Cat bites -they're the devil's spawn.

[call2arms]

So tough day at work. I got bit twice!! Ironically by to cats that looked exactly the same - tabby and white outside cats that growl at you when you look at them crooked.
Anyway, the first one got me on my midfinger knuckle and my index on the left, the knuckle has 2 puncture wounds on top, the index a nice deep wound on the fleshy top part as well. Other cat gor me with a muzzle on! and it's only a scratch at the tip of the other index.
I scrubbed all wounds with a chlorexhidine brush for 10 minutes, and I flushed the knuckle wounds with a soft catheter and 0.05% chlorex. Bandaged knuckle and index #2 cause they were bleeding pretty intensively, with hibitane ointment.

Right now the knuckleis slightly puffy but it's got a slight purple shade and it's oozing lymph when I bend it, but won't go further than a 45 degree angle. But I just removed the bandage. It's closed on top unless the skin kind of pulls apart (like when I try to bend it). Index #i is pretty puffy and red, wound is closed already. Index#2 doesn't worry me.

Anyway I was told to help myself in the clinic antibiotics (amoxicillin + clavulanic acid combo, 500mg - dose provided by a pharmacist) so I started that at 4pm... Where's the breaking point where you decide to go to the hospital? If it gets more swollen? If it starts pussing out? I circled the red areas with pen, to see if it grows. It's a bit painful, I took a naproxen 2 hours ago.

I just want to avoid waiting 8 hours in an emergency room (it's how it goes in Quebec, everyyy time, our health system sucks) if it's not necessary...

[BullyLady]

For me, with cat bites, it was when it got puss in it. The first time I ever got bit it was on a knuckle, the next morning I woke up and it was leaking puss. I went to the doc and got a tetanus shot and a ten day supply of antibiotics. My vet said the same thing about the abx, so I was like meh..... I can do without the office visit and just take what they would have given me anyways. LOL

[mnp13]

if the red circle grows, if you get any red streaks, if you get any trails that follow veins, if the skin stays normal color but gets hot, shiny or "tight" looking...

I got two fang holes in my palm from Caroline's cat and within two hours all four fingers were so swollen I couldn't bend them and I had streaks up my arm. BAD stuff.

get some sea salt and soak your hand in warm salt water to help them drain. The water should be "potato chip salty"

[TheRedQueen]

Ooooh....no advice, but hopefully everything stays clean and non-infected!

[PoodleMaMaKat]

The Amox/Clav 500mg three times a day is the first line antibiotic for cat bites. So you've got that part right! You should see the antibiotic starting to take effect within 24 hours. Usually its a 5 day course if no infection is identified.

If you develop a fever, the swelling worsens, it doesn't improve after 2 days, or you have pus (clear to clear/bloody fluid is ok) I'd go to the ER. I've seen cat bites get really nasty, so if you think this isn't right... it probably isn't and go to the ER.

[call2arms]

I got bit at about 2pm, here's what it looks like now, it feels worse than it looks, definitely no red streaks:

10 day antibiotics? The vets fom work told me to do 3 weeks! I just bought a big pack of yogurt...

[Malli]

yeah I'd do a while since the infection might be pretty deep...

[call2arms]

Mostly what worries me is the fact that the knuckle wounds have closed so fast, I was bit "at an angle" so the skin flaps have kind of just stuck back together right away. I like it to air out, keep those anaerobic suckers from reproducing...

A girl from work spent a week in the hospital with IV fluids and antibiotics after a cat bite, apparently her whole forearm was swollen. But Michelle's red streaks are pretty scary too. Needless to say I scrubbed the wounds like there's no tomorrow and that catheter went right in to flush them. I have a newfound empathy for the poor guys that get their abscesses flushed out - even 0.05% chlorex burns like hell.

[mnp13]

I'd keep soaking them with the sea salt - that will help get them to drain. You're right about them sealing up, that is the worst thing for a bite wound. when you bandage them, goup on neosporine or betidine ointment, they help "draw" from the wound as well.

[Malli]

well remember most abscesses are scarred and dieing tissue so not so painful

[iluvk9]

How the heck did those cats draw purple circles,too????

[call2arms]

I think my beef-flavored Clavaseptin are already kicking in, or I did a damn good job at disinfecting this, cause my finges are better this morning - not throbbing, still puffy and red but better. I didn't bandage them overnight, just aired them out. Yay! No hospital in my near future, I think!

The cats are very agile with pens, Joyce. This one drew his target before he bit.

[TheRedQueen]

[quote="call2arms"
The cats are very agile with pens, Joyce. This one drew his target before he bit.[/quote]

Hahahahahaha...good comeback!

[plebayo]

I've been bitten a few times and as long as you hit the antibiotics right away I think you're usually okay. I think you run into more problems when you DON'T take any antibiotics. Also if your cleaning job wasn't very good.

As an owner of a tabby and white cat who is considered a WATCH cat where I work I can freely say tabby & white cats have problems respecting their moms! My cat has to either be brought in the tank or I put a harness on him and we squish him with the gloves and poke him because as soon as we walk in the door of the clinic he gets angry, he will even challenge me. He's fine at home but his head starts spinning when I take him to work.

[amalie79]

I seem to remember an episode of Calling All Pets where she explains a theory that the more white and non-camouflage coloring, the more domestic, and vice versa, making tabbies super wild! I know mine is-- we've had to sedate her for simple exams . But I still think they have the best personalities.

The last time I was really bitten by a cat, I was in high school and trying to catch a very, very feral kitten. He latched on and wouldn't let go, even while I slung my hand in all directions; he just flopped and flopped and flopped. When I got to the doctor, I asked about rabies. His response: "Hmmm. I don't think cats can get rabies..."

Lat time I ever went to that dude.

[TheRedQueen]

I seem to remember an episode of Calling All Pets where she explains a theory that the more white and non-camouflage coloring, the more domestic, and vice versa, making tabbies super wild! I know mine is-- we've had to sedate her for simple exams . But I still think they have the best personalities.
.

Interesting...I know that they say that red cats (orange, marmalade, torties) are "crazier" than other colors...which is very true in my house.

My cat with the MOST white (and no tabby markings) is the wildest...he still won't let me pick him up...the tabbies and torties are angels about it...

[call2arms]

Seems like it's now slightly swollen up to the first phalange that attaches to the hand. Poop.

My tabby cat is pretty harmless, he's declawed all 4 (that was done before we adopted im) and he has about 3 teeth left in his mouth. I love him. Not that he would do anything anyway, he's the terrorized-lay-flat-like-a-pancake type cat.

Latching kitten sounds painful... Ouch.

NOt sure about the color related to behavior thing... But the wildest ones are for sure the abyssinians, bengals and burmeses. For the most part they're all crazy in their heads when they're at the vet. There's a bengal at work that requires 3 people, a muzzle, the gloves and a towel to do a nail trim. Yes. A nail trim. I've seen an Abyssinian be euthanized at 3 years old, he constantly attacked his owners (not to play). They had consulted a beaviorist, given medications to try and help with anxiety, they had let him outside, provided him with everything they could, and still nothing worked. He was a scary cat, and I'm not scared of aggressive cats.

[plebayo]

I do think the color theory holds truth because I've definitely known orange cats and torties to have major attitudes. However I have been bitten by a white cat, a tabby cat, and a gray cat, we have a client who has 3 black cats and ALL of them are bad. Then of course there's my declaw theory which is that if the cat is declawed it makes them angry too. I think it's safe to say you should just be prepared for things to go bad with a cat, they just don't do well with stress haha.

Seems like it's now slightly swollen up to the first phalange that attaches to the hand. Poop.

My tabby cat is pretty harmless, he's declawed all 4 (that was done before we adopted im) and he has about 3 teeth left in his mouth. I love him. Not that he would do anything anyway, he's the terrorized-lay-flat-like-a-pancake type cat.

Latching kitten sounds painful... Ouch.

NOt sure about the color related to behavior thing... But the wildest ones are for sure the abyssinians, bengals and burmeses. For the most part they're all crazy in their heads when they're at the vet. There's a bengal at work that requires 3 people, a muzzle, the gloves and a towel to do a nail trim. Yes. A nail trim. I've seen an Abyssinian be euthanized at 3 years old, he constantly attacked his owners (not to play). They had consulted a beaviorist, given medications to try and help with anxiety, they had let him outside, provided him with everything they could, and still nothing worked. He was a scary cat, and I'm not scared of aggressive cats.

Bengals aren't so bad as long as they aren't in the F1-F3 generations... as long as they are bred super far out they aren't too bad. We've had some Abby's with attitude so I hear ya on that. I don't see why people would expect different they're even less domesticated that the average house cat and when you think about it cats really aren't "domesticated" like dogs, they're still independent and can pretty much survive on their own - cats do the feral thing a little bit more easily than dogs do.

I don't know if heat or cool would be better but you should probably google it and either ice your hand or soak it in warm water. It's going to be sore. My sister has been nailed in the knuckles/fingers many times and it definitely stays sore and swollen for several days and gets pretty stiff too. Hope you get better soon and your fingers don't fall off :p

[mnp13]

Have you salt soaked yet?

[call2arms]

no. i will

I did remove some of the skin that was dead that was closing off the knuckle wounds though, while I was showering, so now they're airing out at least. I also stuck my shower massage in the wounds. Does that count for a soak? I'm going at my moms this afternoon, I'll bring salt with me and I'll soak for real.


Cats... There's also a theory about the sire, something about the "domesticated/tame" gene being transferred by him. So if the tom's a wild beast, chances are that the kittens will too. I'm not sure how much sense it makes. To me there's just nice cats, and aggressive cats. Unfortunately yesterday was an aggressive cat day.