african grey 1.5yrs old

Question
hi i recently(1 week) bought parrot african grey(congo),i dont expect results over days and am willing to be patient as long as it takes.the parrot however is not take no food from me if i put it in the cage he goes to other side of cage and seems to be very frightened,wat is ur advice on taming him?do u think i shud handle him to make his fear go away or shud i be patient?he whistled few times do u think that is positive sign? i am stressed coz i hav him in ma room and there is nobody there sometimes and i feeel guilty he gets bored and i dont bring him down coz ma cat migh attack him and also the cat got fleas,can parrots be affected by fleas and do u think the parrot will ever talk?  

Answer
Ok you really need to give your parrot some time, a few weeks before handling to let him settle in. Greys need to be in a busy area of the house during the day and a quiet room at night. Keeping him in a bedroom as you say will cause him to get bored and this can lead to feather plucking which is just awful. I think that you need to get you cat treated for fleas and worms, as these wont do anyone in the household any good, do not use flea sprays in your home as this can kill birds. Once the flea problem is sorted out, you could work on slowly introducing your cat and parrot. My grey walks around the floor with 2 cats and 2 dogs and has never been harmed, he has tried to bite the cats and dogs though so you need to make sure that neither animal gets harmed. It will take a while for them to get used to one another but it can be done. They should never be left alone unsupervised. Just let your grey settle in, make sure he eats and drinks. If parrots stop eating they can become very ill. Its too soon to be thinking about talking, the most important thing is that it becomes secure in its new home. Where did you get him and what is his history?