Dog cuisine: cicada or nada?

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The title of this post was almost “you say ci-cay-da, I say Secada.”

Anyway, on to more pressing matters. It’s cicada season in parts of Virginia. Thus, if you live in the area or will be visiting, you may want to be on the lookout for these noisy insects. The season is just getting started, but before long they’ll be everywhere. Seriously… everywhere. In fact, to mutilate a classic song: “If you’re going to be at BlogPaws, you just might find a cicada in your hair.” If that happens, try not to panic. It’ll be okay.

When a cicada season rolls around (which doesn’t happen every year), the media goes into overdrive. (See, e.g., Swarmageddon.) It’s like the cicadas are an army of aliens set to invade. (The fact that they have mysterious names like “Brood II” does nothing to dispel this notion.) In fact, the news starts to sound like a Saturday Night Live skit about the Stark family reunion.

So, yeah… the cicadas are coming. (Warning: some cicadas may prove more entertaining than others.)

Remember, it’s all fun and cicadas until someone gets hurt. I mean, I’m fairly certain that you won’t stand out in a field with your mouth open in hopes that a cicada will fly into it. (At least I hope you won’t. If you do, make sure to get it on video though. That’s probably YouTube gold.)

However, I have a feeling your dog might find this to be a worthwhile use of his time. It’s an all-you-can eat buffet with no closing time. Eat all the things!

I’m here to tell you though – a cicada diet is not all that it’s cracked up to be. Although one of the first cicadas of the season was apparently eaten by an enterprising hound, I’d advise against letting your furry friend do the same. Those crunchy exoskeletons could cause digestive problems, especially if your dog eats a bunch. Cicadas tainted with pesticides could be dangerous. These tempting treats could also prove to be a choking hazard. Thus, your cicada chow hound may begin to feel like you do after finishing an entire pint of Cherry Garcia.

Now, it may be hard to keep your pet from eating any cicadas, but be wary. If you do find yourself in cicada country, be on the alert when you’re walking your dog. Keep an eye out for any choking or vomiting, and do your best to keep your pet from breaking out his dogeared copy of Cooking with Cicadas.

Full disclosure: This post is my first foray into the world of animated gifs (source). I’ll try to exercise more restraint in the future.

However, I must admit that they’re kind of fun. Unlike a person who lets her dog eat his weight in cicadas…

Do you have any cicada stories or wisdom to share?

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26 thoughts on “Dog cuisine: cicada or nada?”

  3. Yikes! I recently read that the cicadas are coming and was grateful their march north ends just before they get here. :} (For Bella’s sake, thank you to whatever holy host made that decision.)

    It never dawned on me, however, that we would be traveling right into cicada territory in time for BlogPaws. I will have to warn Jan if he decides to hit the National Arboretum, he may want to keep his mouth shut. 🙂
    Leslie recently posted..Black & White Sunday: She’s such a goof.

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  4. Fair warning, I will jump up and down and scream “get it off me, get it off me.” You may want to keep your video handy because with my mouth open screaming like that, well you never know.
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  6. I accidentally wandered into cicada country once during actual cicada season. I was like “WHAT. IS. THAT??!?!?!?!” And all the cicada-old-pros were like “What?”

    Never again.

    This makes me feel better about not going to Blog Paws. Thank you.
    (And you can’t have too many gifs. Heehee.)
    Jackie Bouchard recently posted..Monday Mischief: Smoothie Mischief

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  11. I’d rather have a cicada invasion than a roach invasion 😉

    My dogs have no interest in eating them thank goodness! There’s not much a corgi won’t eat, so I am lucky with this. The last time we had a huge influx of cicadas was 2003. That’s not 17 years ago, so I assume that one was Brood I …..
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  13. Yay GIFs! I’m really not looking forward to these cicadas. I remember being traumatized in 2004 when they were flying everywhere, bouncing off cars on the highway, and just being dead all over the place. I’m sure Nico will bark at every single one of them.
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