Two friends of mine have recently been the victims of severe cat bites in the past two months.

Jan's Story

My friend Jan's job involves work with her hands.  When her seventeen year old cat bit her late in the evening, even though the bite didn't look bad she took some amoxicillin, which she had on hand, and went to her doctor first thing the next morning. Because her cat, Tildy is overweight and has trouble grooming, Jan was working on matted areas.

of her fur. She says she must have pulled the skin, and Tildy automatically reacted to the pain by biting her. Jan says that it was evident that Tildy immediately felt bad about biting her, as she is ordinarily a very sweet cat.

By the time she saw the doctor the next morning her hand was quite swollen and  there was already a red line running up her arm, a warning sign of an infection.  Jan got a tetanus shot  and her doctor also gave her a prescription of Cipro.

It was fortunate that Tildy was current on her rabies vaccine. Otherwise, she may have had to be impounded at a shelter or boarded privately for observation, depending on the laws of the state where they reside. That would be an extremely stressful and unhealthy experience for a seventeen year old cat.

The lesson here is that just because a bite doesn't look bad, it can get nasty quite quickly. Jan's hand actually swelled even more after the accompanying photo was taken.

Cat Bites Are Not Uncommon
Jan told me of four different experiences with cat bites in recent years.

 -- The first one happened at her veterinarian's office where they were treating her tuxedo cat, Scout for renal failure and inappetance. Jan was hand feeding Scout after the cat had been given valium, and drowsy Scout took a bite out of her hand. Even though it was a larger wound, because it bleed freely, it was able to "clean itself."

 --  Jan's husband was bitten by a young rescue cat several years ago. The cat had its rabies vaccine, so her husband went to urgent care the next morning, and was put on medications. It still was a couple of weeks before the wound was healed.

 --  About 18 years ago Jan was attacked by her declawed cat (they didn't know better at the time.) The cat tore up the backs of her legs with his rear claws and bit her several times. That one merited an immediate trip to the ER. So even cats front-declawed can do considerable damage.

 -- Jan's neighbor had to have surgery and then had all sorts of ongoing problems with a cat bite. Again, her cat's vaccines were up to date, but it created long-lasting medical problems.

Jan take cat bites pretty seriously, and hopes readers will too.

Alissa's Story

Alissa Wolf is the former Expert for About.com Pet Shops. Her previous feline Assistant Editor product reviewer, Omar, had passed away, and in early August, 2013, Alissa adopted a twelve week old black kitten, which she subsequently named Murphy. Murphy settled in quickly with Alissa, and became the Cub Reporter, continuing the product testing as Omar had done.

All went well until April of 2014 when Murphy bit Alissa on the leg. He had nipped at her before, either during play, or because he was hungry. This time Alissa wasn't feeding him quickly enough. She ended up spending three days in the hospital, as cellulitis had developed. Her attending infectious disease specialist told her she was lucky that bone was not involved, or she would have been in deep trouble.

Alissa was in despair, because she couldn't live with a cat who could send her to the hospital at a feline whim. She loved Murphy and she knew he loved her.  Rather than re-home Murphy, she wisely conferred with her holistic veterinarian who placed Murphy on Flower Essences  and advised Alissa to "get Murphy his own kitten,"  which she did. Alissa adopted Lily, a beautiful little gray tabby girl, from C.A.P.E. Atlantic Cats, a   rescue agency in Ocean City, N.J.

That Murphy is happy with his kitten, Lily, is clearly evident to all who know them. Lily is just what the doctor ordered and the three of them are living quite happily together now.

How Common Are Cat Bites?

After reading Jan's and Alissa's  stories, it appears that cat bites are not all that rare, Indeed, according to the World Health Organization:

"Worldwide, cat bites account for 2–50% of injuries related to animal-bites. They are commonly second to dog bites in terms of incidence. In Italy for example, the incidence of cat-related injuries is 18 per 100 000 population, while in the United States of America, there are an estimated 400 000 cat bites and 66 000 visits to hospital emergency departments every year.  Who is most at risk? Female adults have the highest rate of cat bites."

What Causes the Problems With Cat Bites?

Cat saliva is the carrier of a number of toxic pathogens. I've already mentioned Rabies and Tetanus. Other infections include:

• Staphylococcus aureus "Staph” infections, which are the scourge of hospital wards. A new, particularly virulent one, is referred to as MRSA (Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus)
• Bartonellosis, commonly called "cat scratch fever," transfers the Bartonella henselae bacteria to humans through both scratches and bites.
• Pasteurella multocida  According to this article by VCA Hospitals:

"An infected cat bite wound will be red, swollen and painful, and the infection can spread through the surrounding tissues, causing a condition called cellulitis, or through the blood to other areas of the body, causing a condition called septicemia (often called "blood poisoning")."

Note: Although some of these pathogens are considered by the World Heath Organization to be Zoonotic or Zoonoses, humans can not get Leukemia or HIV from a cat bite, even if the suspect cat has the feline versions of those conditions, FeLV or FIV.

While cat bites cannot always be avoided, you can mitigate the seriousness of injuries by following four simple tips:

1. Make sure your own cats have their core vaccinations.
2. Never get between two fighting cats. Throw a pillow or some other soft object between them to distract them. This should give the less aggressive cat time to leave the area, so you can deal with the aggressor. For more information, see my article, When Housemates Fight.
3. Keep up-to-date with your own preventative inoculations, including Tetanus vaccine.
4. Hands are not toys! If you teach a kitten to play with your hands, it isn't surprising that when he grows up, you'll one day find yourself the recipient of painful scratches and bites.

Remember that our cats love their humans as we love them. The cat who bites the hand that feeds him still deserves our unconditional love and forgiveness, as Jan and Alissa have demonstrated.