My cat was drinking mosquitos?

June 8, 2011 4:41 PM

I just found what looks like mosquito larvae in my cat's water bowl. I use one of those automatic waterers where there is a gallon or so of water in a upside down container, feeding a small bowl of perhaps 2 cup capacity. In the large upside down container, there was actually one live, flying mosquito. In the small bowl that my cat actually drinks from, there were approximately a dozen apparent larvae, about 1/4" to 1/3" in length. Should I be concerned for my pet's health at all? I am not sure how long they were in there, but I changed the water for fresh immediately.
posted by Exchequer to Pets & Animals (7 answers total)

Cats eat mosquito's all the time...I am pretty sure the larvae won't hurt them either. Although I would recommend cleaning out the bowl, for the sake of cleanliness and if nothing else, to prevent them from turning into full fledged mosquitos and attacking you in the night.
posted by AltReality at 4:51 PM on June 8, 2011

Best answer: I am an aquatic ecologist and I'll even be your aquatic ecologist if you want. Mosquito larvae are not bad for your cat. They are not parasitic or anything like that and I can think of no way they could harm your cat, except by growing up to become adults and then biting.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:06 PM on June 8, 2011 [19 favorites]

Response by poster: I thank you both...and Serge thanks you both, as well...everything's been scrubbed clean and refilled with fresh, clean water...all is well.
posted by Exchequer at 5:14 PM on June 8, 2011

Nothing but protein and roughage until they become adults.
posted by Iron Rat at 5:33 PM on June 8, 2011

Response by poster: I guess the "wormy" look to the larvae had me kinda skeeved out...the wriggling was creepy...
posted by Exchequer at 5:37 PM on June 8, 2011

One of my cats eats cockroaches and spiders. Mosquito larvae are small fry!
posted by tumid dahlia at 6:18 PM on June 8, 2011

My cat likes to chase, play with, and eat Mosquito Hawks. Sometimes they are way up at the ceiling, so I'll pick her up and let her sit on my hands while she bats at them to catch. We've caught 5 or 6 together. Good cat bonding activity lol.
posted by AltReality at 12:32 PM on June 9, 2011 [2 favorites]