My cat bit me. Can I get something from a cat bite?

Question

Last week I brought home a stray cat. She is the sweetest most loving cat I have ever seen. I took her to my grandma's tonight and there is another cat there. She got really pissy when she saw this male cat. Her whole personality changed and when I picked her up to take her home she bit my hand in between my thumb and forefinger. She drew a little bit of blood. I washed it right away. Should I worry about this? No, I have not taken her to the vet yet. We just brought her home. She does not show any signs of having rabies and I had my last tetnus shot 9 years ago. Thank you for any help you can give me.

Answer 1

About five months ago my cat got stuck in a drawer while I was sleeping, so I woke up because she was crying so loud. I tried to help her, but when I did, she bit onto my hand and ran away. I washed it off, but it was painful. I was blacking out from it!!! I was all alone, so I just took a nighttime pain reliever so I could ease the pain and get back to sleep. The next day my hand swelled up, but I alternated ice and heat to try to reduce it. Well the next morning I couldnt even use my hand to lift objects like a pen or the telephone... So I decided to take myself to the hospital. When I got there the guy in Triage told me I should have came in right away because my hand was forming gang green and they may have to amputate!!!!!! I was freaking out, they admitted me, put me on morphine and antibiotics. Over night, bloody pus kept leaking out of it and the swelling went down, so they didn't have to do the surgery.. but next time I get bit by a cat.. i'm going straight to the e.r.
Good luck!

Answer 2

cat scratches and bites contain a bacteria that could be harmful and lead to serious infections. People have been known to loose fingers from serious bites.

40 to 45% of bites can become infected.

Make sure your tetanus shot is up to date- if not get one.

make sure you cleaned the area really well with antibacterial soap, alcohol and then dry and wrap it in a bandage.

if the bleeding lasted longer than 15 minutes... there is a higher risk of infection so see your doctor.

Keep the area clean until completely healed!! wash the would and change the bandage daily.

make sure you get the cat the rabies vaccination if it isn't already vaccinated

call your vet and talk about the quarentine period that is required for cats that are not vaccinated for rabies. This is important due to the fact that it could bite someone else which would be a liability to you. So its important to quarentine until they are able to determine if it has rabies or not. this is a better alternative to the only other way they can find out.

you should make sure to see your doctor reguardless though due to the fact that these bites can cause infection.

Vets I've worked with have always said, if a bite is on the face, hand or foot- unless its a little scratch that didn't break the skin... you should see a doctor and be checked out.

Answer 3

Aside from the possibility of rabies, which is probably fairly remote if the cat seems healthy but is extremely serious and can be fatal, you can get a serious infection from a cat bite. My daughter was bitten by her cat that she'd had for years when breaking up a fight with another of her cats, didn't go to the doctor right away when her hand started showing signs of infection, and ended up in the hospital for 2-1/2 days.

Would be good to check with your doctor.

Answer 4

Your cutting-edge cat replaced into hit, thrown, had issues thrown at it - of direction it would not choose any human touch! do no longer attempt to puppy, stroke or bypass close to it. IF and while the cat is in a position to (it ought to take YEARS, or it ought to never be waiting), enable it to return to you. never punish the cat. NO cat must be picked up via the scruff of the neck, the two - basically mom cats ought to ever do this. No cat ought to ever be placed right into a provider as a punishment - they're going to affiliate the provider as something to be feared, this is basically no longer very sensible once you need to get it to a vet. As for feeding 3 cats in a row - cats must be fed far flung from one yet another. i've got have been given 3, or maybe although theya re all fed on the comparable time, the dishes are aside. One at one end of the eating room, yet another on the different end, and one interior the midsection (laminate flooring, with wipeable place mats under the dishes) you do no longer understand cats in any respect.

Answer 5

Unless the cat has rabies, you probably just need to be very careful about keeping the wound clean so that it doesn't get infected. If it did get infected, it could get quite nasty since cats have lots of bacteria in their mouths. I have a kitty though, she bites and scratches me all the time and I'm always okay in the end :-p If you start to get sick, or the wound looks nasty or swollen or anything abnormal, go to the doc right away.

Answer 6

Cat bits are know for providing a heck of an infection. Watch for signs of that!!! And if the cat drops dead in the next 10 days.....worry!!!

Keep in mind that if you do end up at the hospital, they will report the animals bite to the Health Department. That can open up a whole can of worms.

Get the cat a rabies shot ASAP!!

Answer 7

I would clean the wound well with soap, water and maybe some hydrogen peroxide. If the site became painful or showed any sign of infection I would see a doctor, but I wouldn't bother otherwise. If you do end up having to see a doctor, you probably would have to quarentine the cat since she is not current on her rabies vaccination. This can get expensive!

Answer 8

you should probably try to get on some antibiotics as soon as possible. cat bites are nasty. They make a puncture wound, which means it closes up almost immediately, but traps bacteria under your skin. Can get horribly infected. People are hospitalized for cat bites.

I would recommend seeing a doctor as soon as possible, but if you really don't think it's necessary, watch for redness, pain, drainage and fever. If you see any pink streaking on your skin, you've waited way too long and you need to go to the er.

Answer 9

You must be vigilant about cleaning that wound...Cats have huge amounts of bacteria in there mouth and bites are severe because of that... You also don't just have rabies to worry about! If you have Betadine there I would use that ! Soak in hot water and Epsom salt /or antibacterial soap like DIAL to draw up whatever may be in it! if you see any red streaks in your hand get to ER immediately

Answer 10

you need to go to the doctor the bacteria that cats carry in there mouths is called leptospirosis.it can go into the bone of your finger etc.plus you need to get a tetanus shot and antibitotics.as far as them reporting it to animal control dont tell them it was your cat say it was at another location so they dont put her down.and ps you shouldnt be taking her places without her shots exposing otlher cats if she has anything and cats are territorial.they are not dogs to be taken to and fro.ok.