[Puddleglum]

Ugh - no pizza for me today!

This whole thread makes me want to bug bomb my house repeatedly, then get some of those electronic insect repellers that plug in the wall. And I haven't even seen any recluse spiders - but here in Texas, you know they're there, watching you...

[retrokitten]

Me too. I feel all itchy now, too.

[Xenalyte]

My gorgeous feral cat Spot was bitten in three places on the jaw by some sort of spider last year. She quit eating and hid for a few days. Her chin turned all black and had to be shaved and debrided.

My vet's first thought was brown recluse, but he's not sure that Spot (at 13 pounds) would have survived that.

He did say that gravity probably helped save her . . . he thinks that since she was bitten on the underside of her jaw, gravity helped pull the poison downward and away from her heart, instead of being on (say) her back and being pulled downward and in.