Nov 9, 2011 – The Dangerous Diet?
QUESTION:
I have a one-year-old cat that is always eating things off the floor, like daddy long legs, pincher bugs, etc. If he ate a venomous spider, such as a black widow, would he die or get sick? I am crazy about this cat and keep the house pretty clean.
ANSWER:
I have a cat with a similar character. She's intent upon catching dragonflies and small lizards, but do you think she's ever done something worthwhile like killing a mouse or rat? I think the venoms from arthropods such as spiders and scorpions are dangerous only when injected into the skin by the spider or scorpion, and even this must be a deliberate effort on the part of the spider. I have often been asked by children if they could get poisoned by poking themselves with the fangs of a dead spider, and my answer is NO. They venom, first of all, is probably all dried up in the venom glands of a dead spider. Second, to inject the venom through the fangs requires muscles that squeeze that venom out of the sac it is stored in and through the tubes and fangs. Dead spiders cannot do this.
There also is a difference between "poisons" and "venom". A poison would be a substance that could be dangerous no matter how it enters our body, such as swallowing it. A venom is a defensive substance that generally is effective only when it is injected into either our skin or our blood, affecting either the blood or the nervous system depending on the type of venom. When that same venom is swallowed it just does not have this immediate effect and access to the body system that it will affect. Most likely the stomach acids in your cat will digest the venom, and at the very least that venom will be so diluted in the stomach and gut that it would be passed along.
All that being said it still is a great idea to remove dead spiders and other venomous arthropods as soon as you see them. Sometimes that bug looks dead but may still have some muscle reaction left in it. I once handed a "dead" honeybee to my daughter to examine, and it stung her. I swear the darned thing was upside down and immobile on the sidewalk, but it must have only recently gone to that state and still had the muscles in the abdomen functioning, as it managed to plunge the stinger into her skin. And of course, she blamed ME.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
I have a one-year-old cat that is always eating things off the floor, like daddy long legs, pincher bugs, etc. If he ate a venomous spider, such as a black widow, would he die or get sick? I am crazy about this cat and keep the house pretty clean.
ANSWER:
I have a cat with a similar character. She's intent upon catching dragonflies and small lizards, but do you think she's ever done something worthwhile like killing a mouse or rat? I think the venoms from arthropods such as spiders and scorpions are dangerous only when injected into the skin by the spider or scorpion, and even this must be a deliberate effort on the part of the spider. I have often been asked by children if they could get poisoned by poking themselves with the fangs of a dead spider, and my answer is NO. They venom, first of all, is probably all dried up in the venom glands of a dead spider. Second, to inject the venom through the fangs requires muscles that squeeze that venom out of the sac it is stored in and through the tubes and fangs. Dead spiders cannot do this.
There also is a difference between "poisons" and "venom". A poison would be a substance that could be dangerous no matter how it enters our body, such as swallowing it. A venom is a defensive substance that generally is effective only when it is injected into either our skin or our blood, affecting either the blood or the nervous system depending on the type of venom. When that same venom is swallowed it just does not have this immediate effect and access to the body system that it will affect. Most likely the stomach acids in your cat will digest the venom, and at the very least that venom will be so diluted in the stomach and gut that it would be passed along.
All that being said it still is a great idea to remove dead spiders and other venomous arthropods as soon as you see them. Sometimes that bug looks dead but may still have some muscle reaction left in it. I once handed a "dead" honeybee to my daughter to examine, and it stung her. I swear the darned thing was upside down and immobile on the sidewalk, but it must have only recently gone to that state and still had the muscles in the abdomen functioning, as it managed to plunge the stinger into her skin. And of course, she blamed ME.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
