Definitely should have known better...

When did I become such a dork?

Tonight my boyfriends mother stopped up to visit. She brought up their dog, Scotty, a westie, who is Rob's absolute favorite. Now, Grissom does fine with my mothers dog, who is used to cats. Scotty, however, Grissom did not get along with. He had only ever been introduced to one other cat, and apparently that didn't go over too well, they hissed and growled at eachother. Well, we knew this, so I picked Grissom up and was careful about keeping away from Scotty, who was still leashed. The idea was to let Rob visit and keep Grissom away. In fact Scotty had come in before I had picked Grissom up and was ignoring him, so I suppose I let my guard down. Anyway, Scotty jumped up on me, not going after Grissom, but just saying 'hi' and Grissom didn't like that. He lost it and I am going to have the scars to prove it. Sensing danger, he did what most cats would do and attempted to get down. I held on tighter, afraid to put him down till I got the door shut between him and Scotty. Well, he wasn't having any of that. I now am sporting 4 deep punctures in my throat, one in my cheek, one that practically peirced my lip, and an inch long gouge down the cheek which I'm still not sure if I should go and have stiches put in.

I know better. I really do, but a momentary lapse in judgement has cuased me pain and made Grissom surly. And now, to top it off, Rob is mad at Scotty for causing Grissom to jump and Grissom for scratching me. It's actually kind of amusing. Rob and Grissom are sitting at opposite ends of the couch pointedly ingnoring one another.

Amber, PLEASE do not treat these scratches and gouges lightly. Wash them well with antibacterial soap, then treat with betadine or hydrogen peroxide, pat dry with cotton and apply neosporin. Watch for redness around the area, bleeding that won't stop, pus, heat or swelling. You should go to the ER now, but some people don't think it is a big deal. Trust me, IT IS!

Oh Amber I second that ER visit! It is actually quite serious. Poor you!

Healing vibes.

Amber, I think you should go to a doctor ASAP. That scratch on your cheek sounds nasty and you don't want it getting infected or scarring. Here's a quote from Sue (grampngram):

#1 Don't wait if you suspect an infection from a cat scratch or bite. It can proceed into a systemic infection called cellulitis in a matter of hours. Once it gets to that stage, the patient is usually pretty sick. Clean it and get a Neosporin type antibiotic on it ASAP. Keep it clean and open. If you should begin to run a fever or notice any red streaks on your leg other than the scratch get to an ER or your Doctor STAT. Time is of the essence.

#2 Hydrogen Peroxide is a great antiseptic, but it doesn't foam because there is infection present. The reason why it foams is because blood and cells contain an enzyme called catalase. Since a cut or scrape contains both blood and damaged cells, there is lots of catalase floating around.

When the catalase comes in contact with hydrogen peroxide, it turns the hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen gas. The release of the oxygen gas creates the foam.

Please don't wait on this. I don't want to alarm you, but Jeff was bitten by one of our elderly cats a few years ago and came within just a few hours of losing his hand and part of his arm. We see about 2-3 cases of cellulitis a week through the ER, and they're hard to treat effectively without the use of heavy duty antibiotics like clindamycin, and failing those being effective, surgery becomes the only option.

Cellulitis is not something to fool around with. My mom got it, from scratches on her legs working in a rose garden. She had antibiotic IV administered at home by VON nurses for a week. And she was supposed to go on the vacation of a lifetime, to visit former neighbours in Sweden, and the doctor wouldn't let her go, because he said it could flare up again.

Man that sounds painful Please get those wounds seen about. Sending healing vibes to you.

Amber, I must further support that you see a Dr. immediately due to the risk of cellulitis. I developed this a couple of years ago from a small kitty bite on my right food. I thought absolutely nothing of it at the time, but within a couple of days, my foot was so red and swollen, I couldn't even fit it into a bedroom slipper several sizes to large. It was incredibly painful. When the infection and huge swelling had moved up to my knee and the pain we just way too much, I finally went to the Dr. He wanted to hospitalize me immediatly for IV antibiotics beause my leg could be at risk if it wasn't treated promptly, but I refused due to not having insurace at the time. He said I could care for it at home only because I was an RN and I had to come in daily for him to assess the healing. It took really strong oral antiibiotics and also if you've never had Rocephin in you rear end, you just don't know what your missing! Please get these places checked out! It could be very serious.

Amber-
Sending you healing vibes for the scratches. I have to agree that you should go to see the doctor, expecially with a gouge that you think may need stitches, it sounds serious.

Please let us know how you are doing.

Just an update...
I'm doing okay, today. I'm keeping an eye on things and if anything seems not right, I plan on going to the ER. But so far, so good. There hasn't been any swelling and not even puffiness around the scratches. The gouge mark seems to be healing fairly well. I think I was okay becuase as soon as it happened I doused everything with alcohol and have been keeping them all clean with that and covered with neosporin and band aids. My aunt was out today, who is a nurse, and she says the marks look okay.

I guess I am thankful that Grissom is so obsessive compulsive about keeping himself clean. But I am keeping an eye on the marks and at the first sign of something bad, I will go to the ER. I feel worse for Grissom becuase he is still sulky. But he was apologetic last night and came to bed with me and licked my face.