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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / March 2006any cat friendly fly repellent?
With the milder weather, I am getting flies in my home. Rusty likes to catch and eat them which I doubt is good for him. I want to use some fly repellents but wants to make sure it is OK to use around cats. Any suggestions?  SignatureWinnie > With the milder weather, I am getting flies in my home. Rusty likes to > catch and > eat them which I doubt is good for him. I want to use some fly repellents > but > wants to make sure it is OK to use around cats. > Any suggestions? Fly paper is safest, but also grossest. Just make sure you put the sticky strip out of Rusty's reach. SignatureHugs, CatNipped See all my masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped/ > With the milder weather, I am getting flies in my home. Rusty likes to catch > and > eat them which I doubt is good for him. Why not? Cats catch and eat quite a few insects (mine are more partial to grasshoppers, which have a bit more "meat" on them than flies). I agree the idea of our cats eating flies is a bit repellent to us humans, but I really don't think it can hurt them any. > Why not? Cats catch and eat quite a few insects (mine are more partial to > grasshoppers, which have a bit more "meat" on them than flies). I agree > the idea of our cats eating flies is a bit repellent to us humans, but I > really don't think it can hurt them any. Rusty has eaten many flies in his life and he is still around after all these years. So I guess it is OK. Plus he is not as active in catching them now. But I still need to do something about the flies. One time I came home from vacation and found lots of dead flies on the floor. It was gross. Rusty was boarded at the vet, so he didn't get to eat them. My windows are all closed so I don't know how they got in. My neighbour keeps a very clean house and she also got lots of flies. Winnie >> Why not? Cats catch and eat quite a few insects (mine are more >> partial to grasshoppers, which have a bit more "meat" on them than [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Winnie Perhaps hanging "fly strips"? I'm not even sure they still sell those. My parents used to hang them in their garage to keep flies from coming in via the kitchen door. Flies are annoying. Jill > Perhaps hanging "fly strips"? I'm not even sure they still sell those. My > parents used to hang them in their garage to keep flies from coming in via > the kitchen door. Flies are annoying. Sometimes called flypaper, and I think some hardware stores still carry it. There's a funny story in Pratchett's 'The Unadulterated Cat' about a cat who stared at the swaying flypaper until he couldn't resist attacking it... When I was in Europe, they had a kind of cross between camping mosquito coils and Glade plug-ins that you could use indoors and supposedly either repelled or killed small flying insects. Certainly, I wasn't bothered by mosquitos or flies when I was in houses using these even though they had no window screens. But I don't think I've seen those particular products in North America; only the more powerful outdoors versions. SignatureCheryl >> Perhaps hanging "fly strips"? I'm not even sure they still sell those. My >> parents used to hang them in their garage to keep flies from coming in via [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >no window screens. But I don't think I've seen those particular products >in North America; only the more powerful outdoors versions. One thing to keep in mind is that, while some forms of flypaper are basically glue strips, so that the flies remain stuck and die of starvation, many brands of flypaper have poison mixed in with the glue. The fly lands on the flypaper and takes off again, but the poisonous glue sticks to its feet, and the fly ingests the poison when it licks the glue off of its feet. Back in the 1970s, I remember hearing warnings that flypaper gave off poisonous fumes as well, but I don't know the truth of that statement. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria >>>Perhaps hanging "fly strips"? I'm not even sure they still sell those. My >>>parents used to hang them in their garage to keep flies from coming in via [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > hearing warnings that flypaper gave off poisonous fumes as well, but I > don't know the truth of that statement. But if the cat ate poisoned flies, it might not be very good for the cat! (One argument against poisoning rats or mice in an environment that includes a cat.) >>>>Perhaps hanging "fly strips"? I'm not even sure they still sell those. My >>>>parents used to hang them in their garage to keep flies from coming in via [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] >for the cat! (One argument against poisoning rats or mice >in an environment that includes a cat.) That was my point, although I failed to say so explicitly. The poisonous-fumes variety, as well as any sort of room-fogging device, risk poisoning everyone in the household, human, feline, or other. SignatureJohn F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria >>Perhaps hanging "fly strips"? I'm not even sure they still sell those. My >>parents used to hang them in their garage to keep flies from coming in via [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > no window screens. But I don't think I've seen those particular products > in North America; only the more powerful outdoors versions. You can buy plug-in electrical gadgets that are supposed to repell pests ultrasonically. I've had them, from time to time, and was not particularly bothered with insects, but I'm not sure whether it was the gadget or just a pest-free location. > One time I came home from vacation and found lots of dead flies on the > floor. > It was gross. Rusty was boarded at the vet, so he didn't get to eat them. > My windows are all closed so I don't know how they got in. Probably there were fly eggs someplace from earlier, and they hatched while you were gone. A disgusting thought, I know, but probable. Joyce >> One time I came home from vacation and found lots of dead flies on >> the floor. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Joyce Especially since flies lay their eggs on dead animals, and the eggs hatch into *maggots*(that eat the dead animal) before they pupate into flies "Magic Mood Jeep?" <nobody@nowhere.net> wrote: > Especially since flies lay their eggs on dead animals, and the eggs hatch > into *maggots*(that eat the dead animal) before they pupate into flies Yes, well, it is not a pretty situation all around, is it? But if she didn't have any dead animals around, including rotting meat, where would they have laid their eggs? Joyce > "Magic Mood Jeep?" <nobody@nowhere.net> wrote: > > Especially since flies lay their eggs on dead animals, and the eggs hatch > > into *maggots*(that eat the dead animal) before they pupate into flies > Yes, well, it is not a pretty situation all around, is it? > But if she didn't have any dead animals around, including rotting > meat, where would they have laid their eggs? Scraps of food? There are flies that use fruit or vegetables instead of dead animals. Or maybe they bred just outside, and got in through some cracks or other openings. SignatureCheryl >> "Magic Mood Jeep?" <nobody@nowhere.net> wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Scraps of food? There are flies that use fruit or vegetables instead of > dead animals. No I am very careful about not leaving scraps of food around. > Or maybe they bred just outside, and got in through some cracks or other > openings. This is most likely the case. As I said earlier, many of my neighbours have the same problem. I know there must be cracks somewhere as I can feel a draft in the winter. Management did something to the outside wall last year and the fly popluation went down drastically afterwards. It probably will be done again soon.
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