Feral kitten attacked DH

We had to get the little feral into a trap so we could take him to be neutered. DH grabbed him and the little went psycho and managed to spin around and attack DH's hands - his hands are now covered in bite and scratch marks.

We finally got him, and he's in being neutered today.

We put antiseptic straight onto DHs hands, but I don't know if he should go to the doctor today for antibiotics as well. I have a bottle of amoxycillin that I got 2 weeks ago that I don't need, I'm half tempted to just make him take those - that's just what he'd be prescribed anyway. I'm more worried than he is.

Problem is that if he goes to the doctors, they will file a bite report and animal services will want to quarantine the kitten for 10 days (I can't handle this kitten for another 10 days), or maybe euthanise him since he hasn't had his rabies shot.

Maybe we'll go to the doctors after we've released the kitten...

Sarah, I wouldn't panic. When we brought our Simba home we had to corner him to catch him in order to isolate him to one room. He was WILD! Hubby grabbed him, he bit really deep so hubby dropped him, daughter caught him, he bit her really deep so she dropped him too, I caught him and although he bit me I held on and carried him quickly to our bedroom and closed the door. Bottom line, our daughter ended up getting blood poisoning and needed antibiotics but neither hubby nor I had any issues. Naturally we had all cleaned our wounds. If you have cleansed the wound well, then I personally would just wait and see - a lot will depend on your husband's general health overall I believe and his ability to fight off an infection.

We just noticed that one of the bites actually went through DHs fingernail and broke the skin underneath. I think that one's likely to get infected, so he agreed to go to the doctor tomorrow if I can get him an appointment.

He's covered in scratches and bite marks - I feel so bad!

It is a good idea to go to the doctor. When I got bit on my finger it got badly swollen so we went to the ER and they put me on an IV for about an hour and a half and then gave me antibiotics. They said cat bites are very bad since the holes are so small.

Manda

The germs in a cats mouth are a VERY VERY bad thing. If money is a problem, I understand, If you have medical, get to the Dr.
Cat scratch feaver is not just a song. You can get it from kittens claws.
Please be careful.

The Cat Site - Cat Bites
TheCatSite.com - Cat Bites ... Cat bites in your finger joints hurt a lot. ... Statistics show that 80 percent of all cat bites get infected. ...
www.thecatsite.com/general/catbites.html - Cached
From our own site here.
K.

Ouch! I'm so sorry! that he won't get infected and all will be fine. I think the decision to go to the Doc is the right one.

...but to avoid the hassles you're worried about, I would definitely tell the doctor it was a kitten on the side of a road (somewhere that there are plausibly wild cats) that you were trying to rescue and it got away. Don't know if you ever saw this thread, but just FYI: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...ght=quarantine

It's hard to work with gloves with those long sleeves on them - but they're part of our stock accessories.



Laurie

Originally Posted by LDG

Ouch! I'm so sorry! that he won't get infected and all will be fine. I think the decision to go to the Doc is the right one.

...but to avoid the hassles you're worried about, I would definitely tell the doctor it was a kitten on the side of a road (somewhere that there are plausibly wild cats) that you were trying to rescue and it got away. Don't know if you ever saw this thread, but just FYI: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...ght=quarantine

It's hard to work with gloves with those long sleeves on them - but they're part of our stock accessories.

Laurie

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I was thinking of Lee when DH got bitten, and have been worrying about blood poisoning. I'm going to pick him up from work and take him to Urgent Care so they can decide what we should do.

I think we will tell them something that implies we DON'T have the kitten in our bathroom...

I couldn't get an appointment, so we went to Urgent Care who were closed (he didn't finish work until late), so we had to go to the ER. They cleaned the wounds, were quite impressed with the number of them, and gave him some antibiotics to take for 5 days.

Better safe than sorry. When we capture our wild ones we use gloves. My brother has pairs of these hazmat gloves from his environmental work that are perfect. Sachi fought like a crazy demented demon but no one got bitten because of the gloves.
Those gloves are a tad expensive for cat catching but any work gloves would do.

In two months Ferris will have been with me for two years, and i have only JUST become able to put him in a carrier without using gloves that cover my forearms.

Ferals are not, and can not, just be treated like other cats, as you and DH are finding out.

If you haven't already done so, please read the archives at messybeast.com, the section that covers ferals. It really helped me to take care of Ferris the way he needed me to, back when he was still a kitten.

Best of luck!

We tried using protection for our hands first, and DH decided at the last minute to take them off after not being able to grab the kitten properly and use his bare hands. I yelled at him to stop because I knew he would get bitten, and it wasn't worth it, but it was too late by then.

I would recommend that anyone who intends to handle unknown cats on a regular basis to at least invest in a pair of welding gloves. You can get them for as little as $5 at places like Harbor Freight.

this is something that makes me even more glad to be in UK, no rabies worries ever... since we a rabies free.

How old does a kitten have to be when caught to counted as feral? Indy was 2 months when we caught him and is now uber human orientated, very much a snuggle puss.

Sorry to hear about hubby! Hope he heals soon!

If you trap again, just take the trap to the vets.... alot easier, safer, and less stress on the cat.

I did take the trap to the vets - but I'd had the kitten for a week by that stage with the plan of socialising her along with her brothers and sister. The rest of the siblings are getting good, but we decided to release her with her mum again,

Originally Posted by sarahp

I think we will tell them something that implies we DON'T have the kitten in our bathroom...

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I agree, don't tell. Pru bit Blaine when he trapped her and he had work gloves on. It was his fault, he moved her from a trap to a cat carrier, he just wasn't thinking. He went to the vets, told the truth and then had to wait for over an hour until they heard back from the state whether to euthanize or quarantine. That was a long hour.
It's good your DH got treatment rather than waiting.
The strange thing now is that Pru is the easiest of our cats to take to the vets. She makes no noise, and just tries to stay small so no one will notice. The other two could take a few lessons.

Originally Posted by Indys Mamma

this is something that makes me even more glad to be in UK, no rabies worries ever... since we a rabies free.

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With a cat bite/bites I'd be more worried about an infection than rabies anyway. Cats' mouths carry a lot of bacteria and when they bite you, their teeth act almost like little hypodermic needles injecting that bacteria into your tissues.
Infections are common from cat bites and can be very dangerous. People have lost fingers or even had to have a hand or limb amputated due to a cat bite infection and they can even be fatal. IMO any puncture type would caused by a cat bite should result in visiting a doctor. They often will prescribe antibiotics as a precaution.

Cat bites are nasty--they are mostly puncture wounds which seal up and become infected quickly. It doesn't help that a cat's mouth is a virtual bacteriological zoo.

If bitten by a cat in such a way that a deep puncture wound is created, seek immediate medical treatment--you will need antibiotics. Scratches and surface bites can be treated with ointments and normally do not require medical attention beyond that.

Use safety equipment if you have it. And you should at least have thick, heavy gloves. I use kevlar-lined gauntlets I purchased online from ACES. Even a kitten can give you a nasty bite--I've seen that--so treat every rescued cat as potentially hostile until you know otherwise. And while doing so, safeguard yourself....