Cats continue to surprise the world with the friendships they make. For example, just when you think cats and birds are enemies, an unlikely friendship is proving an exception to what seems like a natural rule. While the bond wasn’t love at first sight, more like dinner at first sniff, a black cat and magpie have overcome instinct to become companions.
Fur and feather dad, Matt Owens, didn’t set out to add a magpie to his household. He already had a ruler of the roost in residence, a black cat named Mowgli. The house panther had no choice but to accept a feathered housemate when Matt found an injured magpie on the side of an Auckland, New Zealand, roadway.
In an interview with Newshub, Matt said, “It was just sitting there bleeding, sort of unable to walk properly and it looked like it had been abandoned by its mum so I just picked it up and decided to take it home.”
Matt’s neighbor is a vet and helped treat the bird’s injuries.
After conversations with Mowgli, Swoop became a permanent part of their flock.
Matt told Daily Mail, “I think he knew on the first day that Swoop was family.”
In the beginning, kitty cat instincts had Mowgli thinking his dad had brought him the ultimate dinner. Yet, with patience and watchful eyes, Matt and Swoop taught Mowgli the furred can be friends with the feathered. “Now, they sunbathe together and roll around on their backs together.”
“I slowly introduced those two together and I was just really surprised the cat came to love it.”
A Friendship of Necessity
Sometimes Mowgli gets annoyed with Swoop’s loud screeches and the bird’s fascination with his tail. Still, the cat and bird are a tight pair.
“They’re sort of best mates and they just hang out with each other all the time. Usually they’re just roaming around together; the bird’s lying on his back and cuddling with the cat.”
Being a magpie, Swoop is part of the crow family and highly intelligent. Matt says he is regularly surprised by his bird buddy’s antics. One example? Clever Swoop utilizes the cat door with Mowgli.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5_hrsRBfeZ/
The silly bird also knows how to pull off the perfect photo bomb…
On helping to forge the unusual friendship, Matt warned, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go out and find a magpie but in this instance it needed to be done – he would have died otherwise.”
Mowgli and Swoop are his buddies and does everything he can to keep them both healthy and happy.
Swoop travels everywhere with Matt, even into the city to visit Matt’s dad and meeting Swoop came at a perfect time. Matt’s dad is experiencing a bit of a hard time keeping Matt in a state of worry recently. The joy he found in his friendship with Mowgli the cat and Swoop the magpie is an unexpected delight.
Their friendship delights us too!
H/T: Daily Mail
Feature Image: @swoopandmowgli/Instagram