Happy Independence Day
I will be spending part of mine at the walk-in clinic. You see, yesterday, I happened to be holding the kitty when the dog decided to introduce itself. Cat was not a fan. And, in its escape attempt, bit me. Wake up this morning and where I was bitten is swollen, red and ouchie. So, based on my Google fu, I think I have this.
Update: Yup, that’s what I got. Tetanus shot. Antibiotics and if no improvement by Monday, a potential hospital stay. Cat bites are apparently serious business.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Take care and get better.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Get well soon. And if you feel like turning that cat into a “rabbit” stew, I’ll send you the recipe.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Next time: peroxide immediately, followed by soap and more peroxide. Neosporin, then cover the wound for the first night. After the first night, keep it clean, but uncovered, so that it’ll dry out and heal.
I hope you start feeling better. My cat bit the shit out of me on Wednesday. It sucks.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Yes, holding a cat while introducing it to any other animal is asking to have your skin ventilated.
For future reference, anything more than a scratch from a cat should be cleaned w/ some form of anti-bacterial immediately.
Take pictures.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:33 am
i was not trying to introduce them. i was carrying kitty to litter box and my wife failed to let me know the dog was upstairs.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Sorry, but I’m having a hard time not laughing.
“Cats are assholes”….
July 4th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Well, just enjoy your weekend, take your medicine religiously, and try to resist further Googling of your ailment. It will only scare you because of the worst-case scenarios you will find. Don’t worry. You’re young, well-nourished, and not immune-deficient and you will be just fine.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:08 am
You could Google “antibiotic of choice for Pasteurella multocida” to see if you got the right stuff, I suppose, without much harm in that.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:15 am
At least it wasn’t a human bite. Those are the worst.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Strange. I have a Ted Nugent song running through my head now…
July 4th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Sorry to hear it. Mrs. X has been hospitalized that way twice, both times likely as a result of not taking the bite seriously enough when it occurred. Here’s hoping the antibiotic does it magic without a hospital stay in your case.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Cat bites are serious. They don’t brush their teeth after meals and have a LOT of nast stuff in their mouth. Hope you get better.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Cat scratches can get nasty, too.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Real men have dogs. Liberals and metrosexuals have cats.
Your dog may be suspicious as well. No self-respecting dog ever wants to meet a cat.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
July 4th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Growing up my mom always had cats. And invariably I would get scratched. And just as certain, the next day I’d have huge welts where the scratch was.
Was only bitten once, right in the middle of the forehead (dad drop kicked the cat off the deck in his anger – he isn’t a cat person). I still have the scar. It makes me look sorta indian. Like one of those rubies. Yet its not. And of course I have blonde hair and blue eyes. But you get the idea.
Take care and take care of it.
July 4th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Must be something in the air, everyone’s injured somehow… myself, I’m just getting over a few week’s worth of chemical acneiform folliculitis (WASH THOROUGHLY after sanding masonite or hardboard, that dust is worse than fiberglass because it *kills* the follicle it gets into, linseed oil and/or formaldehyde-urea residue)
Anyhow, i can’t express the usefullness of hydrogen peroxide. Keeping a fresh would absolutely sopping wet with it until the margins turn white may be overkill, but it has always nearly guaranteed no primary/secondary infections. Big fan of iodine, too… especially the deeper scratches, the drying action keeps it from weeping and lets it heal “up” instead of over and trapping debris/bacteria.
Anyhow, go get yourself a box of probiotic yogurt for once you’re done with your antibiotic runs. The noted infection gets massive doses of penicillin, and that kills gut flora. Only thing worse than being sick is being cured but being miserable with the runs.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Next time, bite the cat, look into its beady little eyes and say, “Who’s the bitch now, cat?”
It understands.
They all do.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Thanks for the reminder of why I don’t have cats, I commiserate. Get well soon.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Cats are great. 🙂
July 4th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
“Cat bites are apparently serious business.”
This is an animal that eats dead mice and then licks its butt for dessert; of course its bite is bad.
July 4th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
At least wait until the cat is big enough to make a nice pair of gloves before you strike back….
July 4th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Yogurt is always good to eat, but if you’re on amoxicillin or ampicillin, you might get diarhea as soon as you start taking it, and it’s not because it killed your intestinal flora, it’s just that it’s a bowel irritant. I recommend two shots of whiskey and two aspirins.
July 4th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Yikes. Good luck buddy. Hope you recover completely and quickly. Godspeed.
July 4th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
That sounds nasty. Hope you get better quickly.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Yeeoooch.
Happy 4th anyway.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Cat Scratch Fever ain’t just a song. Cats have a mind of their own. They aren’t pack animals like dogs are, so they mostly do their own thing, which includes biting their owners if they decide you’re interfering with their existence.
July 5th, 2009 at 2:39 am
The most worrisome organism commonly found in an animal bite is indeed Pasturella multocida, which is (thankfully) sensitive to several classes of common antibiotics. Augmentin (amoxicillin/clavulanate)remains the drug of choice, with ciprofloxacin or doxycycline as alternatives for the penicillin-intolerant patient.
Hydrogen peroxide is of questionable benefit since Pasteurella sp. aren’t anerobes and are little affected by high oxygen concentrations. While peroxide creates some mechanical debridement via effervescent-like action, it also devitalizes damaged tissues and retards wound healing. Povidone iodine products aren’t much better. Neomycin-containing salves are only a modest improvement over plain Vaseline and don’t do much for anything except the most superficial of wounds.
Cat scratch fever is caused by Bartonella sp. and responds well to Cipro, doxycycline or even plain old erythromycin. (I have some personal experience with this one.)
The best thing to do with an animal bite is wash thoroughly with soap and flush the wound with copious amounts of water. Then, get seen, get treated and go forth and sin no more.
Way back in a former life, before I lost my mind and became a physician, I was an EMT. In my ER training rotation, I remember seeing a kid who’d been in a barfight had gotten a small “tooth cut” laceration on a knuckle. It was no more than a quarter of an inch nick and he’d let it go for a day before coming in.
X-ray was consistent with fulminant gas gangrene. He went to surgery immediately and they saved his hand. A few more hours would have told a different tale.
That said, we can do a lot on an outpatient basis. A couple of years ago, my mother awoke with a bat gnawing on her face. (We think it got into her laundry in the pump house.) I took the phone call from the State Lab, and yes, it was rabid.
Being of Old Country stock, what annoyed her most was not the shot series (much improved these days), nor the fact that she had to reschedule her trip to Germany, but that she had to throw out her bed linens…
July 5th, 2009 at 4:17 am
Cat bites and scratches are very serious. You can actually die from them, although its unlikely
July 5th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Moriarty is absolutely correct about peroxide antiseptics and aerobic vs. anaerobic bacteria. But particularly with puncture wounds, debridement is extremely handy, and you’re not dealing with a pure culture, the cat could have had anything in it’s mouth… actinomyces, serratia, fusobacteria…
For “dirty” mild puncture wounds and scratches I also tend to hold it under hot water for a while and let it bleed. But then, I also tend to do other “barbaric” things as using 91% isopropyl to dehydrate same, iodine tincture, terpenes, etc.
July 5th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Nothing’s a better cleanser than your own blood. Just let it bleed. Then cover it.
Topical antiseptics are only good for minor cuts and scratches. A garlic clove, sliced in half and its juice rubbed on them is as good as anything you’ll get over the counter.
FWIW
July 5th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Take care and get better. Makes me glad I have a dog.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Ted Nugent song, hell:
http://www.lyricsdownload.com/triumph-the-insult-comic-dog-cats-are-cunts-lyrics.html
July 5th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Pay close attention to the wound site and surrounding tissue. My father (he works in the medical field) went to his physician and got a scrip for antibiotics after a cat bite on the back of the hand. Two days later red streaks are going up his arm and he went to the ER. Five days in ICU, seven days in step down and three surgeries later (including a tendon graft) my father went home. He can mostly close his hand, but the ring finger doesn’t bend all the way, and he has a cool scar and skin graft on his hand. All from a indoor only cat bite.
We have barn cats, but we treat all bites very seriously, so should you.
July 6th, 2009 at 8:02 am
As opposed to dogs? What breed do you have that uses tableware and toilet paper?
The biggest diff between cat bites and dog bites is that a quick warning nip from a medium-sized canine is a lot less likely to break through the epidermis than one from a cat…
July 6th, 2009 at 10:20 am
I thunked that dogs had an especially acidic saliva that is pretty much an antiseptic.
July 6th, 2009 at 11:07 am
I have both. I guess I’m a real metrosexual?
Moriarty, they gave me augmentin and a tetanus shot since i haven’t had one since I was about 12.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:45 am
I take it that since this is Tuesday, you’re doing ok?
July 7th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Yes. I have knuckles again!
July 7th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Oldie but goodie. Safe for work unless your boss is a cat.