The cat has strange breath and smells? It often happens with cats. Since you don’t brush your teeth, plaque and tartar build up on your teeth, causing bad breath. But if your breath smells strange and suspicious, you may have eaten a particular insect. Which? The stink bugs.
Why do cats eat stink bugs?
The cat is a carnivorous animala proud predator. Even the most docile and calm house cat, if it remembers that it is a feline, could have five minutes of madness in which it starts hunting everything it sees moving, insects, geckos, lizards… It really enjoys giving hunting insects and, sometimes, in addition to giving them the huntingeats them too.
Or sometimes it happens that he is playing with it and ingests it by mistake.
What happens if the cat eats a bedbug? Here are the symptoms
So, in itself bedbugs are not toxic or poisonous. So normally, if the cat eats one, nothing should happen. Or almost. This is because it is possible that the cat will drool for a while and lick itself like a madman to try to get that bad bedbug smell out of its mouth.
The smelly substance produced by bedbugs, in fact, is not toxic. However, it happens that some cats that are a little more sensitive from a gastrointestinal point of view can develop forms of gastroenteritis also important (perhaps they are allergic, intolerant subjects, with underlying inflammatory intestinal pathologies that are not yet manifest or have simply eaten more than one). In this case you might notice how symptoms:
If symptoms are not self-limiting, take your cat to the vet veterinarian. Sometimes, in fact, the symptoms of ingesting bedbugs can last for up to a week. And if the cat vomits and doesn’t eat for a week, in addition to becoming dehydrated, it also risks developing hepatic lipidosis with liver failure and jaundice.
Why do bedbugs stink?
Let it be one green bug (the Nezara viridula) or one Asian bedbug (Halyomorpha halys), both these insects stink not due to an intrinsic odor present in their body. The stench comes from the fact that when the animal gets scared or feels threatened, it produces a smelly discharge by a gland located on the animal’s abdomen.
This odor is very strong, intense and persistent, so much so that it is difficult to remove it from your home or clothes. By sensing this nauseating odor, any predatory animals or possible threats should be dissuaded from ingesting or killing the bug.
Speaking of bedbugs: let’s remember that the green bedbug and the Asian one are not the same animal, but are two different species. The first is the one widespread here in Europe and which usually tolerates high temperatures well. The second is an invasive alien species originally from Asian countries, but which has now settled here permanently and prefers cool climates. (READ also: Bedbugs: against infestations, create this spray based on essential oils at home, wonderful and very easy to make)
Don’t fall into the mistake of thinking that the green bug turns into the brown bug over time.
Other causes of cat with smelly breath
There are also numerous others causes of bad breath in cats. Smelly breath is not always caused by bedbugs:
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