Cat Bites

[CCoburn]

You have my sympathy, I know the scenario well.

I was bitten on the wrist about 12 years ago by a big Feral Ginger Tom that had taken up residence in the old stables at my last house. I was moving cardboard boxes and surprised it. It latched on to my wrist and it took all my strength to pry it off. It was all muscle, there was no fat to grab like most other cats have. Stocky a Fk! It had it's fangs around one of the tendons in my wrist so that "wrench" was what did most of the damage to me but shock and urgency took over.

The blood was everywhere and it had missed the main artery by a millimeter. So close. I still have the scar as a reminder.

After the shock and the worst of the bleeding had subsided, I cleaned the heck out of the wound, bound it tight and then soaked the bandage in alcohol based medical cleanser. After a few days and too many pain killers, my whole arm had swollen and become stiff and I knew the "woozy" feeling wasn't good so a trip to the doctors was in order. They weren't much use and were completely unsympathetic but I did get a prescription for antibiotics and a Tetanus shot just to be sure.

Luckily I have a strong natural immune system that means I heal fast and it was only about a week before I was able to unwrap the wound and let the air get in better. That was a relief. I also tried to keep using that arm to keep a good bloodflow in it but had no strength in my wrist for months. I wore a sling when resting but removed it to use my arm. Thank goodness I could still roll a cigarette!

Finding that Ginger Tom let me know why my three kitties wouldn't leave the house for ages. It must have taken up residence unaware to me. They would stare at the door and it puzzled me why they wouldn't go out.

I evicted the Tom with severe scare tactics and my three regained their liberty around the place. I did feel sorry for Tom after all this had happened. He was just scared and was just defending himself from what he saw as an enemy.

Get well soon CC. It could have been worse and I hope your recovery is swift and your friendship with your cat survives.

Thanks for the kind words.

I did also go through a really serious cat bite about a decade ago. Same symptoms as current, just worse. Also a wrist bite with lots of bleeding unlike this time. The bite was much more forceful as I was breaking up a cat fight. The redness eventually extended all the way up to my armpit. I think the worst was at the two or three day mark and then I was showing signs of recovery at around the fourth or fifth day - scary stuff!!

My last trip to the ER wasn't of "much use" either and they actually did more harm than good. Went there for tooth pain and all I got was some lady poking around in my mouth with a needle just making it worse. She was supposedly giving me a shot of novocaine but the experience seemed quite barbaric and I promptly halted the procedure and left - if I had only known about the acetaminophen ibuprofen combo then. I think at the time lots were faking pain for the pain meds so everyone else had to suffer because of that.

This doesn't affect the relationship with my cat, he's just a cat, and he's better off with me because I don't think most people would put up with this. I know most have their pets fixed at an early age and that would likely make a male cat less aggressive, but I'm in the minority there and not really into that - altering Gods' work to make a better pet.