#cat bites

[kittymeiga]

She looks incredibly good against the red of her bloodthirst 🧛‍♀️

[vet-and-wild]

Speaking of cat handling, I got my first nasty cat bite a few weeks ago. And I wasn't even handling him. We were going really slow (he was on gaba and known to be nervous) and he was doing really well. He was calm and even rubbing up on my hand and everything. Then I moved my hand to gesture or grab something and he grabbed it and gave me a few good chomps. It sucked. Partly because it obviously hurt, and partly because I still feel like I have to prove that low stress handling works sometimes. Granted, this guy was pretty extreme in his progression and lack of obvious warning signs, but it was still frustrating.

So anyway, don't do what I did and wait until the next morning to go get your antibiotics. It was the end of the day and I didn't want to have to go to the ER, since Urgent Care was closed until the morning. 12 hours later and my hand was full of pus and super swollen. Cat bites are nasty and love to get infected, always clean it thoroughly and get yourself some antibiotics.

[thatonevioletflower]

High five :D (slightly violent)

[shadythetortie]

How do you treat cat scratches/bites (apart from staying up to date on your Tdap + avoidance if possible) I immediately hibiscrub the wound if they accidentally get me with a claw and have luckily never been bitten but just wanted to check if there wasn't something more I should be doing

Cat scratches we usually use hibitane (aka chlorhexidine, its usually a pink soap) to scrub it and if its not super deep and I don't have any spreading redness or excessive swelling, I put an antibiotic ointment - usually Polysporin - and monitor in case it starts to show signs of spreading infection. Cat Scratch Fever is a real issue, so always watch for red streaking, swelling, or fever that starts up.

Cat bites, if they are deep enough to draw blood, get sent to urgent care for antibiotics. Still scrub it with the hibitane, but these need more intensive care than scratches. Cat bites are a big problem. A cat's tooth is like a needle - long and thin, with a little groove along the outer side - so when they bite, the wound seals itself up and the bacteria that was on the tooth stays in the wound and causes infection. Within about 4-12 hours, the bite area turns red and starts swelling up. There's usually a pocket of pus that forms pretty quickly as it turns into an abscess. Cat bite infections can lead to surgery pretty quickly, especially near a joint.

If you work in a high risk place for cat bites from cats where you don't know their history or what they've been into (vet office, kennels, groomers, shelters) it would be a good idea to consider getting yourself up to date on your Rabies vaccine. Especially if you live in a high risk area.

TDLR: scrub it, if it starts showing signs of infection go get antibiotics, and get your rabies shot.

[dogtorari]

Cute feisty Rogue didn’t want to let me go. I love her lol!

[asknightmareanderror]

Yeah I’m pretty sure they bit a lil more but we spend a lot of time with him so he won’t go to crazy, and I will be carful thx night

“You better be...dog bites are no joke.”

Cat bites are worse, Night. Their saliva breaks down the tissue in your skin.

“Good thing we don’t have skin.”

[cibokilley]

Earned my first cat bite this morning! Normally Pandy just gives warning bites that don't break skin, but this time she gave me a fuck-you bite that penetrated the first layer of epidermis into the dermis. One of the bite holes didn't quite reach the subcutaneous tissue, but the other one did.

Random trivia: Pandy had her lower left fang removed because dental, so now her bites only leave three marks instead of four, lol.

I'm on antibiotics now, with a tetanus booster just in case, but the swelling hasn't gone down yet. If my arm is a balloon by morning, I'll be off to the clinic to get some IV antibiotics. If I don't post in a week, I'm dead! :D

update: okay now both holes are swollen. Dang it

[fbwzoo]

im not sure if you would know or not (im a new follower) but is cat saliva dangerous to guinea pigs? i know it can be to ferrets and birds, but im not as sure about guineas

Yup, cat saliva is dangerous in general, even to humans - cat bites (and scratches) are notorious for becoming infected between the bacteria & how sharp/narrow their teeth are. The wound is relatively small, but deep, bacteria gets pushed in deeper, and often the opening of the wound starts to heal quickly, but then infection gets going underneath the surface. I actually had a run in with this a month or two ago - I had a puncture from Ebony’s nail on my thumb get infected & had to take a course of antibiotics. 

It’s always recommended to keep cats away from any small animal & away from all birds for that reason. It’s even more important with birds because (if I remember correctly), they’re even more susceptible to infection from the type of bacteria cats carry.

And if you have a fight between two cats, a cat & a dog, etc., you should be very careful to check for wounds afterwards, and keep an eye out for a week or so after as well. Any signs of infection = vet time for antibiotics. And same for yourself.