My husband works as an internal medicine doc at a hospital and regularly has patients in for IV antibiotics post cat bite. They’re nasty!
Also had a bad cat bite on my hand that required an ER visit. They gave me both a shot of antibiotics, plus oral meds, and sent me home with strict warnings. It ultimately took three different antibiotics, and more than a month to clear it up. Meanwhile, it moved into my lymph system, with several nodes swollen for so long that the dr. thought something else was going on, and ordered a biopsy. No one ever told me that a swollen lymph node could hurt so much!
[QUOTE=LookmaNohands;7297360]
ANY bite can be dangerous! That includes HUMAN bites! Always best to assume that it is infected and proceed from there!!![/QUOTE]
I can’t emphasize this enough. There is nothing special about cat bites – ANY BITE FROM ANY THING that punctures your skin should get immediate attention and a close watch.
Many small animal vets will not allow owners to hold the animal when the sedation or euthanasia needles are going in for exactly this liability reason.
Wow, I had no idea.
A month ago, I tried to catch a feral kitten in my sister’s barn. I caught it, and boy did it do a number on my (gloved) hand. Several puncture wounds including deep ones on both sides of my thumbnail. It’s still healing. I told my sister I felt shocky, and I was really embarrassed about feeling that way! It was just a cat bite! Now I know better. Get well soon!
I worked for a vet in college and got bit on the wrist by one particularly nasty orange tom.
I instantly got a bottle of betadine that had a ketchup-style tip, long and pointy, and plunged it into the holes as far as possible, thoroughly flushing it out. Started popping Amoxi-tabs (animal amoxicillin) immediately.
I was fortunate to not have any issues. I think it’s because I flushed it out immediately and thoroughly. What can I say, I was young and dumb. God watched out for fools and children.
My son was bitten on the knee by a semi-feral cat a few years ago. Aside from the risk of infection, the clinic also xrayed his knee to look for broken off cat teeth! Apparently it’s not uncommon to have bits of tooth left behind. Luckily for him, he had no teeth left behind and no complications with the bite, but before that I hadn’t realized how serious cat bites could be.
This is fascinating. I’ve been bitten by cats more than once in my life and never thought twice about it. Same with dog bites and horse bites. I worked in a small animal vet clinic in high school…in case you are wondering why I’ve been bitten by so many animals! Anyway, I normally didn’t even bother to tell anyone when an animal bit me, and no one ever really alerted me to how dangerous cat bites in particular can be. Yikes…
[QUOTE=JanM;7297504]
Never take a casual attitude about any type of bite. Always get medical treatment for a bite, animal or especially human.[/QUOTE]
Agreed, mouths are filthy!
Part of the time I worked as a vet tech was in a cat only hospital - about 2 years. Despite daily cat rodeo (some of those kitties can be like tasmanian devils!) I was only ever bitten once -a cat coming out from anesthesia that I had just completed a dental cleaning on. Because the cat was off its rocker, it bit down and stayed that way - took 2 other people to get it off my hand. Abx & medical treatment plus the fact that the cat’s mouth was probably the cleanest it had ever been likely saved my hand. It’s the worst bite I ever had and the bruising was pretty unbelievable considering a cat isn’t that big. I do know a veterinarian who lost the use of one hand b/c he didn’t take the bite very seriously and just scrubbed after it happened. He could certainly practice but was completely unable to do surgery and spent some time in the hospital when the thing got way out of control.
OP, your PSA is much appreciated!!
If a human bites me hard enough to break the skin there are going to be two of us needing medical attention!
A dear friend of mine nearly lost her arm because of a (deep) scratch from her cat, and it would have been my fault!
She decided the night before our vacation to give her cat a bath (she was sort of eccentric like that). The cat scratched her in protest, and that morning we left from New Orleans to DC. Her arm was very red, and she was complaining the entire trip. We doused some whiskey on it before we boarded the plane (all we had by way of a first-aid kit, but obviously this did not prevent the infection. She kept complaining about her arm and when we finally landed in DC I caved and we went to the urgent care. In my defense, I thought she was being dramatic.
Urgent Care was unable to treat her because of the severity of the infection, and stated she needed IV antibiotics. They also informed us that we needed to straight away or she would lose her arm. My friend in tears, and me feeling pangs of guilt, rushed to the ER where she received IV antibiotics for several hours. In less than 24 hours the infection so rapidly that she nearly lose her arm.
Nothing to mess around with when it comes to cats bites/scratches!
I’m a groomer who does do cats. I haven’t gotten nailed badly enough that anything nasty has happened to me (though any little scratch from a cat whether from teeth or nails and I scrub the living daylights out of it many many times that day). I know several girls who have spent a day or even a week in the hospital on IV abx due to cat bites. If I actually got bit, I’d be at the doctor or ER if its after hours to get abx.
While being examined by the vet, my cat bit me pretty badly in the hand. The vet stopped the exam, told me to get out my cell phone, then stood there waiting while I made a doctor’s appointment for within the hour. Then he kept my cat while I went to the doc. I knew it was a big deal then. Cat bites are nothing to screw around with. Glad you were OK.
I once had to break up a fight between mine and my mom’s cat. (My cat started it). When I grabbed MY cat she didn’t realize it was me and turned around and chomped on my wrist. Not something she would ordinarily do, but clearly she thought she was being attacked.
Unfortunately she punctured a vein in my wrist and 2 other places in my hand. It bled so much that my bathroom looked like a crime scene. :eek: Although at first I was freaking out because I thought the CAT was bleeding - nope, just MY blood all over her. :no:
Ended up in the ER on IV abx and spent a week with a splint on my arm from hand to elbow. Not one of my more pleasant experiences. 
I got a cat bite and knew things could get bad. He bit my wrist and it went into the tendon, I think. So I called my doctor and asked for antibiotics. The doctor said you don’t need antibiotics, just wait and see. That was Saturday. That night, My hand became unusable and and it was creeping up my arm. Very painful and I usually don’t bother with stuff. I called the Dr in am he did give me an antibiotic. Didn’t help much. Then when I saw him monday morning he wanted to have a surgeon open the tendon sheath and drain it. He gave me the correct antibiotic for Pasterella and was much improved the next day so didn’t need surgery. It did take awhile for my hand to be back to normal. So even though I did the right thing, I didn’t get the help I needed. I don’t have the best luck with the medical profession. This Dr was a GP for many years and had no idea this could happen. That is weird because it is a semi-rural area. Your best defense is knowledge. So thanks to the OP.
My mom was a teacher (now retired) and she had a student whose father died from a cat bite infection. This family was low-income and several children were in special Ed so I have always chalked this unfortunate loss up to lack of medical care/knowledge. I honestly didn’t know things could go downhill that fast and be limb, if not life-threatening!
I worked as a vet assistant for two years as a teen. I still vividly remember the worst cat bite I got; I was holding a seemingly cool and calm cat for a routine exam when it casually turned its head and clamped down on my forearm with mouth wide open. Didn’t let go. I was like, “Um, HELP???” Owner was in the room so I didn’t want to scream! The vet, a real a-hole (could tell you a lot about HIM, believe me) looked disgusted with me and managed to pry the cat off. Not ONE word was said about cleaning the four neat puncture wounds, seeing Dr., etc. And no one was the least bit concerned when I got home, either. Typical for my mother, who a voids medical treatment until things are super-scary and did the same with us kids. I can’t remember if this incident took place before or after the student father death, but you’d think she might have been a titch concerned if it was after…
I was fine. Same after the many bad scratches I got. Now I know I was just REALLY lucky! :no: And cats are one if the reasons I’m not a vet today…
[QUOTE=FineAlready;7306380]
This is fascinating. I’ve been bitten by cats more than once in my life and never thought twice about it. Same with dog bites and horse bites. I worked in a small animal vet clinic in high school…in case you are wondering why I’ve been bitten by so many animals! Anyway, I normally didn’t even bother to tell anyone when an animal bit me, and no one ever really alerted me to how dangerous cat bites in particular can be. Yikes…[/QUOTE]
We have an elderly barn cat who has bitten me twice in the last six months. I washed the wounds and no problems arose.
HOWEVER I have an amazon parrot who bit me on the finger and the next day the finger was huge, hot and hurting as well as pussy. I squeezed it (almost brought me to my knees) and WOW the point from her beak was still in there.
That was super nasty. :lol: told her if she ever bit me again I would pluck all her tail feathers.
I read that a famous actor died from the infection that resulted from him punching another human in the mouth during a bar fight. Apparently the teeth broke the skin, and the infection wasn’t treated until it was too late.
Human bites are especially nasty, and an abscessed tooth can poison your entire system, and cause all kinds of serious problems. The germs in the human system that are released by routine procedures are a reason some people have to premedicate before any dental procedure.
This is always a good PSA, and I’m happy to hear you recovered.
I got bitten by a feral cat when I was 14, and I was scared to tell my mom because she had specifically told me to NOT touch that cat. Well I did, and he chomped clean thru my middle finger. I washed it off, stuck a bandaid on it and woke up in the morning with the bandaid imbedded into my finger.
It was my gym teacher that had spotted it and immediatly had my mom pick me up and take me to the hospital, which at that point my whole hand had puffed up to look like a blown up latex glove. Had several days of IV antibiotics followed by ten more days of pills.
Not fun, and will nevet shirk off a cat bite nor any other animal bite nor puncture wound.
