Our precious teenager Destiny has stolen our hearts and taken over our lives! Our three old cats have humbly accepted they must share the limelight now. Two of the three tolerate the beardie, the Mainecoon acts slightly hunter-ish so we are being cautious with their interactions.
Destiny is particularly fond of our tabby Precious, who sometimes likes her back, and sometimes blows her off!
This is extremely dangerous. There are many, many tragic tales of beardies that were maimed or killed by cats because the owner wanted a cute Instagram photo or simply thought that predator and prey should be friends. My friend adopted a beardie that was horrifically disfigured by a cat that “would never hurt a flea.” The owner didn’t feel like dealing with the massive vet bills for the injuries she’d helped engineer so she dumped the lizard at an animal shelter. It only takes a second for a predator to remember it’s a predator, and even if the cat isn’t successful in killing the lizard before you can get to them an infection from the cat’s claws/mouth can lead to a very tragic end. Even in the best case scenario, being around a cat will keep your beardie in a perpetual state of stress. This lizard shouldn’t know your cat exists, let alone be forced to interact with him. Please please keep this beardie far away from cats, dogs, or any other predator.
This is extremely dangerous. There are many, many tragic tales of beardies that were maimed or killed by cats because the owner wanted a cute Instagram photo or simply thought that predator and prey should be friends. My friend adopted a beardie that was horrifically disfigured by a cat that “would never hurt a flea.” The owner didn’t feel like dealing with the massive vet bills for the injuries she’d helped engineer so she dumped the lizard at an animal shelter. It only takes a second for a predator to remember it’s a predator, and even if the cat isn’t successful in killing the lizard before you can get to them an infection from the cat’s claws/mouth can lead to a very tragic end. Even in the best case scenario, being around a cat will keep your beardie in a perpetual state of stress. This lizard shouldn’t know your cat exists, let alone be forced to interact with him. Please please keep this beardie far away from cats, dogs, or any other predator.
if the bearded lizard climbed on the cat by themselves, and the cat isn’t showing and anger(flicking tail, claws out, wide eyes) then it should be fine. I’m not a bearded dragon expert though, so I could be wrong
I know it’s really confusing when people post memes of a beardie and their cat or a video where they seem to get along. But for every cat that doesn’t wind up succumbing to their predatory instincts, there’s one that attacks a beardie, and the results can be devastating. My long-time reptile vet has treated many bearded dragons and skinks attacked by cats and dogs, and many of the injuries, or the infections that resulted, were so severe the animals had to be put down. I just think having a small reptile in the presence of a cat or dog is playing with fire, and you clearly love your new beardie so I’d just hate for things to take a split second turn for the worse. My boyfriend has a cat, and when the topic of moving in together was first discussed he suggested that maybe our pets could be buddies. I had to tell him that my bearded dragons weren’t going to know his cat existed, let alone be his buddy. While his cat is very sweet and gentle, he’s still a predator and the last thing I ever want to do is tempt his instincts with prey. At the end of the day, the only friend a beardie needs is an attentive owner that never ponders what he’d taste like.
I think it’s a bit overblown that cats will attack out of the blue... it’s true in some cases for sure, but not a guarantee.
Even if a cat is gentle and neither animal exhibits stress cats don’t necessarily play safely with other animals - they can unintentionally hurt them with their claws gently batting them or a curious nibble could end up as a full bite. Wounds from cats are notorious for infection.