Should they stay or should they go?

The day started out fairly normal. I took a shower, Brady and Delaney were outside playing.Natalie and I were teaching one of her new dolls to play patty cake (she is obsessed with the game as of late). That's when it all fell apart. I heard a rustling noise coming from the hallway. I immediately knew a bird was in our house and it was still alive. I looked right down the hall and saw a large amount of grey and white feathers scattered. The dread that went over my body cannot be described. I immediately started to curse the cats (in my mind of course, remember,small parrot-like child was in the vicinity). Then I proceeded to look for the bird. I heard it trying it's fearless escape in Brady's room out the closed window. (Not the sharpest tool in the shed, for more reasons than I can now list). Then, I'm still not sure why, I decided to call Shawn for help. (I think it's because he was the closest man to this disaster who would probably not puke picking up this horrid, half dead bird). He came, gloves in hand with his fabulous assistants Hunter and Hannah. The bird is in the corner crouched near the wall and Brady's CD player with 2 cats standing vigil. Of course Brady's room is a BOMB and now it's a bomb with feathers. We got the cats out and Shawn grabbed the bird. We took it outside to survey the damage. It lost half of its feathers and was a bit tore up to say the least.I knew the cats would find it if we left it there, so we decided to put it out of its misery. Actually, we decided Hunter would shoot it with a bee bee gun. 2 guns and 5 bee bees later, Hunter is, to say the least traumatized. I think he will need some counseling, poor kid. So, I locked the cats out for the day as punishment and vacuumed up what seemed to be a down comforter full of feathers. My vacuum will never be the same. BUT WAIT! Just when you thought this was long enough, the same thing happened two days later. Luckily Scott was home to destroy the thing. So, I want to get rid of the cats. Scott and the kids do not. I'm TOTALLY done with the whole bringing live, disease ridden animals into my home. Not to mention the cat hair and the people who can't come over here because of them. So, I'm asking for advice, counselors I can see, anything. Let me know what you think...