Be careful of cat eating bugs

A few years ago, my Bonnie was out on our patio and chasing bugs. She bit into a big, dark green beetle type bug, and spit it out immediately. She began acting strange almost right away. Her normally pale, pink nose turned a bright bright pink. Her paw pads were extremely hot and I thought she might have had a reaction to the bug.

I soaked a towel and wrapped her up, something she wouldn't normally put up with. She just laid there wrapped in my arms for about 20 minutes. When her temp went down to normal, she suddenly realized she was soaked and started complaining, rather loudly.. LOL

I watched her the rest of the day and night, but she was back to normal and I didn't take her to the vet. She learned from that experience tho. Whenever she saw one of the beetle bugs, she steered a big path around it!

Does anyone know why she had that reaction? I have had cats all my life and have never come across this before?

CatKiki

Sounds like a reaction to me.

It does sound indeed like a severe reaction.

My little Saba loves to eat bugs that fly into the house. She has done such a great job all summer that we don't even have any! But she's never gotten sick.

Originally Posted by j171978

Sounds like a reaction to me.

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I agree. It sounds like she's allergic to the poor, yet fortunate, beetle. Good thing to hear that she's learned her lessen!!

Yeah, Oliver eats spiders (like daddy long legs, not crazy big ones) and crickets and various bugs that make their way into the apartment... he's never gotten sick and I usually don't know he's doing it til I either see him chomping or with legs hangin out of his mouth... it does sound like a recation though - reminds me of the little brown toads down in North Carolina... one of their defensive mechanisms is that their skin tasts bad, well my poor dog loves to hunt them and has yet to learn... she's never killed one cuz as soon as her tounge touches it she spits it out then drinks like a gallon of water... we've never taken her to the vet for it either - shes always fine after a drink

Originally Posted by Catkiki

I watched her the rest of the day and night, but she was back to normal and I didn't take her to the vet. She learned from that experience tho. Whenever she saw one of the beetle bugs, she steered a big path around it!



CatKiki

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lol at least he learned his lesson

Our Lola ate a bug when we first moved in our new place, not sure what it was as we only saw the left over leg but she was sick for two days. She spend all her time sleeping and would not stop drooling. It was so scary, she drooled constantly, making little puddles everywhere she went. She got better in a few days though.

That's something I always wonder about. We encourage our cats to hunt bugs, 'cos they just love it! They've learned which ones taste good, and they avoid the nasty looking spiders and earwigs. I didn't think we had any really toxic insects here in Canada, so I'm not too concerned that they'll eat something that'll make them sick. However, they do still chase wasps. Even after getting stung and having his paw swell up, Wiggies just can't let them fly by without a chase! I never let them catch the pretty butterflies though - just the "ugly" bugs!

Originally Posted by pushylady

I never let them catch the pretty butterflies though - just the "ugly" bugs!

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LOL!! I love that...only the "ugly" bugs.

it was probably a stink bug. they also taste really bad as a defense mechanism. ive seen the dogs do the same thing when trying to play with one

How do you know that they taste bad...did you try one?

Originally Posted by courtney_ou

it was probably a stink bug. they also taste really bad as a defense mechanism. ive seen the dogs do the same thing when trying to play with one

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Lei

Originally Posted by courtney_ou

it was probably a stink bug. they also taste really bad as a defense mechanism. ive seen the dogs do the same thing when trying to play with one

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I don't think it was a stink bug. It was along the lines of a Jerusalem Beetle. It was about the size of a silver dollar and dark shiney green. She still chases bugs but she rarely eats them now, just plays with them til they die