Cats eating flies? Is it okay?

Sometimes my cats eat flies. Is it safe for my cats to eat them?

Dreamer

I would assume so. My 16 month old daughter eats flies on occasion and they haven't hurt her.

Seriously though, flies don't carry any tranmissable diseases that I know of. I'm sure the occasional fly is perfectly safe!

Standard houseflies aren't much of a problem, plus how would you stop them from eating them? Or course if you have alot of them, you need some flypaper or something because having alot of flies isn't safe for you either. But just the amount that come standard with living in most areas shouldn't pose a risk.

I'd be more worried about bees, because many cats will try to catch or eat them and get stung in the mouth. Happened to Zissou, luckily she's just like her mommie and isn't very allergic.

Flies are good exercise- unless you have a lot of breakables.

I just had to have a print reglassed after a fly chasing incident

its always entertaing to see my cat try to catch flies. Sometimes she doesn't eat them and just kills them. My other cat that died a year ago would always go after flies. I don't think it will cause any kind of problems what so ever, since the reason my other cat died had no relation to him eating flies.

((((((( AnnasMom, Zissou'sMom, Cearbhaill, lilboardingurl6 ))))))

thats good to hear you guys. one of my kittens (bonkers) has caught a few an eaten them. when i see him catch a fly and eat it i give him a treat, thank him lovingly , and give him a small petting.

thanks very much * hugs *

dreamer

Both of mine catch flies and eat'em. It is hilarious to watch!

Paulena

my cats used to do that, although luckily there has been a lack of flies lately

One of my cats really likes to chase flys moths andything in the house that moves lol. He will also eat the moths but not the wings ewww.

My cats eat every bug that enters the house. I don't worry about the flys but sometimes I can't help but worry about the little spiders that are climbing helplessly around on the floor.

I don't have a bug in the house since I got cats.

I'm pretty sure Stoli ate a spider they other day. . . well he munched on him. I bent down to see what he spit out and it looked like some brown lint all crumpled up - but it was a chewed up spider. . ewwwww

Originally Posted by DaMaz3s

My cats eat every bug that enters the house. I don't worry about the flys but sometimes I can't help but worry about the little spiders that are climbing helplessly around on the floor.

Click to expand...

Your cats sound like my Liberty. She does the same thing. Bugs are her favorite thing to play with . However, we do have mutant labybugs here that she will not touch -they really stink . -kd

I was interested to read this thread because Rocket just loves chasing, catching, and eating any sort of bug. He specializes in spiders. Today he spotted a small spider on the ceiling and I had to lift him up there so he could knock it down and catch it.

And soon it'll be fly season......

Originally Posted by coaster

Today he spotted a small spider on the ceiling and I had to lift him up there so he could knock it down and catch it.

Click to expand...

Coaster....That's real love, I like your style

Aw shucks.....he gets such a kick out of it, how can I deny him it?

Trout LOVES flies..which is a good thing seeing as I have a small infestation on my hands

FYI guys,

Trout ate a bunch of flies yesterday and today she puked like a bunch of times. She is fine now, but I wouldn't let your kitties eat flies if you can stop them. Trout got really sick.

If you have an infestation on your hands, you need to wash your hands more often

I just want to add my .02 cents here. I think "normal" houseflies are probably fine for them to catch and eat.

I believe I had a few cluster flies get into my house. I found several of them in my garage by the door to the house. They were very sluggish, all crawling on the floor or the wall by the door - NONE were flying. After doing some research I suspect they were cluster flies (and I think they have a longer life span too)

I believe my cat ate one (or possibly two) because a week later, all 8 of my indoor-only cats caught giardia. It's the only explanation I can come up with. Giardia lives in dirty water. I live in the 'burbs, never go hiking or to rivers, and my cats have never contracted this before. Cluster flies can carry giardia and since they're probably easy to catch, this is the only way I can think they caught the "bug" (pardon the pun).

So just be relatively certain that you've got normal, everyday, annoying flies zooming around your house, and I suspect kitties will be fine (although I'm sure flies aren't very tasty). That definitely would account for the  LOL