Cat Bite - Will they really quarantee my cat?

crt · Apr 7, 2008

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate all the responses. I guess I lucked out because when I went to the ER a week ago Sunday, I really thought it was a bad clawing so that's what I told them. That's what I also told my dr. When I went to the dr. on Friday, I mentioned it looked more like a bite and she agreed. I asked her if she had to report it and she said, no, it's your cat and she is indoor. No need. Yea! The swelling in my leg and foot is finally starting to go down. They were huge and ugly. I think this last antibiotic shot worked some magic thank goodness.

Here is how the incident happened. I take Kabou out on my balcony with a harness on. I was sitting on floor next to her with a plant (that has thorns) between us. For some reason she decided to either jump over or through the plant but her harness got tangled and she may have hit a thorn. Either way, she went berserk, thrashing, spitting, growling, trying to get loose, and my leg was in the way. She was like one of those feral cats they catch on Animal Cops. She didn't mean to hurt me, she was just scared and trying to free herself. I don't think either of us will be going out on the balcony in a harness any time soon. If we do sometime in the future, the plants will be removed. Thanks again!

starryeyedtiger · Apr 7, 2008

You bet. I work for Animal Control in our area, so i can only really speak for my city's policy on things like that -but yes, if you went to your doctor and reported that you cat bit you- by law- your doctor is required to call the police dpt. and animal control to file a report. The animal will then be picked up by animal control and from there the injured owners are given two options.

Animal Control will hold them on a 10 day rabies quarentine watch at our location and charge the owner a boarding fee for each night, or you can board them at the vets office facility of your choice and pay their boarding fee. You can't transport them yourself though- AC has to.

The second option would be to have the animal put to sleep by Animal Control and we will then send off the body to the vets office to have the head decaptiated and then send the brain tissue off to Nashville (that's the city closest to us that does the testing) to test for rabies. So out of the two options, for your it sounds like your best would be the 10 day rabies quarentine and paying the boarding fees for it. You must prove that your pet is current on all vaccinations/rabies shots. If not you would be fined for that in our area. I'm sure most other cities work the same.

After the 10 day quarentine if the animal is found to be free of rabies symptoms- you will be summoned to court and have to appear before the judge to get your pet back depending on the situation, and you have to pay the boarding fees and any other fines before they'll turn the pet back over to you.

I'm sorry about your wound. I hope you feel better soon

I'm sure the kitty was just playing or it wasn't ment to be violent, unfortnately though- the rabies laws are required just as a safety precaution.

sarahp · Apr 7, 2008

Nikki - I assume you read the rest of the responses? Most areas don't do it the way your city does, and a lot of Animal Control places allow you to quarantine in your home.

Or were you talking about purely if the animal hasn't had its rabies shots?

enuja · Apr 7, 2008

I'm glad Crt is doing better and the cat is still at home.

My first cat's life was saved by quarantine at home procedures. We adopted a cat we named "Maggie" from the local humane society because she was docile and friendly. Unfortunately, we didn't know much about cats; she docile because she was very ill (I don't remember the quantity and type of parasites, but it was a lot of them, and including some that were new to the vet). My parents didn't have a lot of money, and were very unhappy at the money spent to get her better. Once she was better, we took her to the vet to get spayed. The vet called us at night after the spay surgery, telling us that Maggie had been found in her cage panting. They X-rayed her, and her diaphragm had ruptured during the spay surgery, allowing her internal organs into her lung cavity. They also found a BB pellet lodged in her body, leading to the hypothesis that the BB ruptured her diaphragm, and the surgery opened up the old internal wound and got the organs in the wrong place. It would be something like $400 dollars and a 50/50 chance of survival to try to do a surgery to fix it all, so my mother decided to have Maggie euthanized. It would cost money at the vets and be free at the Humane Society, so my mother decided to take Maggie to the Humane Society to be euthanized. As my mother was filling out the paper-work, she came to the "has this cat bitten anyone in the past 10 days" part of the form. Maggie had been choking on a collar, my mother had scratched her hand while removing the collar, so the Maggie had to be held for 10 days. My mother just couldn't deal with leaving Maggie to spend her last 10 days in a cage, so she took Maggie home.

Ten days later, we opened the front door and Maggie ran out and immediately scampered up a tree. Somehow, she'd got her organs back in place and seemed quite normal after that. She lived for another ten or so years and was euthanized at an old age because of some completely unrelated illness.

The city I'm living in right now has no vaccination requirements, rabies or otherwise, for cats or cat licensing (although they do for dogs). Local laws really do differ from place to place, and most places allow a rabies quarantine to occur at home.

yanoble · Apr 2, 2017

What about if your own cat has bitten you on three different occasions and hospital called it in and than animal control came to your house talking about euthaniasing??

jcat · Apr 10, 2017

yanoble said:
What about if your own cat has bitten you on three different occasions and hospital called it in and than animal control came to your house talking about euthaniasing??

Is the cat vaccinated against rabies? Indoor/outdoor or indoor only? I've been bitten a couple of times - twice by my own cat and once by a shelter cat - and there was no trouble because both were up to date on their vaccinations.

Quarantine at home or at a shelter probably depends on the official you're interacting with if it's your own cat.

di and bob · Apr 10, 2017

If your cat was vaccinated you wouldn't be having this situation. Was the cat bite intentional, did the cat attack you? Why on three different occasions did you go to a hospital? It required stitches? I have been bit MANY times because I have worked with so many cats and have never went to the hospital. The chances of rabies are so small they almost don't exist. I guess I'm just trying to understand why you would go to a hospital and report a cat that you do not want to put down. Animal bites should be cleaned thou roughly with soap and water and disinfected with peroxide or antibiotic cream. Unless the animal was acting extremely different and hostile, or is a strange one and never seen again, there is little need to go to that extreme. I don't know how animal control can tell you what to do with your own cat that has not been a menace to the public, unless YOU reported it to be that way.