My wife had a run in with a friend?s cat. Regular house cat, sweet thing normally. I guess he was hurt somewhere when my wife picked him up and he bite her. Not one of those standard ?I?m warning you? bites, but he puncture wound in her hand between the index and the thumb.
That happened on Sunday night, 7pm.
Backtrack to 4 months ago where we were on a trip to Calgary to visit her aunt and uncle. Her uncle was just getting off a treatment of antibiotics for an infection caused by a cat bite. His story was that he got bit by a house cat and next day his hand swelled up 3x its size. He went to the clinic a few days later where the doc told him he should of came right away. Faster forward 4 weeks, he was finishing his treatments.
Seems like cat?s have this NASTY bacteria in their mouths. Worse than dogs. And seeing as their fangs go deep into the tissue, the bacteria is deposited way deeper than a dog bite and can spread fast?and can be deadly.
So back to my wife?s story. She got bit. Her hand was hurting. She washed it out and so on, and we talked about her uncle?s story. We decided to wait overnight. First off, we would wait 10+ hours on a Sunday night in a hospital emergency room anyways, so might as well go home, sleep and see in the morning.
We wake up Monday morning, her hand is still throbbing with pain. And guess what? The area swelled to 3x its size. It became a dark red colour, puffy, super sensitive to the touch. Upon further investigation, she has this red line going from her wrist area to half way up her forearm! Not looking good.
Head to the clinic, see a doc, doc has this sense of urgency in her voice. The red line is now up past her elbow. Doc marks off the areas with a pen and asks us to come back tomorrow AM. She gives these HUGE antibiotic pills? I mean, I?ve never seen any pill this big. They are the strongest thing. If they don?t work, my wife has to get antibiotics via an IV at the hospital. We take the 9am dose?she feels sicks to her stomach, tired, dizzy, gets a migraine. Day goes on?we take the 9pm dose?same stuff.
Next morning, 8:00am, we go back and the doc isn?t there. So we get this new doc, who tells us to go straight to the hospital to get an IV. She takes her 9:00am dose of horse pills and we head on down and get there at 10:00 am.
Our name is called at 4:00pm (gotta love free health care
). We see the ER doc in the IV room. The doc looks over her hand, her arm, the red line, checks things and then says?. ?I?m not convinced you need an IV, it seems to have gotten better?. She calls the head resident, who confirms. So 5.5 hours of wait to be told to keep taking the pills.
Long story short? if you ever EVER get bit by a cat, go to the hospital. Its not like a dog bite and can be deadly.
That happened on Sunday night, 7pm.
Backtrack to 4 months ago where we were on a trip to Calgary to visit her aunt and uncle. Her uncle was just getting off a treatment of antibiotics for an infection caused by a cat bite. His story was that he got bit by a house cat and next day his hand swelled up 3x its size. He went to the clinic a few days later where the doc told him he should of came right away. Faster forward 4 weeks, he was finishing his treatments.
Seems like cat?s have this NASTY bacteria in their mouths. Worse than dogs. And seeing as their fangs go deep into the tissue, the bacteria is deposited way deeper than a dog bite and can spread fast?and can be deadly.
So back to my wife?s story. She got bit. Her hand was hurting. She washed it out and so on, and we talked about her uncle?s story. We decided to wait overnight. First off, we would wait 10+ hours on a Sunday night in a hospital emergency room anyways, so might as well go home, sleep and see in the morning.
We wake up Monday morning, her hand is still throbbing with pain. And guess what? The area swelled to 3x its size. It became a dark red colour, puffy, super sensitive to the touch. Upon further investigation, she has this red line going from her wrist area to half way up her forearm! Not looking good.
Head to the clinic, see a doc, doc has this sense of urgency in her voice. The red line is now up past her elbow. Doc marks off the areas with a pen and asks us to come back tomorrow AM. She gives these HUGE antibiotic pills? I mean, I?ve never seen any pill this big. They are the strongest thing. If they don?t work, my wife has to get antibiotics via an IV at the hospital. We take the 9am dose?she feels sicks to her stomach, tired, dizzy, gets a migraine. Day goes on?we take the 9pm dose?same stuff.
Next morning, 8:00am, we go back and the doc isn?t there. So we get this new doc, who tells us to go straight to the hospital to get an IV. She takes her 9:00am dose of horse pills and we head on down and get there at 10:00 am.
Our name is called at 4:00pm (gotta love free health care
). We see the ER doc in the IV room. The doc looks over her hand, her arm, the red line, checks things and then says?. ?I?m not convinced you need an IV, it seems to have gotten better?. She calls the head resident, who confirms. So 5.5 hours of wait to be told to keep taking the pills.Long story short? if you ever EVER get bit by a cat, go to the hospital. Its not like a dog bite and can be deadly.
With tracking like that an IV would have been my preferred option, hit it quick and hard. Cats, dogs, horses, they are all bad bites. Good time for anyone reading this to make sure your tenanus is up to date
Comment