feral cat bites?

lizard lady

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Well yesterday I went and got a have a heart trap as I discovered 5 females that were feral. I soon learned these would be the cause of a million more litters and I would never be done with the cats and kittens if I did not get these ones fixed. Well I got one trapped to take it and have her spayed. In the middle of transferring her over to a large dog crate, she bit me. The bite is very deep and in my ring finger on the knuckle. It swelled up extremely painful in the middle of the night. Does anyone have any suggestions or should I actually go and see the doctor? It does not look infected,, just real swollen. I have had snakes and iguanas bite me and not have it swell like this, lol.
 

epona

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Yes go to see a doctor ASAP. You may need rabies shots, and it stands an extremely high chance of becoming very nastily infected as cats have a lot of bacteria in their saliva. Please get medical treatment without delay.
 

houseofcats

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You need to see a Dr.! We never transfer our ferals from a trap to a carrier. First because of situations like yours and second our vets will not take a feral unless it's in a trap. Also if it does go to the bathroom as least it can run out of the trap vs. a carrier. Plus the fact there's the risk of the cat escaping during transfer.

Bless you for taking the time and effort to do this. Please see a Dr. ASAP, you can become very ill from cat bites.
 

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You don't need a rabies shot, but you do need to be sure your tetanus is up to date. Cats carry a large amount of bacteria in their mouth and so when you get bit, the first thing to do, is to open that bite and make it bleed as much as possible. Hot water is necessary to scrub it, so is Betadine, Hydrogen Peroxide and Epsom Salts. Immerse your bite into hot water and epsom salts and soak it for at least 15 minutes, this will help draw out the bacteria. If after applying the scrubs and the antibiotic ointment your wound is red, throbbing, swollen or hot, GO TO THE ER. Be aware that in most states you have to report bites and the animal could be seized, although it is rare they seize cats and quarantine them. They will seize dogs. Rabies is pretty rare in most states, but your health department would know of any recent outbreaks.

Based on what you said, you should already be in the ER room getting this treated. Also ask them to test you to see if you are susceptible to cat scratch fever (it's a simple blood test)
 
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lizard lady

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Well my tetnus is up to date because of the reptiles, lol. However I did make an appointment for the doctor, I will see him in 2 hours. It is not red, just swollen and painful. She got me pretty deep. They are the ones who requested I put her in a carrier, I thought it crazy, but thats what they wanted. I will have to tell them forget it next time.

Now,, does anyone know if female ferals are meaner than the males? I have her kittens, they are about 14 weeks old and in one day all the males are already purring and the females are psycho! I obviously can work with the males to get them to a decent cat rescue, but I think the females are going to have to be trap, spay and release. How sad,, what an awful life for them.
 

hissy

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I don't know if you can call them meaner. When they have kittens they are very protective. Most feral cats in my area, aren't true ferals, they are strays with different levels of feral tendencies. You take any cat and dump them in the world
as so many asses do, they will revert to their feral state in order to survive. They are not mean, they are low on the food chain and they either fight or flee.

Some tips, don't look them in the eyes directl. If you do, be sure you blink several times slowly, lower your head and back away.

Use gloves or even a handi helper to change out water, give food, or see to their basic needs. You want wildlife gloves of heavy leather with several layers.

Remember, you are taking these cats out of what they feel is their comfort zone (outside) and putting them in a large luxury cage- your home. Some of them aren't meant to be inside, others will adapt.

You need my book
I'm in the process of finishing it up now. It will be a guidebook for these type of circumstances.


Good luck!
 
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lizard lady

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Well the doctor was great,,lol. I got a nice painful antibiotic shot in the rump. I was given a twenty minute lecture about how cats mouths are dirty and bacteria ridden, lol. I thought dogs mouths would be bad but apparantly I was wrong. Lesson learned for me, lol. The finger is still pretty swollen and painful but I am on two other antibiotocs as well, so hopefully in time it will go down to normal size.

But, back to the cat that bit me,,, She was spayed today, so I won anyway, lol. I will release her back tomorrow, the evil little thing
 

jean-ji

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Trapping those cats for spaying and neutering is a wonderful thing for you to do. The antibiotic shot should take care of any problems.
My DH got bit transferring our feral from a trap to a carrier...don't ask.
In New York State all bites have to be reported and the state decides whether to quarantine or destroy the animal. They let us quarantine the cat, thank goodness, but it took an hour to hear back while waiting at the vets. That was one long hour. So rules are different for each state. It just seems so wrong that trying to save a cat could result in euthanizing. Leather gloves if ever again!
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by lizard lady

Well the doctor was great,,lol. I got a nice painful antibiotic shot in the rump. I was given a twenty minute lecture about how cats mouths are dirty and bacteria ridden, lol. I thought dogs mouths would be bad but apparantly I was wrong. Lesson learned for me, lol. The finger is still pretty swollen and painful but I am on two other antibiotocs as well, so hopefully in time it will go down to normal size.

But, back to the cat that bit me,,, She was spayed today, so I won anyway, lol. I will release her back tomorrow, the evil little thing
Good to hear it all worked out ok....but yes, please use wildlife gloves in the future. And good luck with the remaining 4 females...then you can start neutering the males.

Katie
 

ipw533

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ACES has excellent Kevlar-lined leather gauntlets that protect both the hands and the forearms. I used mine earlier today to recapture a feral kitten at a spay/neuter clinic that had escaped while receiving its shots. The kitten did bite the volunteer doing the injections; she suffered a puncture wound through her fingernail and will probably end up in the ER, despite the fact that we do keep antibiotics on hand for such incidents.

Cats have quite long fangs, an oral menagerie and very powerful jaws. Being clawed by a cat is painful enough, but those wounds seldom require more than the topical antibiotic found in most first aid kits; bites are another matter.

When working with feral cats, always err on the side of YOUR safety! Purchase and use the proper equipment, and learn safe handling procedures. The initial outlay may be a bit expensive, but not as expensive as an ER bill....
 
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lizard lady

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I have safety equipment tha I use on some of my reptiles that come in here. I use it now, lol. I guess I was just having a lack of braincells that day. That will not happen again. I am not a fan of shots in the rump, lol
 

siggav

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You're lucky a shot in the rump was enough.

A friend of mine got bit by her own cat during a party (the cat wasn't happy with all the people around and she was trying to move it to a different room).

She refused to go to the hospital until the next morning (wanted to enjoy the rest of the party) and she ended up in hospital for a few days needing IV antibiotics. Basically cat bites are serious and can get badly infected within hours. So always treat a cat bite seriously and go see a doctor to be on the safe side.
 

jennyr

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I was bitten last September by a feral who had attacked my cats, and I foolishly waded in to save them. It jumped on my head and bit and scratched me. Despite going immediately to the ER for cleaning, 12 stitches and antibiotics, two of the bites turned septic and I had to have the resulting abscesses drained and cleaned every day for 6 weeks. Not to frighten you, but cat bites are ALWAYS dangerous and must have medical attention. They are much more dangerous than dog bites.
 

carwashcats

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Originally Posted by lizard lady

Well yesterday I went and got a have a heart trap as I discovered 5 females that were feral. I soon learned these would be the cause of a million more litters and I would never be done with the cats and kittens if I did not get these ones fixed. Well I got one trapped to take it and have her spayed. In the middle of transferring her over to a large dog crate, she bit me. The bite is very deep and in my ring finger on the knuckle. It swelled up extremely painful in the middle of the night. Does anyone have any suggestions or should I actually go and see the doctor? It does not look infected,, just real swollen. I have had snakes and iguanas bite me and not have it swell like this, lol.
I would just watch it, and clean it no peroxide though! My nephew was bit
by his own cat, and his hand swelled pretty good, no peroxide the dr. said,
soap and water, neosporain. It did go down a few days later!
 

strange_wings

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I was bit a few years ago, luckily having watched some tv shows which had discussed exactly how bad a cat bite is... I went to the ER.

Because I got there promptly, they only had to soak it and I was given augmentin 800mgs to take for a few weeks. My hand still got infected, swelled, turn nasty bruised colors, and really hurt.
Never underestimate a cat, even if you know the cat well. Even your sweet cuddly house cat/kitten will bite if extremely scared or in pain.

The reason you're not supposed to use peroxide on puncture wounds is because it can push debris and bacteria back into the wound.

(and yes, I got the lecture too..
)
 

ipw533

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At the last clinic I had to recapture a frightened and freaked-out kitten who did not want her innoculation shots. She clawed the crap outta me but was unable to bite me--scruffing works, but it has it's limits....
 

catcaregiver

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I didn't give cat bites a lot of thought until I saw a show on Animal Planet where a woman's cat impaled itself on a wrought iron fence. She grabbed the cat to pull it off the fence and of course the cat bit the crap out of her hand. She took the cat to the Vet and he saw her hand and told her not to even wait around to see how her cat is, get to the ER now! It's a good thing she did because even though she got treatment pretty quickly, her hand still got infected and she had to have a couple of operations. She was in serious danger of losing her hand. Fortunately she didn't. Her cat survived too.
 

ipw533

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I had a feral who was being recovered in my bathroom that escaped from her crate--the whole business was a nightmare, but in the end we had to recapture her by hand (I didn't have nets and the like then); we were using fireplace gloves. The Other Half took a really nasty bite to the forearm and it did get infected; fortunately we were able to treat it with OVC antibiotics and an ER visit wasn't necessary--but we no longer take such chances....
 
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