Friday, February 22, 2008

A cat's bite (is it dangerous?!)


Finally, i was able to catch some sleep last night after the incident that happened last Sunday.
I've been waking up at least once from my sleep during these few months for 2 reasons - re-positioning my body to find the most comfortable position (but...) and of course the most common call for pregnant women, ie nature's call. :) (OK.. OK.. as i've not been updating my blog for some time.... this is news to the www (haha!). The good news is i'm expecting with my first right now, and am truly excited with this new phase in life. *happy happy*) OK.... moving on with this cat story....

Sunday dinner with some church friends was an experience i'd never forget in my entire life!!! After a nice fulfilling meal in a restaurant, as we were all waiting for the durian man from the durian van to cut open the durian fruit and serve them as our desert, i suddenly screamed, "Aaarrrrggghhh... PAIN!!!" Almost everyone at the table panicked as they thought... "IT IS TIME!!!" LOL!

No, it wasnt time! one more month to go! *phew* :)

A cat bit me and left me with some scratches, 4 teeth marks and wound on my right foot/ankle! After cleaning it with some water & dettol solution, we rushed to the nearest Clinic in Puchong. Thank God it was still open at 10+pm. Doctor Harjeet said that 1 of the 4 bites was a puncture and he needed to clean it and may need to do a minor surgery on it (minor only la... *phew*). He gave me a tetanus jab, clean the wounds and then considering the need to do a minor surgery, he gave me an anesthetic jab, cut a piece of my flesh, cleaned deep and bandaged my foot! He said that i would need to change the dressing for at least another 3 - 4 times for the next few days. Thank God for my hubby who was there with me through it all. He said he was proud of me for being strong. kekeke... i said i guess it is a practice for labour pains in the near future :p

Went to see 2 other doctors on Tuesday (Seri Kembangan) & Wednesday (Petaling Jaya) to change the dressing. SK doc didnt say much, but was kinda surprise that a cat would do such a thing... It only cost us RM7 to clean the wound and change the dressing. However, the next day, PJ doc said I dont need a new dressing for it anymore. I should just go back and take a shower, wash my foot clean, leave it open to heal naturally and apply a special solution onto it. A few words + a small 10-cents-coin-size container of cream cost us RM45! So, taking his advice, we didn't do the dressing that night. However, the pain was unbearable that night compared to the previous nights. Gosh... didn't know how to take the pain then. Slept at 12mn, woke up at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep from then on. The pain seemed to increase throughout the day - in office until back home, and due to extreme tiredness (i believe), i developed headache + feeling of throwing up. Couldn't wait to get back my sleep!

Prayed for healing to flow.... really asking God to give me the strength to move on. The days seemed slower than other days. Thanks to many friends, uncles & aunties who had been praying for me too. (thanks guys & *huggies*) It's not just about the wound that was caused by the stoooopid cat, but the whole package of tiredness, body discomfort and water retention on my feet that made it all seemed so impossible to walk or live "normally" at this time. I was also very concern over little princess in me that is going through those pains with me. So my prayers went all out to God, asking Him to take over. I'll trade this sorrow with joy. I'll try to always think of happy thoughts! :)

So... the question for now is... "Is a cat's bite dangerous?" hmmm... i really do not know. I've heard and read from different sources and i cant tell which is for real. But i always believe that prevention is better than cure! 1st doc says.... "A cat's bite is 2nd most dangerous after human bite!"... and so he did all the necessary steps to make sure that i don't get infected. Thank God! The 2nd doc says nothing... except "A cat can do such thing, huh?!" :-| The 3rd doc says.... "Cat bite, dog bite, human bite.... which one will i choose? I'll definitely not choose the human bite because it is extremely dangerous. So for your case, don't worry, you're safe."

But actually most articles i came across in the net state that cat bites are indeed dangerous, especially if proper care is not taken.

Some articles i got from the net:-
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/313923/cat_puncture_bites_to_humans_are_highly.html
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/healthy/firstaid/bites/024.html
http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu/animal_bites.htm

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whoa nasty!
Remember to tell you gynae about this and make sure you don't simply take medication, might affect the baby, remember to ask your gynae advise..

take care and heal faster..God will heal you lah... :)

d'Lion said...

Ewwwwwww, the first impression on your blog..... the leg photo

d'Lion said...

Yooo busybodymom, you are right. Take her advise arrr Rach

d'Lion said...

Welcome to blogspot fellow blogger

richrach said...

Yo steff...

Told my gynae, he said it's ok and as long i get the tetanus jab, it should be ok. thank God.

Problems with cats are normally their faeces, which can cause toxoplasmosis.

You can read more about it here
http://www.justmommies.com/articles/toxoplasmosis-cat-litter.shtml

richrach said...

thx Dan, the blogspot blogger! :p

joshua said...

yes, a cat's bite can be dangerous. i read about a man who died from it in The Star a few years ago.

Anonymous said...

Walau eh!!! How's ur foot now?

Eh... how come the cat bite you? Your wound is so horrible!!!! Look likes very deep!!! Must be very painful and itchy hor!!!

My advice is: You, Rachel, please stay far far away from any animals. You know you are so pretty liao, Some more inside ur tummy there is another prettier gal ler. I think the cat is more interested on ur baby. It can smell her :-P

I am very scare to hear those pregnant ladies falled sick 1. So, you please take good care of urself and always be aware of everything (})

Anonymous said...

Pretty cool site you've got here. Thanks for it. I like such topics and anything that is connected to them. I definitely want to read a bit more on that blog soon.

Truly yours

richrach said...

Thanks Anonymous for dropping by. This incident took place like almost 2 years ago... my gal is now a healthy and mischievous 2 y.o! :)