Get Antibiotics For Cat Bites!

calico man

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Usually we have pictures of our wonderful cats, but how about a pic of what they can do to us? OUCH! First thing: it wasn't Lulu! I'll try to explain what happened and answer questions in advance. Here's the cat bite info:
--It was a young female that lived at the house where we started re-model work.
--She recently had her first litter and all kittens found homes a few weeks ago.
--First day on the job she was friendly as can be rubbing against my legs and all of sudden she gave me a quick swat on my ankle. Same thing happened with a co-worker so we were aware of her actions.
--Second day on the job she was again friendly. I was going to carefully feed her and had a big bag of dry food that I was holding low to the ground to keep her away from my feet. She was very friendly and showing no signs of aggression so I thought things were going great. But, as soon as I lifted the bag to pour BAM! she let me have it! She was not provoked in any manner, she was not aggressive towards me or the bag of food, but as soon as she had the opportunity to bite me she did. And she got me good. Blood was actually shooting an inch straight out of my leg from the lower puncture bite! Pressure was applied and the bleeding quickly stopped. Well, almost quickly!
--Ok here's the main point of this post: if you get bit by any animal, get antibiotics ASAP! I was just plain stupid and didn't go to the doctor for three days because, well, honestly I thought it would be ok. But it got very red, swollen and painful so off to the doctor I went for some of those magical antibiotics. Please don't beat me up too bad because I know I should have seen the doc immediately and believe me if it ever happens again there will be no hesitation whatsoever! Good news is that the antibiotics have done their job and everything is fine!
--And now for the cat. The owner says before her litter she was very friendly but has since noticed a change. After the bite she took her to get spayed, shots, etc. and she says she is back to her friendly self. We will be back on the job next week but will definitely be aware of her presence and I hope she is ok. There could be many scenarios as to why she attacked me and I'm sure you will have lots of questions but I've tried to explain what happened as best as possible. I'll post again when we start work next week and hopefully I'll have good news!
 

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ArtNJ

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Yeah, as far as I know all animal bites are like 90+% likely to get infected.

If a bat as much as looks at you, have a family member check every damn inch of skin at risk of painful death. People have died without realizing they were bitten until it was too late.
 

Moka

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Yep, cat bites are NASTY!!! I got bit in the hand. I was hospitalized for a week on IV antibiotics and had to have surgery on that hand. I still have a scar on my palm 11 years later and loss of some function in that hand.
It's great to hear that you are going ok! With all the bacteria in a cat's mouth, things could have been a lot worse.
 

fionasmom

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I was in the same place with Daddy Cat, who was my heart cat. He bit through my fingernail due to extreme fright of a dog (I had picked him up) and I let it go. Still have the disfigured nail, and I consider it to be my fault for not going to the dr sooner. We need to remember this even about our pet cats.
 

Sonatine

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In pharmacy school they teach us that cat bites and human bites are the worst ones seen commonly, at least in terms of infection. They almost always require antibiotics. Human bites need them because our mouths are absolutely filthy, and cat bites because their fangs are so sharp and narrow that they deposit bacteria deep in the wounds where it's almost impossible to wash out. Sometimes you can get away without antibiotics for a dog bite, but not always. Bat bites are a different story; if you go to the hospital for a bat bite, we'll probably be giving you a rabies shot.
 

Elphaba09

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Yep, cat bites can be nasty! Our Tara bit me once when I took her to the vet because she was in considerable pain. I put it off for two days, but my hand got massive, my entire arm hurt, and I had a fever and a headache. Turns out, I had cat scratch fever on top of a nasty infection. The doctor said if I had waited another day it would have been much worse.

So glad you are on the mend!
 
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calico man

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Yep, cat bites can be nasty! Our Tara bit me once when I took her to the vet because she was in considerable pain. I put it off for two days, but my hand got massive, my entire arm hurt, and I had a fever and a headache. Turns out, I had cat scratch fever on top of a nasty infection. The doctor said if I had waited another day it would have been much worse.

So glad you are on the mend!
Glad you mended too!
 

Winchester

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It happened to my sister. Twice. Same cat. The second time she didn't wait quite as long to go to the doctor, so it was somewhat better. The first time she got bitten, it was ugly. I was taking care of her cats (I'm their petsitter) and that cat had gotten into the attic and he wasn't supposed to be there (they have two cats who live in the attic). I bent down and tried to pick him up and he got me. I did manage to get him out of the attic by keening really loudly. He didn't like that and took off down the stairs to the second floor.

My sister wanted me to go to the doctor because she had had two infections from this cat due to cat bites. He must not have gotten me all that badly (it did draw blood), though, because I washed it out well, slathered Neosporin on the area and bandaged it. It never got red, never got warm, so I figured I was OK. As much as she wanted me to go to the doctor, she was also afraid of what would happen to their cat. That was the third bite from the same cat.

He never bit me again. I'd go over to take care of them and he was friendly and affectionate. I'd sit on the loveseat in the kitchen and he came up and sat down with me. I'd hold him and cuddle with him. I have no idea what caused him to bite me that time. My sister doesn't know why he bit her either.

I'm really glad you're OK. Cat bites can be really dangerous!
 

ArtNJ

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Wow! It sounds like I've been insanely lucky, especially considering all the times Charlie has bitten or scratched me.
Scratches don't count, they don't get infected unless you get very unlucky or they are exceptionally deep. You basically don't have to take a standard nail rakes across the surface scratch seriously -- just wash it (I don't always even do that) and watch it. We've all had dozens or hundreds of those lol. If the nail really penetrates or tears a flap of skin, I'd properly wash, use neosporin and watch it closely. If the fang just nicks the surface skin you may not get an infection either if you wash it out. But if the fang penetrates your highly likely to get an infection since washing or neosporin wont reach the bacteria.
 
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