Budgie and cat together?

[Imatorturedpoet]

I have an elderly cat and am thinking of getting a budgie. Has anyone kept both?

I'd like to be able to let the budgie fly loose some of the time, obviously I could shut the cat out at that time.

Also how best to hand tame a budgie and teach it to speak?

Thanks for any advice. I'm not committed yet, just thinking about it.

Entirely depends on your cat! My cat is at least 13 (previous hunter) & if a bird/budgie walked right past her, she would likely fall asleep or yawn.

If your cat is still
i terested in moving animals then you could keep them in separate rooms when the budgie comes out.

We had both when I was growing up. First budgie was easy to tame, used to come out of his cage and sit on the ketchup bottle when we were eating. When he died we bought a new one but he was really timid and we never managed to tame him.
We also had dogs at the same time (and pigs and chickens but not in the house!)

Thanks for the replies. The cat isn't really interested in anything that moves, apart from the odd mad dash around with her ball at night!

I had budgies 20 years ago, but they were a pair and couldn't tame them. I'll give it some thought and talk to the woman in the pet shop about where she gets her budgies from.

Interesting post! I'm budgie sitting soon and budgie will be at my house with me and my 14yr old cat who was also quite a hunter in his day. I'm a bit apprehensive about it, but budgie owner is sure it will be fine... we'll see.

Good luck! Hope it all goes well.. let me know if you get a chance!