The other night I was stretched out on the couch watching TV. Our two kitties, Sir Hubble Pinkerton and Dr. Hush Puppy were snoozing away, snuggled together under the afghan covering me. While I was trying to get more comfortable, my hand accidentally made contact with the sharp end of one of Dr. Hush Puppy’s canine teeth. While the impact itself lasted less than a second, the pain that followed was excruciating. It felt like I had been stabbed with an icepick. The wound kept bleeding almost as forcibly as Niagara Falls.
I generally don’t pay much attention to a cat scratch. I simply clean it, pour a little hydrogen peroxide on it and leave it alone. I have never had a serious cat scratch injury, so I think that just some minor attention is all that is necessary.
But cat bites are quite another story! Although technically Dr. Hush Puppy had not bitten me; since a cat’s mouth is loaded with extremely nasty bacteria that can cause serious – even life threatening injuries, being punctured by a tooth could have been just as dangerous.
Following the accidental puncture, I took ample precautions to make ensure that the wound wouldn’t become infected. Fortunately there were no major complications and it is healing well.
Dr. Karen Becker recently posted an excellent article on Healthy Pets that stresses the dangers inherent in cat bites. While they may not look serious, when bitten by a cat, the results can be devastating.
According to the article, a new study was recently performed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN concerning cat bites. While dog bites receive plenty of attention; cat bites can be just as perilous. Because their teeth are very sharp, when a cat bites a human the bacteria in the cat’s mouth are quickly “injected” into the person’s body. In fact, 30 percent of cat bite patients in the study required a hospital stay.
193 patients who went to the emergency room or went to a doctor for a cat bite on the hand or wrist between 2009 and 2011 were evaluated by the researchers. The most common sites for cat bites are on the wrist and hand, and these bites often become infected.
The majority of patients were female with an average age of 49. Approximately 33 percent of the patients were hospitalized for infection or other issues related to the cat bite. The average time for these patients to receive medical intervention was 27 hours.
Of the 193 patients who were in the study, 36 were admitted to the hospital immediately. 154 were treated with antibiotics and discharged. 3 patients received no treatment. The majority of the patients who were treated with antibiotics and released recovered uneventfully, but 21 of these patients eventually had to be hospitalized. Eight patients required additional surgery. The hospital stay for these patients averaged about three days.
Twenty-six of those patients who were immediately hospitalized underwent further procedures. Eight patients required more surgery.
Abscesses and loss of joint mobility were among the long- term complications from the bites that had become infected, and patients who were bitten directly on the joints or wrists were likely to have been hospitalized than those who were bitten in soft tissue.
In her article, Dr. Becker added that the authors of the study acknowledged that while the study was relatively small, the authors stressed that although a cat bite may appear to be innocuous, both patients and doctors should take them very seriously; especially if they appear inflamed or swollen around the bite area. It is worth mentioning, however, that the press got hold of this study and exaggerated and misconstrued it as reported by Michael.
Have you ever received a cat bite? What did you do to have it treated? Share your experiences in a comment.
Jo
- Photo credit: Flickr User CiCCiO.it
- Associated page: Cat and dog bite statistics
My previous female cat bit my hand on two separate occasions. It was when I lived overseas and the vets didn’t have nurses, so I was asked to hold my cat whilst they took blood samples. I don’t blame her for biting me. It was out of fear more than aggression. She was elderly and although she was a sweetheart the rest of the time, she was often a bit feisty at the vets.
Both times the wound bled and my hand swelled up like something out of a cartoon. I jokingly referred to them as “botox” bites because the skin on my hand was so smooth and taut – not a wrinkle to be seen. On neither occasion did I vist a doctor or use antibiotics and a week later, my hand had fully recovered.
I have to admit being sceptical about the horror stories of dangerous cat bites. (Curiously enough most of them seem to originate from the US.) When you take into consideration the number of shelter workers and vet staff worldwide who get bitten each day, if it were really so dangerous these reports would be much more widespread. The very reason such stories make the headlines is because they are so rare.
Obviously people with a compromised immune system need to take extra care, but sensible hygiene precautions and antibiotics are usually all that’s required to treat a cat bite.
In the UK, the NHS even has a page on their web site stating how the dangers of cat bites has been inaccurately reported. It also questions the validity of the research/studies quoted.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2014/02February/Pages/Dangers-of-cat-bites-overstated-by-media.aspx