Cats & Degu's

[lolasmom]

I was wondering if anyone could tell my anything about the interaction between Degu's and Cats. Long story short.......I have a cat and recently introduced two Degu's ( Bandit and Lola) into our home. They have become the babies of the house. They have a large wire cage that sits on top of a regular square card table. The cat likes to jump on the table and sit right in front of the cage to see what is going on. I don't want to put a blanket over the poor little guys and have them be unhappy, but I also am worried about scaring them. I'm not sure if they are frightened by her (the cat) or if they like her. Bandit and Lola tend to "chirp" when she is not in their view. Just wondered if anyone else had this problem with their cat.

Also, I was wondering what the best thing to use to cover wire cage bottoms would be? Right now I have cardboard twist tied to the bottom of the wire floors, but I know it wont be there for much longer.

Thank you.

[carissa]

I have 2 cats and 3 degus. My cats don't really pay much attention to the degus. The only time they really pay attention to them is when I point out to the cats that the degus exist.

Sometimes for fun, I put my cats on top of the degu's wire half of the cage and the degus nibble the fur between the cat's paws. Cat usually gets scared first and jumps down.

I've actually held a degu in my cupped hands and shown it to the cat. Both sniffed each other.

Once when I was cleaning the degu cage, I put them in my backup cage, didn't put the top on too well. A cat jumped in there with them. Then jumped back out. Noone was hurt or killed. Just everyone scared. Heheh. I learned my lesson well and that didn't happen again.

[Aimeelou]

I think if the cats and the Degus arnt that interested in each other, i wouldnt push them together, as long as they know each others there it shoud be fine!
I personlaly think its a little silly to put a cat ontop of a Degu cage, even if no one appears scared, as even more the Degus dont like things being above them as they think prey normaly hunt for them in the wild.
Im not going to say anything about the cat being in the Degu cage.

[rupe]

i have one of each (cat & degu) but i go to a number of lengths to ensure they dont meet! cats and any rodent-like creature are natural enemies so i wouldnt like to tempt fate.

when Pippen was alive my cat Mowgli got into my room and stood staring into the cage. poor Pip was very upset by this and made sharp hissing/squeaking noises even after Mowgli was removed. Pip continued to make those noises for about an hour after the cat was gone so was obviously traumatised by the encounter.

i dont think its fair to stress the little guys like that as your cat may like your degu one day but decide it is a fun prey the next.

[thegrouchybeast]

I have my cage up on a table with no space around it, so the cats can't jump up, and they and the degus don't really seem to be aware of one another. If the degus are acting stressed or distressed, then you should probably try to work out a way to keep the cat from getting too close. Maybe you could put something on the table to stop the cat jumping up there? Is it just one side of the cage, or can she get to all the sides? If it's just one, then you could get a piece of translucent plastic to cover the bottom part of that side, so the light can get through but the cat can't see in.

(When I kept rats, and didn't have the aquarium part of the cage at the bottom, one of my cats used to stand up on her back legs to stare into the cage. The rats would just stare back with evil intent. One day I came home from work and found the cat with two extremely neat parellel toothmarks on the end of her nose. After that she decided that rats were really very boring.)


I used to cover the wire shelves with linoleum -- you can buy offcuts cheaply from DIY shops. But now I have more pine shelves and stuff, I just put a grass mat from Chinchillas2Home onto the bit of wire shelf they really like to sit on, and leave the rest, as they don't have to stand on the wire much any more.

[ra]

I have two cats who would love to get into the house but I worry cats and Degus don't mix well. We've all seen the pictures of a cat with a mouse sitting on it's head or back.. that would be an acception to the rules of nature. As others have said, cats are predators and Degus are prey animals. For some reason Degus are brave little creatures almost fearless with great curiousity. That could easily get them killed. I know my cats will catch and play with mice and chipmunks, sometimes they play and let them go but more often than not the play is too rough for the rodents and they end up as snacks. I would never forgive myself if that would happen. I keep a baby gate in the doorway to the Degu room to keep my Yorkshire Terriers out. They would not be able to reach the cage but I KNOW that would be a recipe for disaster.

My thoughts, don't take chances. In an instant things could turn ugly and it would be too late. You can't take it back or change things once they go bad.

Enjoy your pets separately. Keep them all safe and happy.

[marumba7]

I would say yes if you had introduced the degus to the cat while it was still a kitten. Otherwise, degus are pretty fearless and might warrant unwanted attention. Still, like Aimeelou said, if the cat isn't interested in the degus, I would leave blanket off of the cage. Degus need decent ventilation due to the hair and dust of the bedding.