As you know Cow Mau bit me on Saturday night when I was brushing his fur a bit over-enthusiastically. It was a puncture wound without any spurting of blood. The pain was, as all cat bites would be, excruciating, but there was no blood so I thought it wasn’t so serious. I did wash it with soap and water and applied some iodine on it.
Yesterday, it was swollen as expected and the circular area surrounding it was hard too. But I thought that was okay.
Today, it was still swollen and we went swimming. After swimming, I pressed on it and there was some pus. My husband was concerned and insisted I see a doctor.
I thought I’ve had worse bites than this over the years and I’ve recovered on my own, so….do I have to see a doctor? Well, he insisted, so I went.
Now, the diagnosis was shockingly unexpected and unnerving.
The doctor said it looked real bad and required “surgery” under local anaesthesia, which I assume was a lancing procedure. Okay…our cats have had lancing procedures done before and it would be a straight-line cut to clean up all the infection and it would heal pretty fast.
So I asked the doctor, would it be a straight-line cut? He said no and immediately consulted his whole team of colleagues over the phone. His entire team agreed that the surgery was necessary and they would have to cut a circular piece of skin off (yikes!) to clean up the infection and leave it exposed. I would have to be on IV-antibiotics today, and for the next two days.
What???
And he said it would be an expensive surgery and that the healing would take a month. I would be in pain too. I don’t doubt it, if you’re going to cut out a piece of my skin (at least the size of a 20 sen coin) and leave it exposed! And it won’t heal nicely, he said. There might be scarring and keloids.
He said if I have insurance, he would recommend me going to the hospital to get it done. Well, I don’t have insurance.
Cutting out the entire piece of skin around the puncture wound and leaving it exposed, taking a whole month to heal and being in pain did not sound appealing or feasible for me. I’ve got so much to do. And it’s my right arm too.
I didn’t fancy going through all that. How am I going to do all my chores, look after Jayden and all our cats with so much pain in my right arm and with an exposed wound? Wouldn’t that exposed wound get infected?
From the way the doctor described it, it’s a really bad wound and surgery was the recommended way to go.
But seriously, I’ve had such wounds before, even worse ones with spurting blood and all, and they all healed without any surgery. Yes, I sometimes needed antibiotics, but that was all.
I asked if I had the option of taking oral antibiotics? He wasn’t too pleased with that and said the chances would only be 50-50 and I might still have to have the surgery later on and this time, I would have to go to a hospital to get it done.
He said I should have sought medical attention within the first hour after the bite. Then, it wouldn’t have led to what it is now. So that’s my reason for sharing this information. The doctor says cat bites are much worse than dog bites (okay, I know this). And we must seek medical attention within the first hour (that’s ONE HOUR, folks) after the bite.
Actually, yesterday, the hardened part was much, much bigger and today, it’s reduced to half the size, roughly. But today, it had pus. Maybe it was due to the bacteria from the swimming pool?
So anyway, I decided to take my 50-50 chances and go with the oral antibiotics and anti-swelling medicine. The good doctor gave me Cavumox (Amoxicillin and clavulanic acid) and Metronidazole as the antibiotics and Serrata for anti-swelling. That’s a week’s course of medicines and I’m to go back tomorrow and the day after for follow-up check. He also gave me a tetanus jab today. The last one was probably done nine years ago, so it would be near expiry. This jab would last me for another ten years.
I know cat bites can go pretty bad. I’ve even heard from a relative that someone DIED from cat bites. But that was a case where that someone had abused the cat and the angry cat went after him.
Let’s hope I don’t have to lose any skin over this wound!
The biter taking his beauty nap!
Actually, I went overboard brushing his fur because it’s just so nice brushing it. And the vet always tells me to brush him as he has an oily coat. But yes, I went overboard doing it that night.
What a crappy start to the New Year, but then again, dates don’t really matter to me. I’m not superstitious. Life happens…all the time, rain or shine! We just need to deal with it.