Help my cat ate a centipede

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does anyone know if the amount of venom in one of those is dangerous to cats? I don't know what to do. It's 11:21 PM here so I doubt there are any vets open now. WHat do I do?

First of all are you positive it was a centipede and not milipede? Centipede's have claw-like things under their head that emit the poison. So if your cat didn't bite that end of the insect then she will probably be ok. Also some species bite with those claws so if she bit that end she would have probably let out a screech.

Call the vet, actually call all the vets in your town if you are really concerned. Many vets are on call at all times so if you leave a message on their voicemail it often will page them or they will check it ever hour or so. At least that's how some of the vets are around here. But leave a message on every one of there voicemails so someone will call you back. If you get more than one returned call then thank them for calling you back but tell them you already have spoken to another vet a few minutes earlier. They will understand.

From what I've read it doesn't appear the centipede bite is deadly only painful if from the larger species. Did read one suggestion to put a warm wet washcloth on the bite area to ease the discomfort. Here's a link that might help you identify the insect.

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/cent.html

One of those shiny black millipede things? Yuck...hate them. It won't hurt her...might make her a little sick to her stomach...my mom's cat does this, he's gotten a few...they don't even phase him. Blech

Don't worry about it. It probably tasted good.

My brother is a vet and lives on a farm. He keeps several cats around the house to keep snakes away (we have some of the world's most poinsonous snakes here). He says cats are very resistant to snake bite. It takes a lot to kill a cat. I think if a cat is resistant to snake bite, a centipede will not do it much harm.

I have no idea what kind of toxin those bugs make. But if its a protein based like
spiders and snakes I would think the cats digestive system will break it down in
harmless peptide/amino acid fragments just like a cheese burger.

Thanks all. I think it was a house centipede. According to the wikipedia, the house centipede's venom is too week to harm cats. My concern is that the centipede didn't bite my cat. My cat ate the centipede so I'm afraid that might be bigger amount. So far he seems ok. I'm gonna go look for a vet's phone #

You're not paying attention:

Don't worry about it. It probably tasted good.

My brother is a vet and lives on a farm. He keeps several cats around the house to keep snakes away (we have some of the world's most poinsonous snakes here). He says cats are very resistant to snake bite. It takes a lot to kill a cat. I think if a cat is resistant to snake bite, a centipede will not do it much harm.

Your cat will probably be okay. My cats are weird and eat every bug they can get their paws on. Just watch Kitty awhile and see if your phone book has some 24 hour emergency numbers you could call to set your mind at ease. Good luck. Let us know how your cat does, okay?

He still seems fine so I'm thinking it's safe now (cat digestion isn't all that slow right?). I'm not sure what happened to the phone book but I guess it's good that I didn't call because my parents probably wouldn't have been too happy.

If the cat was going to be harmed by ingesting the centipede then the cat would be showing symptoms within the first hour. So I think your cat is going to be fine.