Scorpions and your Kitty

Hello peoples...!

I just moved into a new house a couple weeks ago. I just discovered a Arizona Bark Scorpion on the outside of my house!! It just happened to be at the EXACT time my DH is spraying the parameters of the house with a pesticide since we are having a bit of a bug problem. Anyway, out of some sort of crazy dumb luck he sees this tan 2" scorpion on a TAN wall of the house (how? good question!)... These are fairly common in these parts of town..but can be quite dangerous..... Not to mention she had about 15 babies on her back!!! (I sooo have the creepy crawlies right now)...

I have two INDOOR cats and would like to know if anyone knows whether or not the scorpion would be very dangerous for my cats? Unfortunately yes, if they see something crawling, they eat it... Hopefully the spray will kill any remainders but I'm not sold yet!!

Thanks for any help.
Jen

Yes, absolutely - if it stings a cat, it can kill it...

It seems to be one of the more venomous ones. What you can do to help, aside from the spraying you have already done, is to clean up around your home. Any rock, mulch, loose leaf litter, plants, etc that would pose as a hiding spot for them out of the heat will make them more likely to hide near your home. Make sure they can't slip through doors or windows. Keep garages clean and organized so they have nowhere to hide.

If your cats were to get stung, and actually get a good bit of venom in the sting (you have to remember that venomous animals and arachnids don't like to waste venom on something they cannot eat - that could mean they'd starve later), it could seriously harm or even kill them.

The scorpions around where I live aren't as dangerous as yours. I actually found a dead one in my kitchen about a month an a half ago. My guess is that it slipped in through the front door and got beat to death by kitty paws. My cats were perfectly fine. I'm guessing that the fur on the bottom of cats feet isn't just to protect the pads from heat, cold, and rough surfaces, but to some degree protect them from arachnids and insects.

My GF grew up in AZ and said that they never had any problems with regards to their pets (dogs AND cats) and scorpions. I think if you control their entry points, and keep loose piles of brush and other habitat away from the house itself you'll be fine.

I grew up in a rural area outside of Scottsdale Arizona. We always had cats in the house to eat the scorpions. Honestly, I think that's one of the only reason that my Father allowed the cats inside. They never got hurt or ill from it. I do remember the Vet saying that it would not be good for a small kitten to get stung.

My husband and I now live in Texas and yes, we do get scorpions in our house - or I guess I should said that we DID see scorpions prior to adopting Zachary. Before we adopted Zach he lived outside in a colony for over a year and I'm sure he learned about scorpions, spiders, snakes and such. This Summer I've found the occasional yellowish legs left around on the floor in the morning, but never a whole scorpion.

Our hope is that he never brings them as gifts to us in bed at night like he does he toys. I would not be a pleasant Meowmy.

Thanks for the input everyone. Whole reason i asked is I was getting confusing information on the web. Of course scorpion STINGS are dangerous, but I hear of cats eating scorpions all the time and it doesn't affect them. Thanks for the replies.