cat scratch and bite

Tactical .20

Tactical .20

New member
Mike, my sons share a house. One got a new rottwieler pup and the other son's cat left for a few days. He thought he saw his cat on the way to work, a few blocks from home, he called it, it came to him. So, he goes to pick it up and it sctatched and bit him to get away. He's pretty sure it was his cat, a nice one, but doesn't know why it did that. The cat ran away after it made him let it go. It seemed healthy, but we can't seem to find it.
I thought maybe he had pet the new pup before he left for work and that spooked the cat. My cats left the garage for 5-6 days when we watched the pup for three days.
I was wondering if we need to worry about the bite. If it was sick enough to have the rabies virus in the saliva wouldn't the cat be not moving normally? What do you think? T.20
 
Mike, just got a call, his cat came home. The one that bit him did not have a collar on, his did. So do you suppose as long as the cat looked healthy, and it was not familiar with him, would this be something we should be concerned with? thanks,T.20
 
Cat bites can be nasty. They tend to get infected. Keep it clean and if it doesn't start getting better after a few days, have a doctor take a look.

I have both dogs and cats. Some of my dog training friends say I go both ways. The funny thing is my cats act more like dogs then their dogs do.

Darrin
 
rabies in the early stages would not necessary sick or show signs of any kind. But from what you are saying I don't feel that the likely hood of the cat having rabies is anything to worry about. Sounds to me like a strange cat and a strange person getting together and some fur flew.

My 2 cents worth ----- but Iam not the one that got the bite. I don't think I would worry to much if it was me though.

Hilltop
 
It would be a good idea to contact the local county health department and ask if you should be concerned. They will know whether any rabies has been in the area. In Texas we would have a manhunt for the cat and if we couldn't catch it or shoot it, then the victim would have to take the series of rabies shots. Cats are one of the top carriers of the disease and you should cover all your bases. Better safe than sorry...
 
Mr. Cobb has it right. We have only had one case on rabies in my area in the last 20 years. It was a gray tree squirrel. Check with your local veterinarians. They are usually some of the first to know if rabies are in the area. Darrin
 
Sorry for getting to this late. I have almost 5000 acres of fires burning and am rather busy!!

Tact20.
Only in the latter stages of rabies is it apparent. As some have said, I wouldn't get too worried unless rabies have been reported in your area.
 
One thing I know for certain is that cats with rabies can look pretty dang healthy in early stages of the disease. Back in mid 1970's while on patrol in Council Bluffs, a cat walked in to a furniture factory and chased a worker or two. Some of the workers followed the cat while one of the others called the police. I was the lucky guy who answered that call. A crowd of people in back yard of a house across the street from the factory had seen the cat run down into the basement of this old house. The entrance to basement was from outside the house, and door to basement had been left open. I went down in that dark basement with flashlight. It sure was littered with old cardboard boxes and other nice little places for the cat to hide. I spotted the cat on a large wooden brace that was holding the floor joists from sagging. I shot the cat with my .357 magnum and had said cat sent in for rabies testing. I had been careful to not shoot the cat in the head because the brain is where they like to test for rabies. The test results showed that the cat did indeed have rabies.
 
187 had only one "documented" case of rabies in that grey squirrel. It didn't spontaneously erupt in that one animal so it had to come from somewhere. An animal can be exposed to rabies and go quite some time before becoming symptomatic exhibiting the enraged or stuperous states typical to the virus. In The Clever Coyote, they cite one coyote that was quarantined years ago and didn't present with any symptoms conclusive of rabies for four weeks. Rabies in my region is currently at a high point and I wouldn't take any chances. Once you see symptoms or feel the pain, you're too late.
 
Lance is right.... Even a human can have the virus and not show symptoms for as long as a year or two. One case in particular several years ago, a family went on vacation in Mexico, and came back home and a full year later the families 7 yr. old daughter started exhibiting signs of rabies.

The medical professional couldn't diagnose the problem, because they were from a low occurence state and had never dealt with the disease, anyway, after the girl died they tested and found that it was rabies that killed her. Not finding any animals in the area with rabies, the health department was puzzled.

Further investigation found that the family had visited a cave while in Mexico and the child had come in contact with a bat, and that was the only possibility that she could have contracted the disease from.

One of the worst things about the disease in humans is that they understand and are completely consience of what is happening to them and are unable to control the muscle spasms and biting actions (even breaking teeth) and knowing there is no cure and death is only days away. There is no cure for the disease once the incubation has taken place and signs are prevelant.
 
Tactical .20,
I hope everything works out for the best!

I’m not trying to scare anyone but you don’t have to be bitten to contact rabies, another possibility hunters must be aware of when handling dead animals. By contact with an infected animal’s saliva, a person with an open cut or abrasion can get rabies. The virus can be transmitted into the new host’s blood stream though small areas of broken skin or if it gets directly into their eyes, nose or mouth. Being bitten by any animal with an unknown medical history puts the injured person in even more of a dilemma… The possibilities of both infection and rabies from the bite. If you seek professional medical attention and the suspect animal can not be located there is a good chance that a series of rabies vaccinations will be required. On the other hand treat the bite with home remedies and take a chance you may die. My choice, see a doctor, let him decide.

Natural History @ CDC website;
Rabies virus causes an acute encephalitis in all warm-blooded hosts, including humans, and the outcome is almost always fatal. Although all species of mammals are susceptible to rabies virus infection, only a few species are important as reservoirs for the disease. In the United States, several distinct rabies virus variants have been identified in terrestrial mammals, including raccoons, skunks, foxes, and coyotes. In addition to these terrestrial reservoirs, several species of insectivorous bats are also reservoirs for rabies.

For information on rabies may I suggest “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” (CDC). This may help answer your question:

What happens if a neighborhood cat bites me?
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/Ques&Ans/q&a.htm#

CDC rabies page link:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/
 
See the doc. this year while working at the registration station in the C.W.D. zone here in wisconsin i scratch my finger with a scalpel blade while caping a deer head. wash finger with soap and water, anti this and anti that. finger infected and swelled to the size of a fat cigar two days later. dealt with that for over six months before it went away, now the finger is deformed a little and has a little less feeling in it. glad it wasn't the trigger finger! Best of luck and hope it turns out to be nothing but better safe than sorry.
Sportingly,
Cracker
 
I would definitely look into the rabies shots. They aren't as bad as they were in the past. With the vaccine you're safe. If you wait until symptoms appear it's too late and it 100% fatal. It can also take up to a year for symptoms to manifest. Not worth the risk in my book. I looked into this after a run in with a coyote, that I had tested and turned out negative. This is something you don't want to mess with.
 
Back
Top