Cats and Birds

Hello,
I own a pet store and I have a rescued store kitty that is about 6 months old. He has been raised here at the store since he was dropped off at 1 week of age. He LOVES all the animals in the store, and when I say LOVES, he cuddles up with any living creature he can (turtles, dogs, cats, mice, hamsters, bunnies.....) WELL, my delima is this.. He especially loves the parakeets that we have here at the store, and they really like him. We have an open habitat for the keets and the cat likes to climb in a lay with them. He does not chase them, he does not hurt them or even act like he wants to hurt them. They climb on him, they preen him you get the idea. Anyway, an animal control officer (off duty) told us that it was illeagle to let him do that and that we needed to CAGE them properly. She suggested netting over the birds to keep the cat out (as if the birds wouldn't inadvertantly get caught in. Or cage the cat, CAGE the cat! SO, I would like to find out wether this law exists and how to get around it if it does. I think it would kill this cat to be taken away from his friends.
Thanks so much!
LittleBuddy

What city do you live in?

You should never cage the cat, law or otherwise. It sounds so inhumane! (I can imagine what you thought when your friend suggested it). That said, is there a way to cage the birds - who are adjusted to that (if they are in pet store - not that they should be adjusted , trying NOT to say the wrong thing here lately) so the kitty cannot get at them?

My store is in Chino Hills, southern california.
I do sappose that I can cage the birds, but I really prefer that they be in thier current habitat because thier wings and tails do not rub or get torn and it is a quite large habitat that they seem really content in.

Is there any way you can just ignore the animal-control officer or would you be fined??? It should be obvious to him that your cat and the parakeets are no danger to each other.I would try to get this amazing story into the newspaper,then I think they would leave you alone,the animals would be celebritys :thumbs up

I would love to see photos af this amazing kitty. :D

You'd be surprised what you can find on the Internet. Here is a link (http://municipalcodes.lexisnexis.com/codes/chinohills/) to Chino Hills municipal codes. I didn't search all of them, but that should be able to tell you if the bylaw exists, and exactly what you can and cannot do with your kitty and birds.

I do agree, however, that it sounds absolutely lovely. If you can, post some pictures of the cat being covered in birds. I'd love to see it.


EDIT:

I've searched the Chino Hills municipal laws, and came up with 5 instances of "bird" - none of which state you cannot allow the cat to occupy the same space as the birds. I will do a search for "cat" next. I will edit once done.

2nd EDIT:

A search for "cat" came up with 4 instances - none of which say you cannot allow a cat to occupy the same space as the birds.

I hope this helps.