What in the world is a "skink"?

It's a type of small lizard.

Common lizard in the south.

You're right that it's a myth and that skinks aren't poisonous--the vet should know better, especially if this means he's not going to try to find what is actually wrong with the cat!

Poor kitty must have gotten into something else, like a pesticide. Hope she recovers soon!

I don't believe you! We use no pesticides. She is dead now. We had to put her to sleep. She was walking in circles and falling down. I'm mourning now. Please leave me alone. She hung out near the greenhouse where the skinks hang out. I don't know where you get your information and at this point I don't care. I hope this never happens to your cat.

This post was edited by zackey on Thu, Dec 11, 14 at 15:47

Zackey, I am so very sorry about your cat. I am very familiar with the issues that some cats can have with blue-tailed skinks. The problem is that our vets just aren't sure what causes the reaction, other then it's neurological in nature.

Several years ago, I lived in skink territory and also had a couple of indoor/outdoor cats. They would both have scary episodes after a run in with a skink...mild convulsions, foaming at the mouth, always temporary. They learned to avoid them and I never saw them eating one, thankfully.

It's my understanding that cats can have any number of different reactions to whatever it is in the skinks, including none at all.

You have my deepest sympathy.

Oh! I am so sorry. It is so hard to lose a cat. Even though the pain lessens with time, I think we miss them forever. My condolences.

Oh! I am so sorry. It is so hard to lose a cat. Even though the pain lessens with time, I think we miss them forever. My condolences.

Thank you rhizo and anele. I'm sorry I got mad. It is so hard to comprehend what happened to her. I truly believe she ate a skink. She loved to hang out around the greenhouse, which the only place I ever saw skinks. She was only 2 years old and a great joy to me. I miss her so badly.

So sorry for your loss . . .

I had a huge old tabby I kept as a greenhouse mouser. Once a year, every spring as it started getting warm, just like clockwork he'd eat a toad. He got very ill, frothing at the mouth, the whole nine yards but he got over it by the next day. No more toads the rest of the year, but he would do it the next year, and the next. He just didn't remember, I guess. I'm so very sorry for your loss and I understand because even when a cat is kept completely in the house, homes in the country, like mine, have creatures find their way in where inside cats can also get to them. I've had shrews, snakes, bats, mice, birds, newts, frogs, toads, crickets, chipmunks and even a duck down our chimney. If it moves, to a cat it's fair game if they find it before you do. Again, I'm so sorry........you did the very best you could do.

So let me get this straight: your vet says that the cat "must have eaten a skink". In other words, no one actually SAW the cat eat anything, let alone a completely harmless lizard. The vet is making an assumption, in that case, NOT a real diagnoses. Vets are doctors. They make mistakes, and in some cases, they make guesses when they don't know what has happened. Skinks are harmless; they are not toxic in way, shape or form. Your cat's symptoms are consistent with an organophospate poison, something I've seen myself many times, since I live in an agricultural area where these chemicals are common, and commonly misused to kill animals, unfortunately. People still put out a deadly organophosphate called Temick, even though it's been banned, to kill animals, and all a cat has to do is walk across it and lick its feet. Eating a lizard will make a cat throw up, often, since scales are irritating to the esophagus(all the more reasons to keep cats indoors), but no lizard in North America is "poisonous", that is, toxic if ingested. YOU might not have used the product, but that doesn't mean that someone in your neighborhood didn't, and having seen Temick poisoning first-hand, the symtoms that your cat displayed are typical. I'm sorry about your cat, but I know a lot more about reptiles than your vet does, and he is wrong to blame a harmless lizard.

Please leave the poor woman alone. She has lost her fur baby. That is heart breaking. I had a cat that had a skink in it's mouth. Within minutes it started having like symptoms. I rushed it to vet. It was a toxin that is in the skin of the skinks. Doesn't effect all cats equally. Mine was ok after treatment. I also found her quickly and removed the skink.