Q: Our indoor-outdoor cats are fascinated by the spiders and spider webs around our house. I am concerned that some of the black, shiny spiders may be black widows. Are black widow spiders dangerous to cats?
A: Cats are especially sensitive to the toxin of the black widow spider, the most venomous spider in North America.
About an inch long, the black widow spider is shiny black or brown with a red or orange hourglass-shaped mark on the underside of its abdomen.
Black widows live in and around houses throughout the U.S. (except Alaska) and southern Canada, where they spin funnel-shaped webs….