She got bitten by a cat. Turns out this is a highly contentious topic!
Until yesterday, we described this cat that we're looking after as merely antisocial.
But yesterday it bit my wife on the hand. She was stroking its back as she'd done a few times — when the thing would let her come close enough to touch. It seemed like the cat/woman friendship was coming along nicely.
Until it bit her.
By way of background, we're house sitting for a couple in Wollongong, just south of Sydney. We've housesat here 4 or 5 times before, and slowly this antisocial cat has warmed to us.
Or so we thought.
So what to do when you get a cat bite?
- Wash the wound thoroughly.
- Pam had some hydrogen peroxide so a few drops of that.
- We also have tea tree oil with us (it's an excellent antiseptic) so we used that.
- I also have colloidal silver with me. It's a great antibacterial + antimicrobial, so we poured some of that onto the wound. (Later we dampened a cotton wool ball with it and taped that over the wound.)
Once the immediate first aid was done, the scary thoughts came. This cat spends many hours every day in the Australian bush near the house. What if it's got some weird disease or is carrying something really bad?
So Pam hit Google and looked up cat bites. That's a scary thing to do, all on its own.
I visited my favorite natural health group in Facebook and that's where the "highly contentious" bit comes in.
Well, not contentious as in people arguing. But contentious in the sense of a wide range of totally different responses. Poles apart. All the way from "take this very seriously" to "what's all the fuss about?" (paraphrasing here, okay).
Here are some of the scarier responses.
"I ended up in hospital for 2 weeks on IV antibiotics and pleural effusions after being bitten by my own cat."
"Cat bites get infected very quickly. I work in an animal shelter and its common for people to get severe infections in a very short time. We have staff that have been in hospital for days or requiring daily visits for days. "
"Look up cat scratch fever....I had a patient with this...it was her cat, an inside cat at that. Watch for the signs. She [w]ound up on life support before it was all over."
"I’m a vet tech and have been bitten many times. I always try to open up the bite as much as possible and scrub scrub scrub, make it bleed, and use peroxide copiously. If it is deep or near a joint you need to see a doctor immediately as cat bites can turn nasty really quick."
What I didn't know, but learned from the FB group discussion, was about bentonite clay. You can use it to make a paste that will draw out the bacteria and poisons in the wound.
Guess what? Bentonite clay is now on my shopping list.
Takeaway
Your next cat bit might turn out to be a "nothing" (which seems to be our case - the hand is fine next day, skin is smooth, no temperature, no red lines, no aching - thankfully).
Or it could become very serious. I wanted to alert you to that possibility, and to give you what seems to be the best natural health advice:
"Wash it out with colloidal silver and then make a paste with bentonite clay & apply it to the wound.. It will draw all of the bacteria & junk out. Once it dries, wash it off and folllow up with colloidal silver until it heals."
Question (it's your turn now!)
What's been your experience of cat bites?
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My cat bites me all the time, he was just a bitey cat from a kitten. I've just taught him to be gentle now so it's more of a grab than a bite, but I still discourage it. He tends to bite, realise he's done wrong, and then lick me!
Cat's can be trained, it just takes patience, love and understanding.
Wow, so impressed you've trained your cat. Mine is still a kitten (well, less than 2 years old) and is a biter if I pet a little too long. I've heard that cats lick someone after biting to heal the wound.
Cat treats and praise, and a lot of patience. My cat will sit, give left paw, then right paw and do high fives now. He's not worked roll over yet though, he thinks I'm going to tickle his stomach every time I try and teach him to roll over!
Well, that's so cool! My cat understands what I'm saying a lot of the time, I think, though he doesn't always mind very well!
Cats are quite intelligent so your post makes sense to me, @unclehermit. Thanks for taking the time to contribute here.
Gary
My cat bit me a few years back. I thought I was alright after thoroughly cleaning the wound. Then I went to bed and woke up with a hand the size of a watermelon and essentially paralyzed.
Thankfully I got the IV antibiotics in time. It took a few days for my hand swelling to go down and for the infection to clear.
Be careful out there people. Obviously I still have my little fury guy and love him to death but just be mindful of how severe a cat bite could be.
Thanks,
@pashq11, thanks for sharing your cat bite story. I've been reading lots of similar stories after posting our experience.
Gary
A friend of mine got a cat bite from her own cat and her hand puffed right up and looked red and painful. She insisted the cat really didn't mean her any harm. It was where the bite landed -- near her thumb joint -- and it got infected. She got to the doctor and it all turned out well, for both Kathy and the cat.
Thanks Joanne.
Yes, it turns out that a LOT of people know someone who has a painful cat bit story. We all love those cute "funny cat" videos, but there is another side to those cute little munsters.
(I didn't want to say monsters... so it's munsters!)
Gary
Cats have about 130,000 hairs per square inch (20,155 hairs per square centimeter).
What an amazing cat fact. Thanks for sharing it.
Gary
Cats often overract to unexpected stimuli because of their extremely sensitive nervous system.
And they are so fast. Reaction speed is almost like lightning.
Gary
A cat's normal temperature varies around 101 degrees Fahrenheit.
Thank you for your information. I did get bitten by my own cat, it did hurt but it has healed pretty quickly, thanks be to God.
I was so impressed with the speed of response from @catfacts, not just once but every time. So I opened his/her account and behold, it's a bot.
Clever work, @inertia. As you invited users to reach out to you, I'm doing just that.
Since you have a reputation of 70, I can only conclude that this bot is an effective piece of kit. Or is there more to your success here?
Gary
A cat called Dusty has the known record for the most kittens. She had more than 420 kittens in her lifetime.
I used to have cats along with my dogs, so I'm sure that I got bit once or twice during play time - or maybe more. Who knows? My cats were outdoor cats and rodent catchers. But no cat bite ever got serious for me. I've got a pretty strong immune system. Sounds like Pam does, too.
Flower the beautiful
Mister Tom Cat has been known to bite the hand that feeds him. It's random and I love him. He never breaks the skin so it's all good.
As a kids we had cats. One story is I was a toddler and pretty much every morning I’d come down and “the cat” would be in waiting....and pounce and bite my butt. Mean cat. To me. I believe it name was Tiger so I was helping with its natural instincts. ;). Had other cats as a kid bitten, scratched.. you name it it’s been done. No problems. Heard of the fever but don’t know anyone who had it.