Bitten by a feral cat, what should I do?

locky76

I picked up a sick feral cat by the scruff of the neck this afternoon and was moving her out of a boiler house when the dog ran over. Anyway the cat bit me on the thumb.
What should I do?
Leave it alone or call to the Doc?
It's swelling up a fair bit now.

Brego888

Contact your GP. You might need a jab for rabies, tetanus etc.

According to the movies you are now a werewolf.

White Clover

locky76 wrote: »

I picked up a sick feral cat by the scruff of the neck this afternoon and was moving her out of a boiler house when the dog ran over. Anyway the cat bit me on the thumb.
What should I do?
Leave it alone or call to the Doc?
It's swelling up a fair bit now.

Go to the doctor. Them cats are filthy.

goat2

how is the cat

johndoe99

did it break the skin, did you bleed?

did you wash the bite area ?, disinfect it ?

Tenigate

Tetanus booster if you haven't had one in 10 years.

locky76

johndoe99 wrote: »

did it break the skin, did you bleed?

did you wash the bite area ?, disinfect it ?

A deep bite at the knuckle, bleeding afterwards. I rinsed the wound and sprayed it with savlon.

Hack12

Wirse than a dog bite!!! Can get cellulitis or septicemia Get to doc or hospital asap

Reggie.

Priscilla Pitiful Saliva wrote: »

According to the movies you are now a werewolf.

That's a dog not a cat

johndoe99

locky76 wrote: »

A deep bite at the knuckle, bleeding afterwards. I rinsed the wound and sprayed it with savlon.

have a read:

https://www.tmb.ie/vaccinations/rabies

renmorenewbie

Something similar happened to my son with a dog a few months back. Cut 1cm long was washed out with detol immediately and covered in antiseptic cream. Contacted out of hours Dr and said would be ok til next day.
He woke up with swollen finger and was kept in 3 nights in hospital on IV antibiotics as infection was traveling down his hand.
Drs in A&E said least concern is tetanus but other nasty bugs and viruses.
I would see Dr. or go to A&E tonight better to be safe than sorry.

Eire Go Brach

Tetnis. You have 24 hours.

greysides

Doctor!! Especially as you say it's swelling, cats can harbour several nasty bacteria.
Rabies.... you need not worry about. Tetanus is usually deep penetrating wounds.

mrcheez

locky76 wrote: »

What should I do?

Write a will and get family affairs in order

Birdnuts

Reggie. wrote: »

That's a dog not a cat

Beware!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werecat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_People_(1982_film)

The latter film is rather racy and should only be viewed alone!!:D;)

SuperSean11

Cut your arm off and pray...one handedly

Reggie.

Birdnuts wrote: »

Beware!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werecat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_People_(1982_film)

The latter film is rather racy and should only be viewed alone!!:D;)

Might have to watch that for "research" purposes

longgonesilver

locky76 wrote: »

I picked up a sick feral cat by the scruff of the neck this afternoon and was moving her out of a boiler house when the dog ran over. Anyway the cat bit me on the thumb.
What should I do?
Leave it alone or call to the Doc?
It's swelling up a fair bit now.

How are you now?

uck51js9zml2yt

Op
What's the update?
A. Has your arm fallen off?
B. Have you died?
C. Did you seek medical aid?


If any or none of the above, ensure the feline is despatched and you tell everyone in the animals/pets forum

thedeere

cd07 wrote: »

Shoot the cat for a start then get to a&e they're disgusting vermin that shouldn't be here

Such a comment you’re vermin yourself.


Let's keep personal abuse out of this. Mod.

greysides

Mod: Okay folks, keep the posts a bit more sensible.

jcd5971

goat2 wrote:

how is the cat

Dead probably

endacl

Priscilla Pitiful Saliva wrote: »

According to the movies you are now a werewolf.

Reggie. wrote: »

That's a dog not a cat

I'm guessing you're not a taxonomist, Reggie?

Reggie.

endacl wrote: »

I'm guessing you're not a taxonomist, Reggie?

Nope

Dial Hard

Tetanus jab and a dose of antibiotics.

Cat bites are far more likely to get infected than dog bites as their teeth are essentially like hypodermic needles; you get a small, deep puncture wound that essentially self-seals, making them very difficult to clean properly.

I was bitten by a cat last year. Rang the doc and was told to come straight in for a tetanus jab. Got that and he told me to come back if it got infected (my doc is notoriously averse to prescribing antibiotics unless he absolutely has to). Of course, it did get infected so I was back in the next day. I later found out from a friend who's a nurse that best practice with cat bites is to prescribe a prophylactic dose of antibiotics in all cases as they're so likely to get infected.

All of which is a bit by the by in your case, as it sounds like it's already infected anyway.

Go get the jab. They do it in the shoulder these days and it's nowhere near as sore as people would have you believe.

positron

As already posted, GP and shots.

I don't th rabies would be a concern as it was eradicated from British Isles in 1974 or something like that. I got bitten by a stray dog while visiting India a few years ago and it caused crap load of issues. Started the course of anti-rabies jabs there, didn't know if I could continue it here etc. In the end, when I got back, my GP had to get meds specifically send over from the communicable desease centre to continue the course. I guess it's safe to say there rabies would be rare here.

Farmer

Hey locky76, how are you? Has this settled down?