Big curious bird+cabinets

[Marc Myer]

I have maple kitchen cabinets from a BORG. I assume they were finished with a pre-cat lacquer.
Our macaw has the run of the house, and discovered she can fly to the top of the cabinets and open the doors, then fling the cups out for fun. I fixed the access so she can't reach them now, but there are shallow beak and claw scratches along the top opening edges of the cabinets.
What would you suggest for touching up the cabinets? They don't need a flawless finish. Don't want to refinish, but will if necessary.
thanks!

[Terry Bigelow]

Probably right about the precat. Due to the "build" that a lacquer creates nothing short of a refinish will have them looking new. But if your looking just to mask them from being noticed and provide some form of protection, I would use a wipe on poly or something similar. Make sure to match sheens. Many of those products are Gloss and cabinets are usually satin.

[Tony Cox]

Holy chew toy batman, I can't believe you have any cabinets left to repair. Our Blue and Gold would have made toothpicks out of our cabinets if I let him. Throwing the cups out would have been funny, I just wouldn't have trusted him near anything I wanted to keep intact.

Tony

[Marc Myer]

LOL! I think we're lucky; this bird really tries to please us--I think that's just her personality, because I'm a lousy trainer.
Our approach has been to build several high perch areas around made from sacrificial wood that she can chew on. I installed crown moulding on the cabinet tops and topped it with planks painted to match. It puts the cabinet doors out of reach. She can chew on the plank ends, but those are easily dealt with.

[Jim Becker]

Tony, some birds would do just that...our Sengal is a chewer so we have to slake her appetite with acceptable materials. Even so, she needs to be watched carefully when she is in places that could be damaged. That includes certain kinds of clothing adornments, to Professor Dr. SMWBO's chagrin.

Marc, you are lucky to have such a well behaved bird!

[Dewey Torres]

Would this...

could this....

be the one and only time ...

I would ever even come close...

to recommending the purchase of a cat?






Ok... bad joke sorry

Interesting post. Let us know when you find a solution.

(I was really kidding BTW)

Dewey

[Jim Becker]

Well, before Professor Dr. SWMBO came along, I was a cat person. I still am in some ways, but have converted to being a "bird person"...or in the eyes of said birds, "a big bird". I was never able to carry on a very good conversation with a cat, either...Tosca, on the other hand, is quite communicative both verbally and with sign language. Spike puts up an interesting rendition of Yankee Doodle, too. The cats? "Cuddles and Contempt".

[Tony Cox]

We had a big black cat the entire time we had our Blue and Gold macaw. The cat tried to investigate one time when our bird was still pretty small. When the cat climbed up the cage, the bird chased him around bitting at his feet. That was the only time the cat tried anything. From that point on they both could be out and about together.

The cat still watched the birds on the feeders out the window, but he saw the blue and gold as his equal.

Sadly this brings back memories. We sent our macaw to a breeder about 3 years ago and we lost our cat a year ago. Both were very much a part of the family. They were our kids really since we don't have any children. Now we just have the dumb dog.

Later,
Tony

[Marc Myer]

FWIW, our macaw shares the house with seven (!!!) cats, thanks to a very soft-hearted wife (and soft-headed me, it could be argued). They pretty much leave each other alone. Still can't figure that out.