Lizards & Cats

We've only lived in Ca. for 8 months and haven't noticed lizards in the yard until just a couple months ago. We are talking about large, 6 in.or more lizards, unlike the tiny lizards we've seen in Florida. My question regards cats & lizards - my one cat got out the other day and found a lizard -
I think it scared both of us to death - but I wondered if anyone knows if a cat could kill it, or if it could easily run from the cat. I like to let the cats out, one by one, in the yard, but not if they could catch & kill the lizards. Plus I don't know if this particular kind of lizard, green w/stripes, could harm the cat in any way.I'd appreciate any info. Thanks.

My friend Liz lives in florida and has 3 cats. She says that her cats will kill lizards, but not intentionally. They are facinated by them, and play with them and play with them until the lizard dies. Then, Liz finds a mummified lizard a week later! And yes, the lizard's tail actually falls off in fear!

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Pam, I don't know about lizards but I know iguanas can detach their tails in an emergency. It can be used as a way of escape. This was mentioned a few days ago at the forum below. Like your friend, my cats will also play with their victims (usually crickets) and wind up killing them accidentally. http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/biggrin.gif
http://petoftheday.com/talk/Forum12/HTML/000199.html

Yes, any cat could kill a lizard, but you NEED to know that killing the lizard could kill the cat!!!! Please read the sad story of Sweetpea http://CatoftheDay.com/archive/2000/August/27.html

Karen - thanks so much for the info. I will now think twice about letting them go out, even with me there. When we encountered the lizard, my cat went beserk when I tried to pick her up and put her in - either because her adrenalin was running or she got scared, as I had. Since the lizards here are so large, I would hope the cat (on the petite side) couldn't do anything to it - but I'm not going to chance it.

If anyone reads this & lives in Ca, I'd like their opinions, too.

karen -thanks! We have lizards around here too, they even find there way in the house. I always try to rescue them, but it has alway been for the lizards' sakes, not my cats. Now I will for them, too. The other day I had to rescue and relocate a caterpillar they were all bent on playing with, and I was concerned then that it might be poisonous to them. I will keep in mind that any other animal could potentially harm the cats.

Every lizard that Mimi has discovered has ended up headless on the front porch, the regular dropping grounds for our "treats".

Don't think we have any of those "bad" lizards in SC, but you never know!!!

Logan

That also brings up another question - are there any bugs - like caterpillars,bees,crickets,small spiders, etc - that may be poisonous to cats? I never thought about that - all cats I've seen will go after any bugs.