very bad. I was in agreement. As soon as we spoke about it, the bird climbed off the floor and perched, so we decided to wait. We are glad we did!
The tough little bird lived!! I watched the hole fill in over two weeks. At first, it was traumatized and slept under something on the bottom of the cage to keep itself out of reach of any other cat paws. The first time I put it back in with the flock, they picked on her nonstop. I put her back into her wire cage. I thought I'd have to find it a home as a single pet instead of keeping it with our small flock.
A few days later, I tried again, and the flock accepted it! That bird acts a little different from the others from time to time, probably because it was literally in the jaws of death, but it's doing OK.
Gray was put through a training program for a week. He now does not go near the birds because Bethany worked with him consistently several times a day to teach him the birds were off limits. We remind him once a week at this point. He has the freedom of our home and farm, but he can not touch those birds.
Thankfully, our aviary was already under construction when this happened, so we quickly had a way to secure the birds better. I kept the injured bird beside me in a small cage 24/7 while it was healing. I didn't have a lot of hope those first few days, but I kept rooting for it.
When we decided to get the birds for our family, I told Bethany she would need to work with Grey to teach him not to mess with them. Bethany had a problem with disciplining Grey because she thought it would ruin their bond. She learned a little bit about parenting and taking in advice through this experience. She also learned how cats are very trainable if their owner will spend the time to teach them. She discovered Grey still loves her even though she had to be firm, and even sometimes a little harsh with him, to keep him within the boundaries. As a family, we discussed The Garden of Eden and the one rule they had to follow and why it is so important to fight our flesh to do the right things in our own lives. The rules seem like the limit us, but they really give us more than we thought possible.
Why did we get birds? Because we had them with Brandon and Amanda and again with our middle children. Now, we are giving our youngest a similar experience. I wanted less work and less mess in something more attractive than a wire cage with a "seed catcher" pinned around the bottom. The aviary with auto feed and water keep chores to a very minimal level while maximizing the beauty of the birds.
Why did we get birds? Because we had them with Brandon and Amanda and again with our middle children. Now, we are giving our youngest a similar experience. I wanted less work and less mess in something more attractive than a wire cage with a "seed catcher" pinned around the bottom. The aviary with auto feed and water keep chores to a very minimal level while maximizing the beauty of the birds.
