Great. My cat thinks huge-ass spider = new toy.

[Systematic Chaos]

So tonight I come home from work and one of my cats - an orange striped tabby named Shakey for how his tail would quiver when we fed him as a stray before we took him in - is frantically trying to get up onto the top kitchen cabinets via the counter top and the refrigerator, but he can't because I had things on top of the fridge that were blocking his way. Thinking he just wanted to go up there and play "King of the World", I removed the offending water jugs and let him jump up.

The first thing he does is tear ass across the whole row of cabinets to the opposite wall, where I then turn to notice a HUGE spider. This thing was over an inch long with a black body and thick black legs. It wasn't a black widow, and probably wasn't even poisonous, but damn did it freak me out to look over and notice that on the wall! Shakey started sniffing and pawing at the ugly thing, and I ended up having to whack HIM with a spiral notebook, to get him to move far enough away so that I could whack the offending arachnid with said notebook.

He's dumb as a box of rocks, but wonderfully endearing, and I'm glad he didn't get some kind of bite that would do him in. :)

Edited for typo

[KT2000]

1. Wonder how many hours

the spider was taunting Shakey before you came home.
Yeah - I wonder about poisonous insects and my cat too.
At any rate - Shakey deserves a treat for alerting you to the spider.

[izzie]

2. I had one cat that got into yellow jackets.

His face looked really bad it got so big. So they do get into trouble at times.

[KT2000]

3. a question about that

did you take the cat to the vet when that happened? Are they able to breathe when their face swells up?

Asking because I have a problem with wasps and I have wondered what you do if the cat does get several stings on the head and face.
Thanks

[izzie]

4. I just watched for a while and he just sort of got over it.

I was worried it would kill him but he just seemed fussy and it went away in a few days. I did check him about every half hour to see what was going on. I was ready to take him in to the vets, but he did not act like he was really sick.Just jumped and rubbed at his head a lot, with his paws.

[Maine-ah]

5. I have a dog that is allergic to all sorts of bugs.

I keep benadryl in pill form in the house. She's been stung by bees before, not a bunch of them, but just one, and her face swells up big time. The last time which was really bad it looked like her eyeball was popping out of her head. I don't know if you can give benadryl to cats or not, I never had problems like this with my cats, but you might want to ask your vet. Benadryl has saved my dogs life more than once.

[Atlas Mugged]

6. This is one of my biggest fears - hornets & wasps

I'm on constant patrol in the Summer trying to keep up with the evil things, since I have 8 cats. Three live in the house, and the other 5 live in a nice, large Florida room with house privelages. Anyway, the Florida room is a real problem sometimes, and there's the occasional one that gets into the house - how? - I'll never know.

Short but tragic story: My mother had a toy poodle (really a nice dog, even though I don't normally care for small dogs)named Tinker Toy that was stung by a wasp. It completely paralyzed the poor little guy. They spent months rehabilitating him, but he was never the same. He was accidently smothered in the bed with my mom & dad. I won't go into details, but it nearly killed both my parents.

Please - no lectures about my parents letting the crippled dog sleep with them. They've suffered enough.

[BlondieK143]

7. That's so sad!

:( poor doggy and your poor parents! I bet that was really hard on them.

[goodboy]

8. just FYI...all spiders are poisonous...but it probably wouldn't hurt

the cat...I think we swallow something like 8 spiders a year in our sleep.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

9. Once again, Snopes is your friend...

http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/spiders.htm
Fear not. This "statistic" was not only made up out of whole cloth, it was invented as an example of the absurd things people will believe simply because they come across them on the Internet. --Snopes
Duckie

[DainBramaged]

10. I had one of my cats almost die a few years back from a

spider bite. $600 and 5 days at the vet, he woke up and was fine. The only reason anyone figured it out was the tiny tiny bite on his nose they discounted until it swelled up after he became unconscious. After that, I got one of those sonic thingies that plug into the wall socket. End result, no pesticides, no spiders.

[goodboy]

11. but....but...

ok, you got me there...but what of the fact that all spiders are poisonous?

[DainBramaged]

12. I won't take the chance, I love my cats more than spiders

[YellowRubberDuckie]

14. That I'll give you...

I don't know if that's true. I was just letting you know about the eating the spiders thing.
Duckie

[FlaGranny]

13. A spider is the only creature

that my dog ever killed. She killed it by pouncing on it, just like a cat would. She was very disappointed though, because she just wanted to play with it, and after she killed it, it just lay there so she lost her plaything. The whole episode made me happy that I didn't have to do the dirty deed. I hate smushing things.