Got bit by a cat and I don't think he has rabies, but...

bythelion

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Hi! So this is a long story, but it's been a long few weeks dealing with this, so please bear with me. I'm seeking some insight and advice.

From the beginning:

My boyfriend and I live out in a rural area, not extremely out in the country, but mostly out with farmers, so there's a lot of stray cats and farm cats. One showed up at our door a few years ago and she ended up having a few kittens and it just kind of went on from there. Presently, we keep three of the girls inside with us (but they're free to go out whenever they like) and the others live on the porch. We feed them well and they're free to go explore, but they never really leave. They're ours, though, not strays. There are six (sort of seven) cats. Three inside, three on the porch, and one that recently showed up and is eating and becoming more social. We don't know anything about the new one. All the others, except the boy that I'll be talking about, went and got spayed and neutered and got their shots. 

About a year or so ago, one of our cats had a litter of three. Two girls and one boy. One of the girls got sick about six months to a year ago. She started to display symptoms like arrhythmia that you could see easily through her chest, more and noisier breathing sometimes, not exactly antisocial behavior (she just seemed sick, not like she didn't want to be around people. She just got a little more skittish and kept to herself more. It wasn't really a behavioral change, she just seemed like she didn't feel good), weight loss, lack of appetite, eye swelling, and then sores on her face. Not long after, maybe a few weeks after she got the sores, my boyfriend found that she'd passed away and we buried her. The whole thing spanned maybe a month or two.

Fast forward to a month or two ago. Snowball, the boy, started exhibiting the same symptoms. (The other sister in the litter has yet to display any symptoms.) We attempted to take him to the vet because I'd gotten close to him and didn't want him to die, but on the way in the carrier, he accidentally snagged my cheek when he flailed because he didn't like being picked up. (He's never, and still doesn't, exhibit any aggressiveness, so he didn't try to.) It was a very small cut, just enough to get the tiniest bit of blood. Unfortunately, the vet had no openings, so we let him go and planned on trying the next day. He wouldn't let us get near him the next day, though, so we took another cat that had a minor problem that we had planned on taking anyway instead. They prescribed her Amoxicillin for her urinary issue and we came home.

While at the vet's office, I had told the vet that I was a little paranoid and I had read that rabies could be transmitted through scratches, even though it's rare. I asked him if I should be worried, and he said he legally should tell me yes. He said that it's really uncommon for scratches to transfer rabies, but to go check with my doctor. I went and the doctor said that she understood my concern, but explained that administering a vaccine for something so small would put me at more risk than the scratch itself. She reassured me that I was fine and sent me home. Cool, no problem. (It seems a little silly, because he didn't really display rabies symptoms exactly and it was just a tiny scratch, but it just freaked me out because if you show symptoms, there is no cure. I wanted to take it seriously, no matter how small the chance was.)

We figure the cat really doesn't fit the bill for rabies and it's been two or three weeks since then. So I'm really wanting to take care of this cat. I bought a bunch of wet cat food to try and fatten him up and eventually we started putting Amoxicillin in his food and fed it to only him, in hopes that it would help somehow. (It wasn't prescribed by the vet, but he was dying and I felt desperate to help the poor guy. The other girl had plenty and got her dose.) Morning and night I would set a can's worth of wet food on the porch for the three outside cats, including him, who got his own little portion of medicated food. This has gone on for maybe a week. He really enjoys the food and I'm not sure, but he might possibly be gaining a little bit of weight? Either way, last night is the problem. 

I set the food down, but the other boy, Burt, is trying to eat his food. Normally it's no big deal so I pick it up and give it to Snowball only. I don't know if he was just really hungry or if Burt was bothering him, but he was using his teeth to get the food. It wasn't out of aggression. He got one bite no problem, but the second bite he got my middle finger with his four canines. He got the top and bottom of one side on the top third of my middle finger, above the joint, and the other two below the joint. I set the food down and run inside and start rinsing it. It starts bleeding a lot and coming out fast, but I let it rinse in the sink for a minute or two. My boyfriend brought me a paper towel and I put pressure on it and a minute or two later, it stops bleeding, so I wash it wish soap and water and put hydrogen peroxide on it. We put neosporin on two bandaids and cover it. That was at maybe 10:30 last night. It started to swell and get really painful, and at 1:30 I changed the bandaids and made them looser, since the bandaid sort of..made a tourniquet on my finger, which didn't help the swelling. It's been pretty hot and red and swollen since, but it was better when I woke up this morning. I've been mostly covering it and icing it since then.

I'm just not sure what to do about any of this. My boyfriend and I agree that he doesn't have rabies and I should just watch for infection and go to the doctor then. I'd prefer to not incur another bill until I really need to. I read that cats don't spread rabies until it gets to their brain, and by then you'd surely know they have rabies, right? It's been over ten days since the scratch and much longer since he started showing symptoms of whatever it is he has, and normally they're quarantined for ten days to watch for symptoms, so if ten days passes and he doesn't...I don't know, go rabid, then am I okay to stop worrying? The bite itself just isn't a big deal. I mean, infection is a big deal, but rabies is worse. I can handle infection and I can go to the doctor if I need to, but I'm just deathly afraid of rabies and I have anxiety anyway, so I'm just worried.

Any insight? Feel free to interject with any thoughts. I'd appreciate anybody's response. I was just looking for a little support or advice, so thanks for reading.
 

denice

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I really know next to nothing about rabies.  I assume these kitties are outdoor kitties and are not real social, why not just get them rabies shots then there would be know worries?  If that bite begins to show signs of infection you do need to go to a doctor.  Cats carry a bacteria in their mouth called Pasturella which can lead to a very aggressive fast moving infection.  Each state is different but I know that in Ohio doctors are required to report all animal bites and without the vaccination the animal is euthanized and their brain checked for rabies.
 

Willowy

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Yes, if he's shedding rabies right now, he'll be dead within 10 days. This is a known fact, no guessing on that. So just keep an eye on him for 10 days. If he happens to die within that time, I'd get his brain tested (the vet can send the body in for you). If he's still alive then, no worries! If he disappears within that time period. . .ugh, it's hard to know what to do in that situation. Talk to the vet and the doctor about it.

And, once he's feeling better, you should get him in for his shots so you don't have to worry.

Cats have a lot of very nasty bacteria in their mouths. They're basically poisonous :tongue2:. That's why cat bites tend to swell up and get infected. I've had bites swell up like that and not get infected, so infection isn't guaranteed. Keep it clean, hopefully you won't have to get treatment for it---doctors have to report animal bites, and they might make you put him to sleep or pay to quarantine him. But if it does get infected, don't hesitate to go in for treatment; without the right antibiotics it could get ugly.
 
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bythelion

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Thank you both so much for your answers! I really appreciate your help. Actually, we got every other cat spayed/neutered and gave them their shots except him, which is unfortunate. He ran off before we could take him, and we didn't have enough money at the time and one of the vet clinics was doing a sponsor-type program where other people donated the fees to get cats spayed, neutered, and updated on shots. Actually, now that I think about it...his sister, who had the exact same symptoms, got her rabies shot before she got sick. There's no way he has rabies, I would think. Still keeping an eye on him to be sure. That information about the shedding is really helpful, actually. Thank you. It put my mind at ease!

And my finger seems to be doing a lot better, which is good. No sign of infection, and it seems to be healing up really well. The swelling and redness are both gone, it's just a little bit tender around the wound. If it somehow takes a turn, I'll definitely head in to the doctor, but so far so good.

Again, thanks so much for the information! It was so helpful.
 

crazy4strays

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I completely agree about the 10 day quarantine. Since domestic cats, dogs, and ferrets are rarely carriers of rabies, the CDC protocol is to quarantine them for 10 days post bite rather than administer the rabies vaccines to the human. If they're not dead or showing signs of being infected in those 10 days, then you're good to go. 

http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/exposure/animals/domestic.html

It's actually more reliable, IMO, to do the 10 day quarantine on domestic animals than to euthanize and examine brain tissue. In the case of brain tissue, if the post office doesn't deliver the package to the lab on time, than the brain tissue can become too decomposed to examine. 
 
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