my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

I'm feeling kind of sheepish because this bite could have been avoided. I have been caring for a mama cat and her 4 kittens. Ginger showed up in our yard in May. We didn't know that she was pregnant, she gave birth to 4 kittens in June. I took Ginger for a rabies shot about 2 weeks ago. She is probably 8-9 months old now. I got her spayed today. L wanted to see Ginger. She was in a carrier in the garage. I was rushing to put away groceries, get R from the car, and needed to get D from soccer; in addition, I had been up since 6:15 and had been running errands with a baby for too long. Against my better judgment, I let her out of the carrier in the garage. Ginger ran off to the neighbors' yard. I panicked, tried to lure her back with food and tried to grab her. I was running on adrenaline and running late. I grabbed her, she was scratching me and bit me.

I used hydrogen peroxide and neosporin and later chlorhexadine. I'm not sure if I should see a dr tomorrow. I had a tetanus shot last August. The bleeding stopped after a couple of minutes. It's a bit swollen and kind of pink. No fever or chills but the area is a little warm to the touch. It's been 6 hours since she bit me.

Thoughts?

Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

Cat bites are very prone to infection. My vet said around 80%, but that was from cat to cat not a person who actually cleans the wound. If it is open enough I would try to clean it out often and apply antibiotic ointment. But you might want to see the Dr if it's closed or more swollen tomorrow.

Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

I would watch it and take your temp a couple times a day. If you see ANY red/pink streaking coming from the wound go in immediately. Antibiotics will take care of it if it gets worse but don't wait if you get a fever or any worsening of symptoms.

If you have oregano oil I'd dilute that and put it on the site 2-3x per day. I'd take vit C and D3 and high doses, too.

Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

So far I don't have a fever. I will check in the morning. It wasn't an open gaping wound to begin with. Unfortunately, when it happened, I didn't get to clean it with peroxide immediately. I applied slight pressure first with a Kleenex and then with a wipe. It was at least half an hour before
I was able to clean it more.

Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

Honestly a bit of bleeding is a good thing....cleans out the puncture site. Keep a close eye on it for redness, warmth and any other signs of infection.

Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

I would do very warm soaks in something like Epsom Salts and use Bentonie Clay paste on wounds to help draw out any potential infection.

Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

If it looks good/normal then you're fine. My dad was bit on a finger a couple of years ago. First thing in the morning his cat was mad he didn't get up early enough to feed him, lol. By afternoon it looked weird so he went at lunchtime to his own primary care - they gave him an antibiotic shot and two scripts because it DID look red. Toward the end of the day it had started to streak toward his elbow. A call to the after-hours told him to go to the ER. HE went and what was at his elbow two hours later was halfway up his bicep. He ended up in ICU (due to his age - over 70) with IV antibiotics for three days.

I think if you keep an eye on it you'll know when it's gone bad. How is it now? Hopefully you're just fine!

Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

Spoiled cat! ;) My gang of cats just meow, try to get in the house, and jump on my ankles, lol.

When you say that it looked weird, do you mean blisters, yellowish, etc? The scratches have pretty much disappeared. Where she bit me is swollen more than my other wrist which was unscathed. I applied neosporin this morning around 7; 3.5 hours later, it is less warm but pink compared to the other wrist. But, it's not streaking upward.

It just hurts a lot, but that may be due to where she bit me. Pics to follow...it's been 16 hours since she bit me.

Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

I would def do the very warm soaks to draw out anything that may be inside and to help with the soreness.My mom had full blown cat scratch fever years ago and in addition to abx they had her do the moist heat and soaks

Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

Groan. So I need to be on the lookout for up to 10 days. I don't have time to get sick!!! :banghead

Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

You could also just go get abx and then not get sick. They will automatically give you abx for an animal bite. I was bitten by a dog a year ago and got abx prophylactically and never had a problem.

Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

Do you think that I would have to actually go see the dr, or could I just tell them that my cat bit me and ask them to call in a script?


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---------- Post added at 11:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 AM ----------

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10...a2ef37d27c.jpghttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/10...69db10b1d0.jpg for a comparison.


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Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

Depends on your doctor. I know mine would call in a script for me. Will they call in scripts for other things?

Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

I don't know. I have never had to ask.


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---------- Post added at 11:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:30 AM ----------

Just called now; I would need to be seen.


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Re: my cat bit me; do I need to see a Dr?
 

I would circle the area that is red in pen so you know if the redness is spreading. My mom ended up in the hospital for a week on IV antibiotics from a cat bite so you should definitely monitor it closely.

---------- Post added at 10:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:01 AM ----------

Looking at the picture it seems that it is red much farther down your arm than just at the wrist. I think you should go in and get antibiotics.