African Greys are the best. I have an Amazon parrot, which are the second best talkers after the African Grey, but you can always tell it's a bird talking. The Grey can actually imitate your voice, and other people's too, to a degree that you cannot tell it's not the real person speaking. Almost scary.

My buddy had one. His wife had a little yappy dog that he hated, and the bird hated it, too. It would call out in HER voice, "Come here, Fluffy," then when the little dustmop would come running in the room, tail wagging, would say in HIS voice, "Bad dog! Bad dog!" and the little rat in a dog suit would just freak right out. Funny as shit. ANd you could tell, the bird was definitely doing it knowingly.

He had an alarm, so that whenever the front door opened it would give of a totally unnatural electronic bleeping noise. The bird could do it perfectly, so you would hear it, and look towards the door thinking someone was coming in. THen you would look at the bird and just KNOW he was laughing at you, doing it to freak you out. Lots of other stuff, too.

As pointed out above, any bird needs LOTS of attention. Greys especially will go totally insane if you ignore them, and start plucking out their own feathers, and just go batshit insane and then be just a huge pain in the ass for the next 60 or 70 years. So keep that in mind.

ALso, all birds will make a HUGE mess, all day, every day. Once again, for the REST OF YOUR LIFE.

NO WAY you can have cats and a bird. THe cat will eventually kill the bird, no matter how much you imagine they like each other. Unless you keep the bird in a cage at all times. FOR THE NEXT 60 OR 70 YEARS. How would YOU like to be in solitary confinement for life? Yeah, the bird will go insane if you do that. Worth it for your widdle puddy tat?