Reporting my own house cat bit me in my own house = visit from Health Dept????

[Arcadien]

:mad:
Fuming. The urgent care nurse said the form was just for their files, no problems. So I wrote down what happened: my shyest cat panicked at being picked up to be crated and bit my finger. She is normally sweet, but hates being picked up. I was hurriedly crating all my cats to get them out of house so exterminator could come in. It was just too much sensory overload for my shy girl. (She stayed in house, hiding in cabinet during exterminator visit - seems no worse for wear).

So, knowing cat bites get infected, went to urgent care, got a couple antibiotics. All well, bite wound healing fine.

Then a minute ago I get a phone call. The County Health Dept. My cat is “quarantined” 11 days. (Fine, she never leaves house anyway). After that, a Health Dept inspector will come out to “observe” her. :mad:

THIS I have a problem with. Feels like my privacy is being invaded. I don’t trust government inspectors one bit. In my experience they use any chance to “visit” to find something to cause trouble or expense to a home owner.

Feeling stupidly trusting and naive. Sharing so maybe someone else can learn from my stupid mistake.

Next time: “strange cat walked up to me while I was strolling down the road, I pet it and it bit me. don’t know whose it is, it ran off into the 5,000 acre woods.” Happy wild goose chase, azzholes. One of those cases where one is punished for honesty.

[sascha]

Does she not have a rabies certificate that you can flash the health department’s way?

[Arcadien]

Unfortunately no, since she hasn’t left my house in 8 years, it didn’t seem necessary. Obviously now I have to get them all up to date, no matter that they never leave the house. More $$$ out the door, sigh.

[sascha]

Damn.

[sockmonkey]

well you certainly don’t want to say stray cat bit you because you will have to undergo long, drawn out, very expensive, and one very painful (gamma globulins) injection in a series of injections.

It really is a good idea to get them vaccinated even though they don’t leave the house as it is not at all uncommon for other things to get in the house, such as bats, which are not uncommonly carriers of rabies. Also, sometimes things happen when your door is open that may scare your cat and it runs out the door, etc.

[Horsegal984]

First of all, rabies is deadly. You tell them you got bit by random stray and you don’t know where it is you’re likely going to be getting all the rabies post exposure shots.

Second, indoor only cats can still get rabies. That is the one vaccine that should always be kept up with county laws. In most areas if you found a bat in your house every animal in the house is considered exposed.

Sorry you’re dealing with this, but animal bites are reportable, so they’re just doing their job. Most areas an animal control officer just stops by at the end of the quarantine to make sure cat is still alive and not neurological. Pretty routine and usually not a big deal unless cat isn’t there or is sick.

[AKB]

Even if they are up to date on rabies vaccine, cats and dogs are home quarantined in our area after a bite. If they aren’t up to date, they have to go to the shelter for quarantine.

When I worked in Urgent Care, we were told we were legally required to report every bite. If we reported that it was an unknown cat, you would definitely get a visit from Animal Control.

I am not sure of what we were supposed to do if the bite occurred in an unknown county by a cat or dog who was wearing tags and definitely up to date on vaccine, although you didn’t know the name of the owner. I guess we would have told the person with a bite to get more information and report the bite themselves.

[Arcadien]

After my vent I spent some time reading up on cat bites and laws in NJ and feel properly humbled. Please forgive my vent.

It’s just that I’m feeling particularly exhausted and felt I handled the bite incident well, then with this call, well now I feel completely overwhelmed and depressed.

Feel like I’m getting hit from all sides with unexpected bills, struggling desperately to stay upright, … now I have to fit in vaccinations for 10 cats.
And I can’t let an inspector show up the state my yard is in, my mower broke, the grass is waist high. The house inside is torn apart as I am preparing for my eldest niece to move in with me. Niece was going to help me set it to rights, do the scrubbing & remodeling, when she arrived in two weeks. Any inspector in my house is most likely going to report me to the township if they saw the place in this state. (Neighbors far enough away that I’m not annoying them, at least).

Now I have to get all this done in 10 days, in between full time job & govt audits, sore finger and aching 50 yo back. Just feeling particularly sorry for myself and wanting to crawl into a hole and give up.

Now I see that cat bites are serious and the ER & health dept are just doing their jobs. It just felt like the final straw, you know? SIGH.

Chin up and fight on!

[shea_smom]

Sorry you are dealing with all this!! I hope you can find a vet that will do the rabies for a reasonable amount. Good luck!

[Dewey]

I’m really sorry you’re going through all this.

You can order the pet vaccinations online and give them yourself. My horse trainer does this all the time. It’s much cheaper apparently. With ten cats, I’d consider it.

As for the other issues, take a deep breath and do one thing at a time. Do you have a neighbor kid with a lawnmower who can do the lawn for you? Might be worth paying him/her.

[Louise]

[QUOTE=Dewey;8248031]
I’m really sorry you’re going through all this.

You can order the pet vaccinations online and give them yourself. My horse trainer does this all the time. It’s much cheaper apparently. With ten cats, I’d consider it.

As for the other issues, take a deep breath and do one thing at a time. Do you have a neighbor kid with a lawnmower who can do the lawn for you? Might be worth paying him/her.[/QUOTE]

Not always true. In some states, the vaccination has to be given by a licensed vet. It looks like that’s the case in New Jersey. I’m attaching information about this here. There’s a PDF you have to click on to see the regulations for each state.

Check with your vet. It may be that there are free clinics available in your area.

[Arcadien]

Yes, Louise is right, in NJ it has to be a vet. Fortunately sounds like my wonderful equine vet may come through for me with a plan I can manage.

And I just found out my neighbor friend will at least mow the driveway area for me, that will make it look a bit more in control.

My friends are coming together to help me with the inside house issues. When I wrote the OP I was tearing up from stress and frustration - now I’m tearing up at the kindness and willingness of my friends to leap to my aid.

Belief in the prevailing goodness of most people restored Thanks for letting me vent & offering sympathy, much appreciated.

[Laurierace]

I went to get a tetanus shot after being bitten by one of the feral kittens I was fostering. They called the Sheriff who had quarantine papers I had to fill out but he forgot to bring them to the clinic. I was ready to leave so he said he would meet me at my house. There was another sheriff waiting at my house to make sure I didn’t take off with them I guess. Everything was going fine until one of the kittens got an upper respiratory infection and I had to take all the kittens back to the shelter for an exam. I called and told them that I had to take them across county lines for the exam and they told me I would be arrested for crossing the county line. I gave them my license plate number to make it easier and took the kittens back and let them do the remainder of the quarantine. It was ridiculous.

[Arcadien]

Oh boy Laurierace that is unreal.

[tabula_rashah]

That’s insane. It sounds like when I went to the hospital because I got bucked off my own horse. They hounded and hounded me about where I was, whose property was I on, yada, yada. I refused to give them any of that info. So I guess now I know- if you get bit by something to not give them any info.

[Marshfield]

[QUOTE=tabula rashah;8248377]
That’s insane. It sounds like when I went to the hospital because I got bucked off my own horse. They hounded and hounded me about where I was, whose property was I on, yada, yada. I refused to give them any of that info. So I guess now I know- if you get bit by something to not give them any info.[/QUOTE]

The staff at urgent care were legally obligated to report the bite. This is standard in most states. One of my friends in vet school actually had a job following up on dog bite reports for the Health Department. And, if somebody had bothered to report one of the many bites inflicted by a certain dog, I never would have had to watch one of my techs savaged by the dog.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

Wow. If I did this, someone from the Health Department would be a permanent fixture at my house! Luckily I’ve never had a bite that I thought was bad enough to go to the emergency room for, and the Dalek Cat (aka Angel) is quite good at the biting/scratching thing. I usually just peroxide the heck out of it and keep it bandaged for a few days, and they heal on their own.

[Horsegal984]

So sorry OP. I definately know the feeling of just being totally overwhelmed. Glad your horse vet can help you out, in the future keep an eye out for rabies clinics, most places have them once or twice a year. Might help with the maintenance in the future.

Thank god for good neighbors!!

[sascha]

[QUOTE=tabula rashah;8248377]
That’s insane. It sounds like when I went to the hospital because I got bucked off my own horse. They hounded and hounded me about where I was, whose property was I on, yada, yada. I refused to give them any of that info. So I guess now I know- if you get bit by something to not give them any info.[/QUOTE]

Nothing near the same! One is about billing/litigation and the other is about life and death.

[Chall]

Same deal with me. But I gave them my vets name and number.
9 months later they threatened a $1,000 fine.
They called and I said you have the vet number and she was up to date. No dice.
So I called the vet and the receptionist figured out the state probably needed the serial number of the vaccine. Got it.
My cat had died the week before, so the inspector got me crying on the phone.

In this case, it was not about vigilance about a deadly disease. They didn’t follow up with the vet. I outright asked the inspector why they wanted my word about the vaccine rather than the vets.
Bureaucratic b.s.