Bad cat scratch - do I need to get it checked out?

[IHeartKingThistle]

My 10 month old kitten followed us to school this morning. That would be fine if I knew she would make her way home, but she's done it before, got lost and just stayed where she was all day until we went to get her. So anyway, she was weirded out by the traffic when we got onto the busier road so I picked her up to take her back to the quiet road and she fought to get away, leaving scratches up my arms but one deep one which bled quite a lot.

She then followed me home like a lamb, the weirdo!

I washed it and put Savlon on it straight away but it didn't stop bleeding for a while. I covered it with a dressing for the afternoon but that's off now. It's still quite sore.

Do I need to be worried about getting anything nasty from it? The cat is vaccinated.

there is such a thing as cat scratch disease. Generally is found more from younger cats under a year old so I would be cautious. The infection bacteria comes from dirt or fleas, so is possible if your dc has been outside that she could attract this bacteria. Wash with cold water, treat as you would a normal cut - if it feels warm or painful, or surrounding redness appears around it go to a doctor just in case. Rarer symptoms include tiredness and headaches but generally that's when it gets worse. Always better to be safe than sorry, but generally one scratch you'll be fine

As above swelling, redness, heat, excessive pain and loss of function. Usually you see these signs very quickly within 24 hours last time ( the 4th occasion occupational hazard) I had it my hand started to swell after 4 hours and by 18 hours I had no recognisable hand shape, sausage fingers and red tracks up my hand. ' Cat scratch disease' is actually more commonly seen and in cat bites than scratches.

I accidentally stepped on my cats tail, never felt so bad in my life she literally screamed and dug in as deep as she could to get away. Now I'm left with a permanent scar of my guilt. It bled loads at the time and was painful and sore to touch but eventually scabbed over and healed. I washed it out used sterile cleaning wipes and covered it up.

Never again

Draw a line I'm boron around the redness/swelling, it makes it so much easier to see if the redness is spreading. Can we see a pic?

IN BIRO

I really need to start reading before I hit post...

Thanks all. Seems to be healing OK. It's not attractive but it's a lot less red thank goodness!

If you feel swelling & numbness go to a&e. A Facebook friend recently spent two nights in hospital when her cat scatched her finger. Her hand swelled up badly, she needed the wound cleaning under General anaesthetic and iv antibiotics.