Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

lyvanna t1_jax8w2w wrote

Reply to comment by DivHaydeez in PsBattle: A cat with a helmet getting its claws trimmed. by ihaveabaguetteknife

Cat bites can actually be really dangerous though. You're not getting tiny germ riddled puncture wounds when a cat claws you. Scratches suck but aren't usually dangerous.

9

DivHaydeez t1_jax93rg wrote

Depending on if the car is solely indoor or indoor outdoor you could be getting it from the claws to.

9

lyvanna t1_jaxatxo wrote

You can, theoretically, but it's not terribly likely. Cats don't stick their claws deep into your skin, they scratch the surface. It's not scratch wounds that tend to abscess and get infected, in- or outdoor.

I've been scratched really badly growing up as an idiot kid with outdoor cats and never had so much as a bit of pus in any scratch wound of any severity, bites that puncture the skin get at least a little bit infected like 90% of the time though.

8

cyanraichu t1_jayqg24 wrote

Yeah you are (or you can). There's even a name for the resultant illness - cat scratch fever.

4

lyvanna t1_jazv4s5 wrote

I would really hesitate to call cat scratches puncture wounds. It can happen, I suppose, but in the vast majority of scratches the cat slices not punctures, and slices have a much bigger surface area that bleed much more readily and are rarely deep.

Cat scratch fever is a catch-all name used for feline bartonellosis and is caught by scratches as well, but you're more likely to get it from a bite. It's also a rare and usually mild issue with 500 hospitalizations a year in the US and around 12k registered cases.

Cat scratches are harmless beyond bleeding and maybe a scar in the vast majority of cases, cat bites are not.

2

cyanraichu t1_jb0mpcp wrote

I'd argue the origin of the name points to scratches also being dangerous. Bites are definitely more dangerous but I'd say better safe than sorry in general. If my cat draws blood with her claws I put a bit of rubbing alcohol on it after washing, to be safe.

Definitely not trying to argue that bites aren't worse though!

1