Cat scratch alongside thumbnail

This is about human health, but cat related - hope that's ok!

Bruce was playing with his crinkly tunnel last night and my hand got in the way, and I have a couple of scratches, including one quite deep one along the side of my thumbnail.


I rinsed it well, applied Germolene and put a plaster on overnight, but it is still really painful this morning. I don't mean to exaggerate - it is only a tiny puncture wound that hardly bled - but the area looks a bit red, and it is really sore when any pressure is put on it.

Should I be worried? I had a tetanus jab about 8 years ago. Or shall I just stop being a wimp and put up with it?

Cat scratches can hurt a lot and even can itch they tend to get very red from a persons body having a reaction to it. I would just make sure to keep it clean and dry. As for the tetanus shsot they are good for 10 years although some dr.s will give another after 5 if the think its possible to contract it from the wound. Deep puncture wounds have more of the ability to tranfer tetanus then scratches. Like above id just keep it clean and watch for any signs of infection.

Thanks for the reassurance, april31. I will just keep it clean and only worry if it seems infected.

lol I just read back through my post whoa typos. Can we tell I just woke up? Your also very welcome glad to see you could read what I was trying to say.

Cuts and scratches around your nails are going to get really sore, every noticed how painful hang nails are?
Keep putting an ointment on it, the ones with pain reliever will help, and keep a band aid on it for a day or two. Since we use our hands for everything, this will help keep out infection.