Yeah...I am confused about whether to use peroxide and all that because in First Aid we learned that plain soap and water was the best thing for most wounds because peroxide and alcohol just irritate the wound and may slow clotting. I guess its better to be overly cautious though because I would not want to deal with infection...that can be dangerous!

That's exactly what I was thinking too... should I or shouldn't I use peroxide and/or alcohol on it. I guess I did the right thing in being overly cautious... better safe than sorry.

Hello Tracy
My mom got bitten by her adopted rescue, Poezeman aka Zippie some time ago.
She too washed and cleaned the wound
However, her hand and arm swelled badly and she had to go to the hospital to get some shots
Take care !

Wow, isn't it odd how some people react very badly to a cat bite while others don't?

I feel very fortunate that I did not develop an infection... luck must have been on my side.

I have a bite story, too. I was too embarrassed to tell you all about it

It was Tabitha... The reason we've kept her is because when we were trapping to take them up to the property, she got loose in the house! She was scared spitless!!! She ran over and tried to hide behind the drapes and I reached down and grabbed her by the scruff (thinking David was right behind me with the carrier) and she was a wild child!!! She twisted herself around and latched onto my wrist with her VERY HUGE teeth and to my skin with all four feet! I turned around to drop her into the carrier but David was still standing in the kitchen dreamily shaking out a towel and hadn't even moved!! I was screaming and ended up dropping her and she skittered away and we didn't see her for 4 days! I was streaming blood (actually dripping off my elbow) and screaming at the top of my voice at the same time! I washed with soap and water, applied ice because within minutes it was black and blue! After the pain subsided a bit, I poured hydrogen peroxide over it, too. In the morning I had a bruise on my arm the size of a good-sized grapefruit! Black enough that my sister saw it on the webcam and wanted to know what happened I worried for a while about what was going to happen but it healed up nicely and I have just one, small scar from a puncture.

Now you know the reason why Tabitha didn't (past tense) like me and was all about David She now connects me to food and clean litter so she is getting better. I've been able to pick her up and carry her...but David gets kisses right on the mouth!

Tracy,
My husband did the exact same last winter. Two of my boys (Sol and Spencer) were squaring off on the stairs. Bill reached down to scruff Sol to break it up and got bitten twice before he could let go. We washed the devil out of the bite and I made him start on Augmentin right away - well it was clavamox for the cats, but it is the same thing as augmentin. He still got an infection that sent him to the ER twice! Not to mention Sol having to be quarantined even though I had his shot record for them to see. Bill learned the hard way that you don't touch a cat on high alert. The bite area still is slghtly tender. I have been bitten several times - just once that was bad, but I have never developed an infection (knock on wood!) yet.

I have pondered this question when others talk about being bitten and healing without a trip to the Dr and antibiotics. I have been bitten twice and both time my hand doubled in size within hours..... as far as I know my immune system isn't compormised and yet if kitty teeth break the skin it's over for me.

Thanks for sharing your cat bite stories everyone... looks like I'm not alone.

I'm very happy to report the soreness is totally gone this morning.

Cat, I forgot to mention yesterday that I also iced my wrist the day this happened. I never did have any bruising which sort of surprised me.

Tracy, glad the soreness is totally gone.

Cat bites really are nasty, they almost always seem to get infected. I have been bitten many times at work, the worst being from a really sick cat we were trying to force feed. The cat sunk its teeth into my hand and there was blood all over. my boss heard me cuss from the other end of the clinic. It poofed up straight away and I ended up on antibiotics. the best thing to use to clean it is iodine. We at the time were testing the cat for tularemia so I was really worried until we got the test results back as it had all the symptoms and lived in the area where we know it was.

Susan