Following are selected posts to the Holisticat (TM) Mailing List on the subject of cat bites. There's a lot of information here, and the posts are arranged in ascending chronological order. If there is a particular word you're looking for, it's probably best to utilize the "Find in Page" function in your edit menu!

Happy hunting :)

<15 Aug 98 From Tracey Re Cat bite>

When I was volunteering at our local shelter I got bitten pretty badly by a feral kitten (yes, embarrassing - she couldn't have weighed more than a pound!) but I was advised to soak  it in medicated douche powder dissolved in the hottest water I could stand to put my hand into.

I did it and it really helped a lot - apparently there is something in the powder that counteracts a specific protein(?) in the saliva...anyway I have always kept some of the powder on hand "just in case" but that is the only bite that I have ever received that needed it.

Tracey

Hi all,

Thanks for the suggestions; I've filed them and hope  naughty Pigpen doesn't do this again.  Her grandmas adore  her and can have her!  She's the brattiest cat I have ever  had:(  I dunno what's w/ her.  She was trying to bite Missy  on the neck while poor Missy was lying on some paper.  I  think some RR is in order.  Nancy, will tell ya if it calms  me down any <g>

Anyway, I couldn't find the hypericum liquid or pills but  did have some "Apiscare" ointment by Dolisos.  Later saw  that she had punctured my skin (she has some sharp fangs)  so I used that since it has Apis Mel and Ledum.  Here I am  raised around homeopathy literally since the day I was born  and I'm still amazed at how well it works!  No sooner had I  applied a thin layer of the ointment than the pain  subsided.  W/in 15 minutes, 90% of the pain was gone and so  was the swelling for the most part.  Tres cool, no?

I'm feeling A-ok now.  Thank goodness I had something on  hand to apply on it <whew>

Sandy plus the 3 good kitties and 1 brat named Pigpen coming dangerously close to moving to Florida to  live w/ Grandmama

Hi all

Some time ago someone asked a question about why their cat suddenly bites them. There's a good article on cat aggression at
http://www.ddfl.org/aggtoppl.html

--Jean, Saski Basket & Amber Sweet T'ing

Your mileage may vary, but I have had cats for over 25 years and many, many bites and scratches, both from my own cats (rather regularly now, thanks to  Luigi, the hard "love biter", bless his silly heart!?!) and from stray cats and kittens, which I've never been quite able to leave alone.  I have never had a serious complication from any of these incidents in all that time.  For that reason, what I do that I haven't seen anyone bring up yet might be worth mentioning.

I always make sure to "bleed" the wound.  Even if it's just a puncture that does not want to bleed readily on its own, I will squeeze or suck on it (like a snake bite? <g>) until I get a sufficient amount of blood flowing.  I've never used anything stronger than soap and water after that, and sometimes I've not even been around any soap and water when the incident occurred.  The worst inconvenience I've suffered is maybe a dull ache from the bite for a day or so. In the past several years since I've been using magnets, I'll put one on the bite, if it's a deep one, to accelerate the healing process.

I always take scrupulous care to get the blood flowing with any type of skin-breaking injury because I think (and my results seem to corroborate) that this gets any "bad stuff" out of the wound most effectively.  Also, I will personally go to any length to avoid antibiotics.  The last time I had an oral one prescribed (literally decades ago, can't remember exact date) the first dose made me so violently ill that I refused to take the remainder of it.  I'd imagine it would be worse now since I have not even taken any OTC drugs in many years, so they are all foreign to my body.

Like I said, your mileage may vary, but I thought I'd pass this along.

 -- Susan