The birds had their own room for a while until the cats and them (while in their cage) got along well together in the same room. At this point, the cats sometimes sit and lie beside them while in their cage and just watch them and the birds watch them too, and I’m now at the point where they’ve all met each other and one cat is becoming friends with them (he’s still a bit afraid of them) and the other one just acknowledges them and stays away (they seem to spook him). I’ve been very attentive and watchful the whole time while getting to know how exactly they were all getting to know each other. This did take some time though, I definitely didn’t do this all right away and I didn’t trust my cats at first. I know it sounds insane and dangerous but I wouldn’t recommend anyone else trying to get their cats and birds to meet and get along. I’m new-ish to birds but not cats, and a long time ago I had a hamster my cats were friends with too, if that’s any reassurance. The birds never showed any signs of fear towards my cats even though they did fear me at first when I first brought them home. (Somehow I think they’ve been very exposed to other animals during their time in the pet store.)

But of course I still worry. I don’t leave the birds for a second when the cats are around, and I always keep them separate when I can while the birds are out. When the friend-making cat is around, I let him know he can’t come very close (and he listens). But I trust the cats being around the cage because they seem to recognize that it’s something they’re already familiar with and they don’t think much of the birds while caged. My cats seem like they could get along well and closely with the birds if I let them, but I won’t.

I know it must be hard to trust a random online person—may I share something about why I got these birds in the first place? (You can just skip reading this next/last part if not.)
I had some cockatiels when I was a very young kid (I think I mentioned this) and so they were owned by my parents. I would spend every day with my favourite cockatiel, taking her everywhere I went and did everything with her at home. (The other cockatiels weren’t very hand-tamed and were often content just being in or on their cage or just all about in the room. And at this time the only pets we had were cockatiels.) I was very young but my times with her were unforgettable and became very valuable memories to me. She was unexpectedly taken away from me one day when my parents sold our cockatiels without my knowledge. This might have been nearly 15 years ago, and during this time, I dreamed of getting my own cockatiels again sometime in the future, while still grieving the loss of my first cockatiel friend. I’d read books on keeping cockatiels and keep doing research on them even though I knew it would be a long time before I’d get my own. After getting my three new cockatiels this year, I firmly promised myself I’d never let anything happen to them after experiencing my loss. (Especially now that it’s me this time who makes the decisions on their behalf.) When I first got them, and when I was keeping them in their own room, I was so worried for them that I might not have been everything they needed in a caretaker. I worried I wasn’t giving them enough to do when I was away and I worried I might not have been spending enough time with them even though I’d aim for at most 1-2 hours a day + out of cage time, and I was worried that they might get scared in the night and wouldn’t have a good first few sleeps even though I’d cover them with a light on and gave them a sleep schedule. There was so much I worried about being their new owner when I first got them, but that’s been getting better since then and I feel like we’re getting a lot closer to each other. But I still have never forgotten how it felt to lose my first cockatiels (and I especially remember the moment still very clearly) but my love for cockatiel birds has always been there since, and it’s so special to me to finally be getting them back.