What’s going on here? Everywhere the cat goes, the bird follows: can’t get away from it. What does the bird want? And why is the cat so eager to avoid it?
I once had a very large land crab to whom a small tortoise took a fancy. The tortoise chased the crab round and round a very large cage–in what must have been the world’s hottest slow-motion romance. Actually, it was quite obvious what the turtle had in mind. In fairness, the crab, in its big round shell, must have looked something like another turtle. But finally we had to separate them before the poor crab despaired of ever knowing peace again. It was a very good crab, and deserving of respect: never once pinched me.
I always wonder about the source of the little obsessions animals develop, such as this one. That cockatiel has a reason for following the cat, but I have no idea what it is. It could be as simple as teasing, or perhaps just fascination with an animal with instinctive behaviors quite different from its own. Perhaps Joe Collidge would see it as an obvious case of a Climbit Change Denier bird harassing an all-inclusive, non gender specific cat. 🙂
It seems to me they must be friends, since every so often the cat would look back and sort of wait for the cockatiel. Del Shannon really brought me back a ways too 🙂
The cat didn’t seem to hate it, but at times I got the impression that he wasn’t quite sure how to react.
I love that old Del Shannon song, too,
Funny when things seem to be reversed. From the motion of the cat’s tail at times, it seems he is a bit irritated with the events, and is considering
putting a stop to it, but thinks his owners may take exception.
It amazes me how a cat will behave itself around a bird when it knows that the owner isn’t going to allow any nonsense.
Reminds me of Buster and Missy. They never fought when we were home; but if we went out, we’d come back to find tuffets of fur scattered all over the living room.