PFB cat bite question

[plantsitter]

My sister has 2 lovely rambunctious boys, and a cat who loves play fighting with them (honestly he does love it, he looks all folorn when they are not around).

Anyway, the cat bit my pfb DD (9 months)'s foot yesterday, quite hard but through a thick sock. DD cried, was comforted, cat was told off, thrown out, I thought nothing more of it.

But then I woke up in the middle of the night wondering if cat bites are bad news for babies. Is there some horrible health risk I hadn't considered? I don't think DD's skin was broken and I'm pretty sure the cat is not rabid. If I were to call the health visitor or someone would they laugh me off the phone?

Thanks in advance!

I think the only risk is tetanus - has she had her jabs? But very very unlikely to be any risk at all if the skin was not broken.

Thanks Bertie. She has had her jabs, skin definitely not broken, she seems fine (chirpier than usual even!). I'm going to try to stop worrying about it!

just in case the cat does bite her properly. I f the teeth actually puncture the skin....you can get cat scratch fever which if lrft untreated is potentially very serious. With cats ,tetanus is not the worrying thing,it is all the other bugs that are in there mouth that can cause a raging blood infection within hours.

My son has just covered this on his weeks training course at a vets...one of the assistants got a tooth puncture and her arm showed tracking in the arteries within 2 hours. She ended up in hospital on a drip for 3 days on iv antibiotics. Hospitals do not routinely give tetanus anymore.

If in any doubt ,go and see A and E but if there is no sign of inflammation or skin damage then i wouldnt worry. But if the cat does bite properly please please bear this in mind.

I was bitten badly by my own cat when I was pregnant with DS and hospitalised for three days on IV antibiotics because within an hour I had a swollen infected hand. Look out for redness, fever, vomiting, streaks around the bitten area (veins tracking) and itching on the bitten area. If she shows any signs of these get medical help quickly.

Argh! Just seen this! She has been fine - would I know about this by now??

Yes you certainly would - 24 hours later signs of infection would be showing up.

Phew. Thank you. I will definitely ask my sis to keep the cat away though. Hope it hasn't got a taste for poor old DD!

Unlikely. Most kids have one cat related encounter then learn to be wary of them. My kids have both been bitten by my (now dead) cat (didn't kill him for this btw, he died of natural causes) and had no side effects. I think you just have to be aware just in case. I know I'm sensitive to bites, any bloody thing bites me I react very badly to it.