How To Treat a Cat Bite

Well I learned a very good lesson this morning. Chase can open almost-closed doors with his nose. This would have been much better to know before I was standing outside the front door with it wedged but not quite shut all the way petting Brian's cat Bloodbath. She (yes, Bloodbath is a girl...don't ask) kept nudging me to pet her, so I picked her up and began to scratch her ears and under her chin. About this time, I hear a noise behind me. As I turn around, I realize that Chase has gotten the door open. Unfortunately, before I can react, Bloodbath starts freaking out, biting my wrist and fingers. Instead of being smart and just dropping the cat, I calmly walked to the doggy gate that separates the bedrooms from the rest of the house and dropped Bloodbath safely behind it.

Cue the freak out. I looked down and basically went into a bit of shock. My wrist had 6 punctures, my first finger had 4. There was a scratch running up the back of my hand, and all of these were bleeding simultaneously. Happy Friday.

So instead of trying to treat my hand, I walked out to my car, got in, and left for work. After realizing that my hand was in searing pain was when the tears started. Not going to lie, blood freaks me out. So I called Brian (hope that voicemail doesn't freak you out too badly!) and then my roommate. No answer. So I walk into work, clock in, and wait for my boss to arrive. When she walks in, I calmly said, "Um, Tina? Please don't freak out but do we have a first aid kit?"

So, lesson for the day.

How to treat a cat bite! 

Step 1: Make sure you are in a safe area, where the cat is not going to continue biting/scratching you. Remove yourself from the situation as quickly as possible.

Step 2: Thoroughly wash the affected area/s with antibacterial soap and warm water. If the scratches or punctures begin to heal before you wash it, any infection may become trapped under your skin, causing even more medical problems.

Here is my arm with the puncture wounds. The ones on my wrist/arm are from biting, as well as the larger one on the left. The one above that is a scratch. I also had puncture marks on my fingers, but taking a picture of the other side of your finger is hard. 

Step 3: After washing very well, apply Neosporin or another topical antibacterial ointment to the areas. Use a q-tip for this as to not touch the areas with your hands and possibly contaminate them further.

The best nurse ever! She's getting ready to apply antiseptic to my han 

Step 4: Cover the wounds with bandaids and/or gauze, depending on the size, location, and severity. If possible, use gloved hands to apply gauze and bandaids to the area as to further reduce the chance of infection.

This is my arm wrapped in gauze. There is a bandaid on my pointer finger to protect the bites there as well. 

Here is my arm after being covered in a wrap. It's similar to athletic pre-wrap if you're familiar with that. 

Step 5: Apply an ice pack to the area to reduce swelling and pain. To further reduce pain and inflammation, an over-the-counter pain reliever such as Tylenol may be taken every 4-6 or as directed on the package. 

Here is my arm with an ice pack wrapped around it. Ready to properly start my Friday now! 

I hope you guys can learn from my mistakes! Happy Friday!