Posted by IsoM on February 25, 2003, at 15:08:19
In reply to Re: Mosquito eating cats!! to Bluedog, posted by coral on February 25, 2003, at 13:27:13
Nope, no problems eating mosquitoes. The diseases are passed through blood. When any insect bites, it injects a small amount of an anti-coagulant & some species inject a small amount of chemical to numb the bite so you don't notice them.
Eating the bug would dissolve any pathogen in the cat's very strong stomach acid. The only harm may come if a certain pathogen could escape digestion. I know cats can get tapeworms from cleaning & eating any fleas they come across (thank goodness, my kitties never get fleas). Fleas eat tapeworm eggs & egg cases & the tapeworm will initially hatch in the flea. When the cat eats a flea, the cycle continues in the cat's intestines.
Want some good mosquito repellent advice? Of course, you do! ^_^
One of the strongest mosquito repellents out there is *not* DEET - it's an compound found in catnip! Seeing you don't have kittens (yet), you can use catnip to deter the mosquitoes.I read about this in one of my science mags last year & decided to put it to the test. I made up a mix & sprayed it on my arm. Sure enough, mosquitoes would fly toward me & then suddenly veer away when they got close enough to the sprayed arm. The drawback to catnip is the same as citronella sprays - it's not long lasting. I get around this by applying it frequently, knowing that I'm not doing any harm. I told a few friends who have young babies about this. They didn't want to use repellents on their babies but the mosquitoes were biting so much. No harm to babies either.
Dried catnip won't work & neither will most commercial preparations as they're not strong enough. Catnip grows so easily & quickly that it's worth growing a patch just for using as a repellent. I take a bunch of catnip, put it in the blender with water, & liquefy as best as possible. Then I mix rubbing alcohol (I use ethanol as it's not poisonous like other alcohol compounds) with the sludge. I don't know if the active ingredients as water or alcohol soluble so I use both. Strain & keep in the fridge. I put some in a spray bottle for use. Do you think this may be the reason my cats love me so much?
I'd honestly be nervous about using this when hiking the back trails around here though. There are mountain lions (though not plentiful, poor things) here plus bobcats & lynx. All cats from big to small are attracted to catnip. I could just see me having a few mountain lions trailing me, not sure whether to play with me or eat me.
Thanks for the info on the Ross River virus. I love learning all things medical. I'd love to have been a disease pathologist except I hate being in a lab all day. It's a very fascinating field. If mosquitoes are so deadly where you are, I'm surprised you don't sleep with mosquito netting about the bed. I'm glad to say, so far anyway, none of the mosquitoes carries any human diseases here. All one does is itch & scratch.
One last tip - if you eat enough garlic as you do, I'm surprised mosquitoes bite you. Mosquitoes don’t bother me. Only if I eat bananas will they bite. I stop eating bananas through the summer months - besides, there are so many other fresh fruits to eat, I don't miss them.
poster:IsoM
thread:201723
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030223/msgs/203747.html