June 28, 2005
By Beth Loechler
The Grand Rapids Press
Frankie had her moments of cute and cuddly, but, mostly,
she was unpredictable -- even for a cat. And when Terry Mercer picked her up to
scoot her out the door for a breath of fresh air, she sank her teeth into the
soft, fleshy area between Mercer's left thumb and forefinger.
"Right away, I knew she had really bitten me bad. It
didn't bleed much, but it was very painful," said Mercer, who lives on
Pickerel Lake outside of Newaygo. He cleaned the wound with antiseptic and
dabbed it with antibacterial cream but knew that might not be enough.
"My background is in medical technology ... so I knew
right then and there what my chances were. I said I'd probably be in the
emergency room by tomorrow morning."
Sure enough, by the time Mercer awoke the next day, the
inflammation had spread up his arm and past his elbow. He visited a hospital
and received a shot for the infection and a prescription for 10 days of
antibiotics.
A bite from a cat "is like taking a needle full of
bacteria and putting it into the soft tissue," said Dr. Colleen Bush, who
has worked in the emergency room at Spectrum Butterworth Campus since 1993.
The sharp, pointed teeth in a feline's mouth create
puncture wounds that can't always be treated with an antiseptic wipe and a
bandage. That's why more cat bites result in hospitalization -- 6 percent of
cat bites compared to 1 percent of dog bites. The wounds are difficult to clean
and likely are to be on the hand, where the blood flow is poor so infection is
more likely.
Dogs are responsible for most of the estimated 1 to 3 million animal bites each year in the U.S., but about 5 to 15 percent of animal bites come from cats, according to the health information Web site eMedicine.com.
Last year, Spectrum Butterworth treated 292 dog bites and
108 bites from other types of animals. Most of those "other" bites
were cat bites, although an exact number was not available, said hospital
spokesman Bruce Rossman. The number of bites from animals other than dogs has
grown significantly since 2000, when the hospital treated 59, he said.
"My very solid recommendation is, if you're bitten by
a cat and it breaks the skin, you should contact your medical professional.
Period," said Cynthia Lunney, a veterinarian at the Animal Medical Center
of Wyoming. "Ideally, with a puncture wound, you should be doing it before
the next day."
That's Bush's advice, too.
A cat's mouth contains bacteria called Pasteurella
multocida. If it gets into a human's blood stream it can cause sepsis, which
may result in an infection around the heart, in the bones or other problems.
Like other infections, it can be fatal if not treated, Bush said.
She emphasized the bacteria, which also lives in dogs'
mouths, is normal "and has nothing to do with how well you take care of
your cat or if it has had its shots."
If the infection is deep or gets into tendons, surgery may
be necessary to clean it, Bush said. That happens in 25 percent or more of the
cat bites she sees in Spectrum's ER.
An employee at the Kentwood Cat Clinic underwent finger
surgery following a cat bite, said Dr. Tammy Sadek, a veterinarian at the
clinic.
"We wash out a bite really thoroughly and go straight
to the med center for antibiotics," said Sadek, who has been bitten more
than once during her 20-plus years as a veterinarian. "If you wait, the
infection can take hold."
In defense of the felines, Sadek said only about 5 percent
of cats are outright aggressive. Most bite because they are afraid or in pain.
Mercer isn't sure what triggered Frankie, who belonged to
his daughter and son-in-law. Unfortunately, she went on to bite someone else,
so her owners eventually decided to have her euthanized.
"But as long as they had Frankie, I stayed away from
her," Mercer said. "I figured that because she had tasted me once,
maybe she'd want some more."