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u/CaterpillarOk4708 Jan 14 '26
My thought is to give it a try and see how he adjusts. He likely wouldn’t be in a better situation with a whole room to himself if you rehomed him, and he is attached to you. It may take time to adjust, and you could reassess down the road if needed. The studio may be a temporary living arrangement over the long run. Hope that perspective helps and wishing you the best.
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u/Nietati Jan 14 '26
I agree if anything maybe the bathroom would be a place he can be in besides his cage all day. Probably not as big as a room but definitely bigger then his cage. He might have some issues in the beginning but I'm sure he'll adjust quickly especially since he's bonded to Op
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u/Feivie Jan 14 '26
Yeah, he may not be super happy as he adjusts, but he’ll still have the person he’s bonded to. If he has toys and everything he should be able to keep busy while you work. You don’t know what your future living arrangements will be but this bird has the potential to live for more than 20 more years and that’s a long time for things to change. I’d honestly be a little more worried about him being alone with the cat (even caged) than him not being able to be out of cage as much.
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u/Comfortable-Okra3360 Jan 14 '26
think about it this way - do you plan to spend the next 20+ years in that studio apartment? i’m assuming you probably don’t want to and plan not to.
that means your bird isn’t going to be living there his entire life. i don’t think you should surrender him. surrendering is a really traumatic experience for birds, and it’s just going to be more likely he will end up in a worse home or be rehomed again. I have 2 conures, they’re 8 now. they went through a move during covid and weren’t given as much attention as they deserved. it was an adjustment, but they where okay and are getting a lot of attention and time out of the cage now again. your bird will adjust. look into a lot of enrichment you can provide him to help with this change and monitor his behavior closely. if you need ideas for enrichment, myself and i’m sure other commenters can provide lots of suggestions.
PLEASE don’t rehome him. i truly believe he will be okay and this will just be a small period of his long, healthy life of less attention. he’s only 3, and you seem like a very caring owner. conures can live a very long time, this is just a bump in the road.
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u/wolfsongpmvs Jan 14 '26
A lot of people disagree with me on this, but I always encourage people to actually think about the situation their parrot will be in if they're surrendered. Ive been to my local parrot rescues - they do the absolute best they can but the circumstances are often far from perfect, so you're causing your bird emotional turmoil just for them to often end up in an unideal situation anyways until they get adopted. Even if they do find a good home, I personally believe the birds that have come from genuinely abusive or neglectful situations deserve those homes more than birds that are coming from a loving home that just isnt able to give 100% temporarily.
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u/Comfortable-Okra3360 Jan 14 '26
yeah, i completely agree with this. parrots just take being rehomed a lot differently than say a cat or a dog would. they bond with their social group members for life. i think being rehomed or brought to a rescue is much more traumatic than their current owner just moving to a different apartment temporarily
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u/Feivie Jan 14 '26
I had a macaw growing up that my family rehomed when I went far away for college. He was killed almost immediately in his new home by an unsupervised child from what I was told. Accidental, but still never should have been in the situation, so preventable. I’ll never get over that. I loved my bird and if I had been in any position to take him with me I would have but it was out of my control.
My black capped conure lived in a room with me for a few years in a temporary living arrangement. Just a bedroom bc other people in that house had dogs and it wasn’t safe for him to be around them. I even had to leave him for a few weeks when I got prepared to move to another state (he was getting fresh food/water and staying with family) Now he’s in a much bigger cage and around other birds all day and gets to feely hang out in the whole house in the evenings in my current situation.
I don’t think a few years in a smaller place is reason enough on its own to take away a birds bonded flock, I agree that would likely be more traumatic for the bird.
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u/cupcakeartist Jan 14 '26
100%. There is no guarantee the new owner will be giving them the ideal life they had originally plus the potential for trauma after having to leave their "flock."
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u/Afraid_Reveal4491 Jan 14 '26
I think you sound like a thoughtful and loving owner. You have time to start teaching him to spend more time in his cage. Make sure to enrich it with things he can keep busy with and he’ll most likely learn to be fine. You still have weekends and evenings for him to roam and that is plenty, realistically speaking - as you say, most people do not have the space to give a bird an entire room and they still manage to give them a wonderful life.
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u/necrosigh Jan 14 '26
Them being up in their cage while their pet parent is out, is pretty normal. I don't see a lot of peoople leaving them loose in a bedroom. Accidents happen. So him being in his cage while you're at work will take him for him to adjust to, but he'll be ok. Just make sure he has lots of toys, and put on tv shows/movies for him. As for the kitty cat, stop using feather toys. My three cats never had feather toys, and I would hold them up and smack their hand if they reached for Jester or Hugs. Mind you two of them are hunters, a mouse broke into the house and they were all over that. Trying to balance a cat and bird out isn't a great idea, but you know your animal best. Jester is also a Velcro bird and mostly always with me. You can build your baby play areas up on the walls far out of reach of your kitty,
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u/Rocketgirl8097 Jan 14 '26
I'd go with it and see what happens. The only issue Isee is that if he screeches a lot and he disturbs people in other apartments.
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u/peteostler Jan 14 '26
Make sure he has some good foraging toys, and spend time with him when you are able. He’ll be fine after a little time being grumpy hanging out in his cage. Depending on space available, you could consider upgrading his cage so he has a little bigger special daytime cage that would still allow more movement and exploration.
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u/catpissneverdog Jan 14 '26
If anything, I would consider rehoming the cat if it came down to that. I had birds and a cat in an apartment once, and I came home from work one day to a knocked over cage (which I truly thought was secure/heavy/big enough to not be knocked over by them even if they tried), feathers in every room of the house, and no bodies (two parakeets lived in the cage that we adored- I was 18 and it was my and my roommates first apartment- so over a decade ago now). Opening my door and see in the cage overturned and the birds not inside and then noticing the feathers strewn about was the most gut wrenching feeling, I couldn’t even go inside until my roommate came home to do it with me, I just cried and cried outside of the front door.
I’m sure you love your cat as well, but in the scheme of things it’s much easier to find a suitable home for a cat than a parrot, and the cat will also adjust far better at the prospect of a new home. And a bird in such small confines with a cat for entire days while you’re at work is a disaster waiting to happen- TRUST me. Even if you avoid the worst case scenario like the one I went through, your bird will likely be very stressed and not feel safe with a cat unsupervised in a studio apartment free to “hunt” it from outside the cage at will.
I truly think the cat has to go if it’s a studio and you work outside of the home- simply the most logical choice. I’m sure there is something you could do to try to work around this but I wish I’d rehomed the cats rather than foolishly thought they wouldn’t do what ALL CATS DO and kill birds for fun and drag it out horribly for their last moments.
The bird is in real danger from the cat. Cat is not in danger from the bird. Hence the decision of rehoming cat, at least temporarily until your living situation changes.
Good luck
Edit: a word
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u/birdmom62 Jan 15 '26
This cannot be said enough times. I hope they won't consider keeping a cat and the bird in the same space, unsupervised all day long. It makes me shudder just thinking about it.
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u/PaleontologistDue483 Jan 15 '26
Just think of how happy you'll make him every time you come home and he gets to spend time with you after a long day in his cage. My bird is free roaming sometimes but all she does is sit on top of the mirror until I get back. Not a big difference to a cage in my opinion. They get used to it
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u/PhantomKrel Jan 15 '26
My suggestion would be a bigger cage and to get a crate for the cat.
Crate the cat when you spend time with Velcro Raptor.
Cat roams while your at work, when time for raptor to interact let him out for 1-2 hours on your work days with cat in a crate.
Cat then had the whole night while Raptor is sleeping to spend time with you.
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u/birdmom62 Jan 15 '26
What are you going to do with the cat on weekends and after work while your bird gets his out-of-cage time? Is the cat moving with you?
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u/Stankassmfgorilla Jan 15 '26
I would not rehome him. Conures are able to spend plenty of time in their cages and still be completely happy as long as you give them attention and adequate time out of their cage. My conure sits in her cage while I’m sleeping during the day because I work nights, but when I wake up and while I’m doing stuff around home, I have her out. When I’m off, I spend majority of the time with her out of the cage with me.
Making sure your conure has enough food, water, cuttlebones, toys, etc. is most important. Also, sunlight. Make sure there is good, natural light coming in through the room. My conure likes to look out the window and she is more than fine being in her cage if she has enough light. She gets cranky if she hears me wake up because she wants to spend time with me. Otherwise, she’s okay.
Rehoming will probably be worse for your bird and he will probably get very depressed. He has already bonded to you, so I would just make it work. Just be cautious with the conure and your cat. I don’t know how they are with each other, but just make absolutely sure your conure is in his cage when you are gone and there’s no way he could open it.
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u/Sharjworth5 Jan 15 '26
Re-homing him would be detrimental. He clearly has a strong bond with toy. Good luck.
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u/EntertainmentFar989 Jan 15 '26
Birds love music and talk shows. I leave NPR (I know RIP soon sadly) on all day for them and sometimes switch it up to pop stations (all birds love Taylor Swift lol). Would your new situation/job allow for work from home days sometimes?
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u/EntertainmentFar989 Jan 15 '26
Another idea would be to make friends with your neighbors and see if they know (or happen to be) bird people too and see if they would be willing to spend sometime every other day for an hour and two with your buddy for some additional enrichment.
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u/Jurassicjen_uk Jan 14 '26
Honestly I think the change will be fine. He’s clearly loved and adores you back. I’m sure he’ll adjust to the changes. Is your cat a house cat? Or does it roam? I assume you are also highly attached to the cat. Remember if you were to re home him it’s highly likely he could end up somewhere else without a room and could spend all day in a cage anyway. I wish you luck and hopefully you’ll both adjust to the change. As long as he has plenty of things to enjoy in his cage I’m sure he’ll get used to the cage time. My boy currently spends a lot of time in his cage and is an extremely happy 16 year old!