I need quick information! I was bit.

[andelawhi]

So, yesterday afternoon, I decided to give my cats a bath. BAD IDEA.

I was bit on my wrist and I'm pretty sure I have an impending infection. It's getting warm to the touch and is extremely sore. After looking up cat bites online, I'm freaking out and am taking my butt to a clinic today to get some antibiotics. My question- I thought I read somewhere that when a cat bites someone that doctors are required to report it. Is this true? Are they going to come put my cat in confinement and alert my landlord? Anything you know about this would be helpful. Thanks guys!

 

[larussa]

Hope your bite is not too serious. As far as taking away your cat, as long as the kitty has had their rabies shots there shouldn't be any problem. Usually tho the cat would be in trouble if they bit someone outside the home and the cat did have rabies. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[icklemiss21]

It depends on state laws, the individial doctors (its paperwork) and if they have the rabies vaccine up to date.

As far as quarantine, that also depends on state laws and your public health department, here they can have quarantine in your home as long as there are no young children, its your home (it can be rented but not shared, like a dorm or in a hotel etc) and their rabies vaccine is up to date. The public health official comes to determine if the cat is a risk and check the surroundings and makes a decision when there.

I checked online and Missouri does seem to follow the usual 10 day quarantine rules with public health checking on them, your doc will probably give you a tetanus shot, antibiotics and if your cat has not had rabies vaccinations, may want to give you the post exposure rabies shots

 

[mrblanche]

This is something you'll have to decide on, but it might be wise to tell the doctor you were feeding a stray cat, tried to pick it up, and it panicked and bit you.

Lee can tell you about the result of telling them your cat bit you. Of course, he was in an unusual situation, not living in his new home yet, and someone else saw Persi bite him.

 

[icklemiss21]

If you say it was a stray, be aware that it is more likely that YOU will need the rabies shots (and they hurt)

 

[ut0pia]

If your cat is up to date on rabies shots they usually don't do confinement, at least in my state. Maybe you can say it was a stray cat, but you saw that it had a rabies collar on lol, it's a bit far fetched but not implausible..
Or, you can say you trapped, neutered and released a feral- and paid for it to gets its rabies shot and it bit you..

 

[strange_wings]

You can refuse rabies shots. No doctor can force you if you're legally responsible for yourself. You do have to sign a waver saying that they're not for blame if you get rabies and die. In fact, you have the right to refuse any and all medical care.

Years ago I was bitten by a stray I was semi-familiar with. He went into ten day quarantine and, though he had never had any rabies vacs, no one mentioned to me about getting any rabies shots even once. I would have refused had they suggested it. (no insurance at the time, for one reason. Two I knew that cat did not have rabies)

 

[trillcat]

Originally Posted by mrblanche

This is something you'll have to decide on, but it might be wise to tell the doctor you were feeding a stray cat, tried to pick it up, and it panicked and bit you.

Lee can tell you about the result of telling them your cat bit you. Of course, he was in an unusual situation, not living in his new home yet, and someone else saw Persi bite him.

Can you give a link to what happened there, that is sounding ominious, I hope nothing bad happened, but I am guessing it did.
I would be honest and say "I tried to give my cat a bath and it did not go well" I would think most people understand that most cats do not like water, and would put the blame there on you, not the cat (sorry, no nice way of saying that) and not put any undue stress on the cat. It is not like the cat just attacked for no reason, and you meant well. Why would anyone take the cat away for reasons that were the humans fault, over a bath?
"takes off rose colored glasses and is sad*
I might go the "It was a stray" route and endure the rabies shots.
I hope your wound heals fast, bites are nasty, Vibes you get this all worked out

 

[ut0pia]

It is very scary, but it happens...Here is another thread about the same thing
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...ighlight=Teddy

 

[esrgirl]

A friend of the family was bitten by her cat and ended up getting a nasty infection. I would recommend going to a walk-in clinic or your doctor. Hopefully there is a way you can do this without getting your cat quaranteened.

 

[otto]

Mazy cat bit me badly twice in her first six months with me. (she was an unsocialized young adult cat) The first bite, the ER doc reported it and I had to go through the hoops. Since Mazy was utd on rabies (the first bite was after she'd been with me less than a week) there was no quarantine issues.

The shelter I adopted her from was horrified however and called me apologizing all over the place. I assured them I was fine, did not want to return Mazy, and did not hold them responsible in any way.

The second bite, the ER doc did not bother to report it or to even ask if it was my cat or ask anything me at all. It was on thanksgiving day, and I had sat in the ER for many hours, I guess unless I was going to make a fuss, he didn't care.

However, yes both bites required massive doses of antibiotics and soaking the hand at home.

Hope all is well with you, and your cat now. Please do update us!

 

[mrblanche]

You can get VERY nasty infections from a cat bite.

We had our RB kitty Wickett at the vet's office. I was holding him when she inserted the thermometer. He whirled around and bit almost to the bone on both sides of my wrist. He had never bitten me before, never did again, and in fact he was usually well-behaved at the vet's office (which was why I was holding him). The immediately cleaned out the wounds, and amazingly enough, they didn't get infected.

But Dottie got accidentally bitten (she actually moved her hand an ran into Sterling's tooth), and the infect from that one tooth was bad enough that they had to immobilize the hand and treat it with a LOT of antibiotics. Once it was treated, it cleared up in a couple of days.

Lee's experience was that Persi got frightened by a maid. Lee got pretty badly bitten. When he went to the emergency room, he told them what happened, and the doctor reported it as required. Since they were staying at the hotel, the city required him to put Persi in isolation at his vet's office for ten days. (And Lee was in the hospital in very serious condition for much of that time.)

 

[jcat]

Get yourself to the clinic or ER ASAP! I was bitten on the wrist a week before Christmas, and the wound was badly infected within just a few hours. It was cut open and cleaned, and my arm was put in a splint to prevent the infection from spreading. I got a tetanus shot, antibiotic injection, topical antibiotics (stuffed in the incision), and prescriptions for heavy-duty antibiotics and painkillers. Initially I had to go to the ER or orthopedic surgeon every day (really fun over Christmas!) to have the wound reopened and more antibiotics applied locally, then every other day, then three times a week, and so on.

I was asked whose cat it was, and whether he was UTD on rabies shots. No quarantine was necessary because he was (I took proof with me to the ER).

Good luck!

 

[trillcat]

Lets not completly freak people out, not all cat bites result in an ER visit.
I have been bitten many times, some very severe, and not all cats, it is how you deal with said wound.
Let it bleed, first off the bat, do not try to stop that, it may scare the bejeuss out of you the amount of blood, but the blood flowing is going to get the bacteria out. That is the nasty of any puncture wound, it closes up on itself. Fangs are skinny, they puncture, that wound closes up like a pin or needle stab. Do not bangage the wound, air is your friend here, it is not the nasty from the air that will infect the bite.
And yes, once you see signs of any infection, get to a doc ASAP, it will not get better without a course of antibiotics.
I do not want to stop anyone from getting medical help from an animal bite, very serious and shoud be treated as such, if it happens, just saying its not all doomed to heck.

 

[sarahp]

Yes, but the OP said the area is warm and sore so it's definitely infected, and the sooner the treatment, the better off she'll be.

It's better to know just how serious cat bites can be and be extra vigilant. It doesn't matter how well you clean the wound - all you need is a tiny amount of bacteria in the area, and BAM - infection.

And whether the doctor reports it is upto the clinic and the state laws. DH was bitten by a feral kitten who'd only just had her rabies vaccine, and the bite was reported, but nothing came of it. We released her anyway, so there's nothing they could have done

 

[vampcow]

go to the doc ASAP...

My sister when she was working at the vet as an assitant was properly holding a cat but he still managed to turn around the Bite her badly on the hand...even the vet was surprised!!!

She ended up going to the ER and they had to flush her hand out with all sorts of stuff and it hurt so badly she passed out. The next day they told her to come back and she thought she was going to have a consult with a hand doc and she ended up in the OPERATING ROOM having emergency hand surgery. THe infection just wouldn't go away but she needed to have surgery because the cat BIT through one of the TENDONS in her hand!! She was on meds for a while because of the infection and ended up having to have therapy on her hand.

While my sister's case was extreme a fellow teacher got scratched by her cat and developed a massive infection! She is fine following alot of medication but you shouldn't wait on these things they can get nasty REALLY fast.

Also in both cases the cats were left alone.

BUT most importantly FEEL BETTER SOON!!!

 

[libby74]

I hope you've been able to see your dr. by now. It does sound as if you've got an infection in the works.
Several years ago my Rufus bit me on the calf after the tip of his tail got caught in a door (OOPS!)---all 4 fangs left puncture wounds. I immediately bathed the spot and used an antibiotic cream for days. It looked as if it was healing, then one morning all kinds of nasty stuff started oozing out of the punctures. It turned out I had developed a deep tissue infection that took forever to clear up. Luckily, Rufus had been to the vet just a few weeks before the bite; I didn't have to provide any type of proof that he was current on his shots.
If you haven't seen the dr. yet, please get there asap. I hope it's nothing serious.

 

[februa]

Originally Posted by sarahp

Yes, but the OP said the area is warm and sore so it's definitely infected, and the sooner the treatment, the better off she'll be.

Just to clear up this misconception, warmth and pain do not immediately signify an infection. In fact, the cardinal signs of inflammation - which is the bodys normal response to injury - are redness, heat, swelling, and pain. Prolonged, growing inflammation (spreading of red area, increased pain/swelling), and the presence of tissue exudate (PUS!), and a raised core body temperature are better markers of infection.