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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / July 2004Eating flies - Can they hurt my kitty?
Lynxie has taken on the habit of chasing these little flies that manage to get inside. They're smaller than houseflies, and are slow and easy to catch, so he has a ball chasing them. I recently found out that he's actually eating them. I'm just wondering if I should discourage this practice. It's nice to have my kitty double as a pest-control device, but if the flies can hurt him in any way, I'd rather halt the practice. Can eating flies make a cat sick? Should I be worried about him catching some sort of disease? I know feline immune systems are very powerful, since they evolved to eat raw meat, but I can't help but worry a little... -Z > Lynxie has taken on the habit of chasing these little flies that manage > to get inside. They're smaller than houseflies, and are slow and easy to [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > -Z I don't think so. My cats used to eat flies all the time and they lived to ripe old ages. >Can eating flies make a cat sick? Should I be worried about him catching >some sort of disease? I know feline immune systems are very powerful, >since they evolved to eat raw meat, but I can't help but worry a little... They eat raw insects, too. > Lynxie has taken on the habit of chasing these little flies that manage > to get inside. They're smaller than houseflies, and are slow and easy to [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > -Z I wouldn't worry about it. Dogs snap up & eat flies regularly, & my first cat used to catch & eat whatever insects she happened upon: crunch, crunch. ;-) Cathy >I wouldn't worry about it. Dogs snap up & eat flies regularly, & my first >cat used to catch & eat whatever insects she happened upon: crunch, crunch. >;-) > >Cathy Same here. I worm them yearly, although I'm not sure which insects, if any besides fleas, cause worms. They regularly eat grasshoppers, june bugs, etc. Gross. Funny thing, though, my DH is a beekeeper, and they won't even look at a honey bee if it strays up close to the house. They either just know, or know from experience to leave them alone Sherry In the fine newsgroup "rec.pets.cats.health+behav", Jul 2004: > Funny thing, though, my DH is a beekeeper, and they won't even > look at a honey bee if it strays up close to the house. They > either just know, or know from experience to leave them alone I wonder, too! Shamrock will eat any bug he catches, but one day there was something in here that must have seemed like a bee to him because he cautiously touched it then backed off and made me have to kill it. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't a bee or any kind of wasp I've ever seen before.  SignatureCheryl In the spring I occasionally have hornets or wasps (?) in the house. Tiger always points them out to me but makes no effort to catch them. They are usually almost dead anyway so they are easy to dispose of. ---MIKE--- >From: sriddles@aol.comkitty (Sherry ) >Same here. I worm them yearly, although I'm not sure which insects, if any >besides fleas, cause worms. They regularly eat grasshoppers, june bugs, etc. >Gross. Funny thing, though, my DH is a beekeeper, and they won't even look at >a >honey bee if it strays up close to the house. They either just know, or know >from experience to leave them alone My cats eat bugs too. They love spiders. Lucky you, Sherry, having a hubby that's a beekeeper. Bet you get to enjoy some good honey! :) Lauren ________ See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html Declawing Info: http://www.wholecatjournal.com/articles/claws.htm One of my passed-away cats used to eat every insect he could find: crickets, flies, roaches (I didn't mind those, except for the roaches, and that was mostly becuse the crunching noise drove me nuts). He even tried to eat a stinkbug once...he spat that out real quick, and never tired to eat another. >My cats eat bugs too. They love spiders. Lucky you, Sherry, having a hubby >that's a beekeeper. Bet you get to enjoy some good honey! :) > >Lauren Oh, yes. They're really fascinating, sophisticated little critters. I don't handle them but DH does all the time. They're really pretty docile too. Sherry |
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