Spider-Cat

The balance of nature is fragile, and there are few things more destructive than introducing an unnatural predator into the environment.

Like my cat, Mia.

Mia has developed a powerful taste for spiders. She spends the day — when she’s not sleeping — gazing up at the walls and ceilings looking for the little critters.

When she can’t actually reach a spider, I pick her up and hold her where she can poke it and knock it down on the floor. Then she bats it around for a couple of minutes before eating it.

Yes, it seems innocent, but while we have lots of spiders in our house, it’s not an endless supply. Now I’m worried that if all the spiders are gone we will lose out on the good they bring to our household. According to the Washington State University Extension:

Spiders are far more beneficial than they are dangerous. The benefits we realize from spiders preying on insects, mites, and other spiders far outweigh the low potential health hazard to humans.

Sure spiders are a little creepy, but will our house now be overrun with other pests that the cat can’t control? We shall see. There may also be Karmic consequences, for both me and the cat. Some people will tell you we’re coming back as spiders — or worse.

Beats having her outside, though. Cats are the scourge of songbirds and will usually just kill them for the sport of it. They bring them home and drop them on the doorstep, as if to say, “Here! Look what I’ve done for you.”

What do they know? A job’s a job.

7 thoughts on “Spider-Cat

  1. I do enjoy your cat posts. I still grieve for my feline companion of 20 years. She died almost 5 years ago and I can’t have another one because S-Man has asthma and is allergic to them. My cat was also a great Spider Hunter. She always got confused when they wouldn’t get up and play after she had broken 5 of their legs!

  2. Ever notice how every household has to have a designated person for “spider control”? I can remember my sister waking me at 3 in the morning to get one off her ceiling. (How she could sense it in the dark, I’ll never know). Looks like you’ve got that position covered on your end. Don’t worry, there’s ALWAYS more spiders.

  3. Our cats aren’t interested in our spiders, but bat the ladybugs around.

    We have those little light brown spidies that curl up in corners, but then, we also have had…(Jaws music here)

    These horrible black giant yeeccchhh spiders that will ACTUALLY COME AFTER YOU. I am not kidding.

    I was in the dining room, la de dah, reading the Sunday TU and out of the corner of my eye I saw movement. Huh? Yep, it was the first of two of these monsters we’ve seen in the house. Thank God, only two.

    I actually put a bowl over it, because I couldn’t imagine killing it and making a yeeccchh mess. The bowl moved and it escaped!

    Second one: my daughter is in the basement carrying a load of laundry to the washer and she screams. I ran down the stairs and there it was, staring at her. I told her to leave it alone and come back down later. She backed up, and the damned thing started to approach her!

    Oh, jeez, good grief. As I said, only two in several years we lived here.

    Anybody know what kind of spider it is? Should we call John Goodman? It was around 2.5 inches across, tip to tip of legs. Gross.

  4. Wow, great info. I forgot about all the jumping spiders in our garden, they’re a riot. Like little Lou Costellos.

    Wolf spider is probably it, and thank God I didn’t see any egg sacs, sooo, I can hope that’s why we only saw two. Ha, can’t confirm the furry legs – we weren’t about to get THAT close!

    Thanks, Rob!

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