Maggie Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 Hi, hope somebody can help us identify this horrible critter... Last night our poor cat was madly scratching/biting, then started rushing around the house - obviously trying to escape from whatever was 'attacking' it. We managed to catch and comb him and found a fly-like insect. It looked just like a fly, similar in size, but it's body was flatter. It moved extremely quickly - sort of flying and hopping at the same time. We managed to catch it, but it proved extremely difficult to 'dispatch', it's body was very hard. When we finally did manage to squash it it was full of blood - yeuck. Has anybody any ideas as to what this thing was?? We've never seen one before and only one of our cats was affected by it ... any ideas please??Very many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 Obviously greatly magnified, but anything like this? If so, try searching "Lipoptena cervi" in your search engine, or failing that "Hippoboscidae", maybe "Hippobosca equina"Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie Posted October 2, 2006 Author Share Posted October 2, 2006 Hi ChrisThanks very much for the suggestion - but unfortunately it wasn't like that. It really was very much like a house fly - but with a flat back. We've seen a few of the insects above (unfortunately!) so we know it wasn't one of them. I'll check out your suggestions tho - very many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 Are you sure it wasn't a Tick ? These are quite common on cats/dogs ets and even on people. They are nasty things which bury their heads under the skin and gorge on blood untill they are many times thei original size. Squashing them will kill them but it leaves the head behaind which can cause infection. Better to remove them with a tick-hook (from an outdoors shop or the vet) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie Posted October 2, 2006 Author Share Posted October 2, 2006 Hi PierreThanks for your suggestion too - but I'm 100% sure it wasn't a tick! We've had cats for many years now and before all the anti-tick / flea stuff became easily available I was always removing them from both the cats and our neighbours dog! It was very strange the way it affected our poor cat - he literally rushed all over the house, skidding on the mats and trying to get into small holes ... When I managed to comb it out it jumped / flew onto my husbands arm - that was how we know what it looked like - we really did think it was a fly initially, it was only when I managed to squash it that we discovered it wasn't [+o(]Chris - I've checked out your search suggestions too (thanks), but I still can't find the little wotsit ... perhaps I should have kept the remains! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 OK, Maggie, silly questions maybe, but did it have wings and what colour was it?Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie Posted October 2, 2006 Author Share Posted October 2, 2006 Hi ChrisThanks for your help again, yes, it did have wings and it flew, but it was more of 'hop & fly' if you seen what I mean?? It was very dark brown / black in colour, the size of a big common house fly. We really don't think it had legs / anything near to it's head, and it's body was flat (similar to the hard shelled, flat green insects that are everywhere at the moment). We really did think it was some sort of fly initially, but it moved very very fast & we didn't see it actually use it's wings. It really was extremely difficult to dispatch, we'd caught it in some white kitchen towel so could see that it appeared to be full of fresh blood once we'd finally got rid of it. As I said earlier, it really did drive our cat mad, we've never ever seem him re-act like that to anything before ... We've been racking our brains as to what he / we've done differently recently, the only thing we can think of is that he has recently caught a couple of young rabbits & brought them into the house! He's been treated against fleas / ticks etc regularly (the last application was Saturday) and hasn't had either of those pests for quite a few years. Any ideas?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 Anything like this? It's about large fly size. (still trying, Maggie)Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie Posted October 2, 2006 Author Share Posted October 2, 2006 Nope, sorry Chris [:(] ... the body shape is about right but there were wings similar to a house fly ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 I just found this site, go on you all know it already.....It may or may not have what you are looking for, but start with this page and have a look around, interesting site.http://aramel.free.fr/INSECTES44.shtml Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie Posted October 3, 2006 Author Share Posted October 3, 2006 Brilliant, I'll have a look ... no further occurences, so hopefully it was a one-off!Thanks very much indeed for your help Chris [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ejc Posted October 3, 2006 Share Posted October 3, 2006 Could it have been a "mouche plates" - these are flattish flie thingies and usually bother horses - but could I imagine get onto a cat a description from someone who had them on her horses goes like this:-"....They have wings (to fly with) and six legs, brown in colour, a bit beetle like and bite like b*****y. Nasty things that like the tenderest spots on the horse. When you disturb them they crawl crab like and have vicious looking spikes on there legs. They look like a nasty flying tick...."The link to that thread it's on another forum (if that's OK) is here and there's some infor about dealing with the thingshttp://www.totalfrance.com/france/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2630 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted October 3, 2006 Share Posted October 3, 2006 Could it have been a "mouche plates" -That's what the links etc.were above (I hope).Cheers, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie Posted October 3, 2006 Author Share Posted October 3, 2006 Success I think! Very many thanks Chris & ejc ... I've looked at the links and it certainly does sound / look about right. Difficult to be absolutely certain without having the little wotsit here, but hey, I'm not complaining! [:D]Best regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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