She eats them like treats

Crane flies. These things...
http://www.insectidentification.org/...s/cranefly.jpg

They look like giant pre-historic mosquitoes, but they are harmless to humans, as far as I know. They can be quite annoying when they are numerous, as it looks like they will be this year.

Anyway, Iris spends hours hunting & chasing them in the yard. I haven't discouraged her as she gets lots of exercise at it and seems to enjoy stalking and catching them. But she eats almost every one she catches.

Does anyone know if they could be harmful when she ingests them? She's been eating them for 2 -3 weeks now, and I haven't noticed any change in her bowel movements or urinary output, no overt behavioral changes. Could it indicate that there is something missing from her diet, or that she's eating them to ease stomach pain?

IMO, she likes the chase. But I suppose you could ask your vet just to be sure.

I bet she is fun to watch!

She probably likes them because they're a gangly poor flier. As for the reason she's catching a lot of them - your yard is infested by the larvae or soon will be. The only harm the species can cause is to your grass/plants when they're larvae, at that stage they chew up roots.

Thanks for your replies. I'll try to give the vet a call just to be sure, but it sounds like she's just a cat doing the stuff that cats do. And it is fun to watch my mighty little huntress stalking and catching her prey. She will chase these things all around the yard leaping 2-3 feet at a time horizontally or vertically without even breathing hard. Wish I had that much energy.

I didn't know crane fly larva were so destructive to plants, but I'm sure they contribute to our mole infestation. And honestly, I'm more concerned about the cat than I am about the yard, which is why I haven't treated for insects . Also, Iris is eating so many of them that she might actually reduce their numbers.

WOW...they are out your way already? We normally don't start seeing them until July/August and late August/September they are PLENTIFUL.

My cats chase them too.And since they are such clumsy fliers,they rarely stand a chance! I used to also catch them for my geckos and the geckos would "hunt" and chase them around too until they caught them.

Crane flies are harmless.No worries.