# Catching Flies



## NRD (Mar 31, 2010)

So today when I left the door to the back deck open, leaving the screen door closed, two flies entered the house. Fairly standard, I'm sure, but it's the first time it's happened since I got my three cats. The flies went into the basement, and two of my cats had great fun going after them. Hershey the Fearless, Hershey the Bold, swatted at the first fly with such speed he caught it and knocked it to the carpet. A second later, he swallowed it. The second fly met the same fate a minute later. I was suitably impressed with the speed of his paws--who needs a fly swatter?

My question is this: flies carry all kinds of illnesses. This is likely to go on all summer. Is there any real risk of his getting sick from eating the flies, or am I needlessly concerned? Should I try to grab the dead ones before he does whenever I can, or is it nothing to worry about?


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## Auntie Crazy (Dec 10, 2006)

I wouldn't give it a second thought. Don't Let it Bug You.


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## faithless (Dec 4, 2009)

yeah, my gals turned into an expert insect hunter too. Im very relieved, I am not fond of spiders.


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## NRD (Mar 31, 2010)

Thanks. Hershey got insect number 3 a short while ago. Here's a pic of Hershey and Blizzy, tracking the UFO.


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## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

This is good to know. Miu catches some bugs sometimes and I'm unsure whether let her eat them or not. I think she caught and ate a centipede once....ew..


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## BrianD (Apr 26, 2010)

I keep encouraging my cats to eat the bugs they catch so I don't have to pick them up. To this point, they just play with them a bit and then get bored and leave. I hate picking up bugs.


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## igloe (Mar 1, 2010)

Are there any bugs they should avoid? I heard moths were not good for them because of the powder. And I try to catch thick black spiders and flush them or earwigs etc...


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## faithless (Dec 4, 2009)

Shes so into it now that her first spring is starting to bring everything to life, that she suddenly leaped up from the bed in the dark the other night. When I turned the light on she was in full attack mode staring furiously at a moth in the ceiling. I realized after a while that she was going to sit like that all night so I had to get up and whack it. She continued to sit and stare at the splodge on the ceiling until I knocked it to the floor with a newspaper and she immediately crunched on it and came back to bed.


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## Gnotes (Sep 21, 2010)

Looks like my new two and half month kitten Ollie is an expert fly catcher. I could not figure out why she was staring at the curtains last night. Then I heard a fly and she went behind the curtain, expertly navigated the blind and pulled out with her chomping on a fly.

I was kind of worried, but she is alive and well today. 

I am not going to encourage this, and will continue to try to limit flies in the house, but this is the first kittie I have ever had who catches flies!


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

Never had any of my cats get sick from eating flies or moths. They seem to particularly find moths tasty, as well as crickets and grasshoppers. There are some types of insects they will not eat tho, either through a nasty experience like being stung or bad taste---most beetles including ladybugs, spiders, earwigs, bees/wasps/hornets. There's some type of black beetle that makes them throw up. After that experience they usually leave it alone, or will even gag even when they see it!


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## NRD (Mar 31, 2010)

Now that this thread from Spring has been resurrected, I will add that in the Washington, DC area we now have a plague of ugly Asian beetles that are known as stinkbugs, and now that the weather is turning cooler, they are coming into our homes. Interestingly, my guys, who love to chase and eat flies, chase and then have the good sense--or is it just good noses--to leave alone the stinkbugs, which supposedly emit a bad odor when they feel threatened.


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## Alpaca (Dec 21, 2009)

Ew, stinkbugs. 

I'm not an expert in bugs...but once I saw this really big flying beetle which Miu found particularly interesting. She eventually ate it. Oh god, I could hear the crunching! But she seemed to like it. 

She was also successful at smacking down a fly in mid-flight and promptly ate that as well. I found there's bugs she doesn't eat though so I guess she's not an all-encompassing bug exterminator.


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## rketto (Aug 22, 2010)

Moths are supposed to be very high in protein, a lot of animals eat them naturally so I don't see them posing a problem to house cats. My old cat used to eat them a lot.


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## RowdyAndMalley (Aug 9, 2010)

This is a little crazy... as I was reading this thread I heard Malley hollering from another room, I go in there and discover she tried to eat a wasp that had somehow found its way into my house. She seems fine, should I worry about her. I checked her mouth and she doesn't seem to be in pain. Are there any signs I should look for?


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## RachandNito (Nov 21, 2008)

When Nito sees a bug on the ceiling, he wails until I pick him up and lift him so he can swat it. He eats flies, june bugs, and moths all the time. I've even seen him eat a centipede, and once, a cockroach (SICK SICK SICK) which he shredded all over the floor. I don't live in that house any more, but that made me nervous for a while, knowing the nasty stuff roaches can get into. I've never had to stop him from eating another one, though, because there haven't been any, thank the lord.

He WON'T eat earwigs or lady bugs though. I wish he'd eat earwigs!


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

Pumpkin loves bugs of any kind (well that she's met so far). We had some bad rain a few months ago, and my flatmate and Pumpkin learned to tag-team catch some palmetto bugs (giant roaches that swim for those who don't know). 

For those that asked about unsafe bugs, I would add millipedes to the list. I don't remember the exact details, but somehow they emit/contain cyanide.


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## Ducman69 (Aug 28, 2010)

I just had a bed delivered yesterday, and because its so huge and can in pieces, they left the front door open for ages and we have flies since I'm near an emu ranch.

Well, bunches got in, and they LOVED chasing and eating em all, but a few got away till today. 

Flies are trying to go to the windows......

Windows behind the blinds........

So now every five minutes, I am scolding them for half destroying my wood blinds. Usually they listen, but the fly apparently is like cat crack.


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## mrswattsfresh (Sep 5, 2010)

Spike LOVES chasing (and eating!) the flies in the house. We let him, otherwise they'd keep landing on us! I figure Spike could totally use the exercise!


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