A good friend of mine casually mentioned over IM about two weeks ago that he had been bitten by a cat on his thumb. Not a big cut, just one fang straight into the meat of the thumb but he mentioned that it had swelled a little and was sore. I informed him that he needed to see a doctor that day, cat bites or scratches no matter how small are nothing to take lightly.

Two weeks later he IMs me again. 2 trips to the ER, 8 trips to his general practioner, 3 different kinds of anti biotics, permanent nerve damage, a possible bone infection (he'll find out about that part tomorrow), facing a possible amputation, and well over $900 in co pays and he's still dealing with that cat bite from a family pet.

The thing that struck me the most is that he said even though he has had cats all his life. "I had no idea cat bites were so dangerous."

So as a PSA I thought I'd write this. Please be careful out there if you are bitten or scratched by a cat no matter how minor the injury. Seek medical attention immediately if you suspect even a minor infection. It has nothing to do with vaccines and everything to do with the nasty bacteria that are present in your cats mouth and stuck to their nails.

Just another reason I'm a dog person and it's the reason why I don't groom cats.

That's terrible, I hope he gets better and doesn't face a bone infection or amputation.

It's very true though. I know someone who was hospitalized by cat bites (he cornered and tried to grab a feral - he knew better, he trained me).

I think cat bite should equal antibiotics, even if it's not serious. Just because it can turn so bad.

Wow, ER and possible amputation seem quite extreme. I agree though, domestic cat bites are the worse. I was bitten by a kitten once and her tooth sunk right through the outer edge of the nail on my thumb and hit the bone. Blood was all over the place and it stung for almost a year. I did not go to the ER, just dowsed a bunch of peroxide and iodine for days and lots of bandages. This kitten, of course, learned that biting enabled her to escape the bath and threatened to bite every time.

Oddly, bigger cat bites are very painful, but from my experience handling cheetahs and lion cubs, not as bad. Flesh is torn, but then again, this was in the course of play and not fight.

When did you get to handle cheetahs and lion cubs? That is SO cool!!!!!

As a side note, the guy I know who was hospitalized (for a week and a half) used hydrogen peroxide heavily and cleaned constantly too. I was going to say 'men! they just don't want to go to the doctor!' but that would be sexist and unfair of me (plus I got accused of the same thing on another board).

I handled cheetah and lion cubs when I worked at the Cheetah sanctuary in Kenya. Although we primarily focused on rescuing cheetahs and reintroducing them to the wild, from time to time we came across orphaned lion cubs (and other big cat cubs) due to poaching and we would rescue them as well, of course. We were one of the first programs to experiment with using bull mastiffs to deter big cats (mostly cheetahs) from domestic livestock.

It was very hard work and lots of fun. I have tons of scars on my back from the cubs practicing their pounce.

Wow. That is really cool. I may pm you with questions!

A good reminder, Melissa. Cat bites, even superficial, minor ones, aren't anything to play around with. I don't like handling strange cats, either.