Introduction
You will likely have seen your cat jump through the air to attack with vigor something you can’t even see, a closer look can reveal they are actually trying to catch a fly something they are quite adept at hunting, since we provide them with food, why do CAT Eats FLIES? FiverPet explains in this new Article.
Why do cats hunt and eat flies ?
Cats are predatory animals that have a natural instinct to hunt for food, their wild ancestors lived on prey such as rodents, and to a lesser extent birds reptiles, and even insects, for this reason despite being provided with plenty of food they retain the instinct to stalk chase and catch flies, some cats make a chattering noise with their mouth when they spot potential prey, it is believed this is an anticipatory action specifically anticipating the bite a cat uses to kill their prey as quickly as possible, and prevent their escape with a certain jaw movement, they sever the spine and immediately paralyze their prey, we may also see the cat moves their head from side to side, this is to calculate the distance of the prey so they can accurately hit them when they launch themselves, while we should be careful with bee and wasp stings, in principle we shouldn’t prevent cats hunting flies.
Why do cats play with flies before they kill them ?
More often than not, the cat will not kill and eat a fly immediately, instead, they will hit them with enough force to stun them but not kill them, they may enjoy passing them back and forth catching and releasing them, this behavior is explained as a desire of the cat to prolong the hunting activity as they don’t hunt as frequently as wild cats, especially those without outdoor access domestic cats have little opportunity to test their hunting skills, for this reason, it’s important they make the most of any opportunity, female cats are particularly predisposed to playing in this way as it’s believed to be related to their bringing of prey to their kittens and then demonstrating how the prey should be killed, there is a final explanation which refers to the prey themselves, cats would prey on rats some of which were large enough to cause significant injury, by batting the rat with their paw they were able to first stun the rat with a succession of blues and be less likely to be injured.
Is it good for cats to eat flies ?
generally, ingesting insects won’t harm them due to their small size, it’s possible some of them may contain pathogens but it’s unlikely these will be in a sufficient quantity to harm the cat, even so, it’s important to regularly deworm your cat to avoid such problems.
For these reasons, we can say cats eating flies from time to time isn’t a dangerous activity as long as they aren’t doing it because they are hungry.
What if my cat eats a fly with insecticide ?
if you have used any product to kill flies don’t take risks and allow your cat to eat them, distract their attention by offering another activity which interests them, if they have already eaten the fly observe them closely for any adverse reactions, if they occur contact the vet, by way of prevention don’t use products in your home which are toxic to your cat and always read the label.
