Feeling sorry for myself: tried to give the cat a worming tablet and she bit though my finger nail

[KatyMac]

That's it really

Cat 1: Katymac 0

(I hasten to add he got bitten on a Saturday night so GP wasn’t an option)

A nurse had a look at it and as the swelling is going down I must monitor and get antibiotics if it starts to swell again

Thanks all

Cat mouths are teeming with bacteria. I've know someone lose a thumb to a tiny cat bite. Uner a nail it's likely to fester too as the wound can;t be opened up and flushed. Get Abios ASAP.

I would pay good money for an injection that gives 12 months protection against fleas, ticks and worms and can be given at the same time as the usual innoculations. I hate having to torture the poor things, by the time they've recovered from spot on flea stuff it's time for the worming and even with spot on worming stuff and 3 month Bravecto, that's still a large proportion of the year where the cats are legging it away from me

@SometimesIFeedTheSparrows mine is done at the vets now. He has to have 12 weekly steroid jabs so I get them to worm and flea at the same time
The vet tried to do a tablet and emerged saying "I think it's time for a spot on"
He's not nasty (and only has one tooth) but he curls up in a ball and you need two people to unravel him because if you let go, he snaps back in a ball

@SometimesIFeedTheSparrows - my cat (and his brother, RIP) is long-haired with a really dense coat. Spot-on treatments were always a nightmare. Firstly, because he hates it and is a wriggly fucker. Secondly, I always worried that is wasn’t getting the solution directly into the skin, no matter how hard I tried.

Game changer for me was a flea injection which is given twice a year (one which coincides with annual check-up appointment). Still leaves worming every 3 months, but I can cope with that (plus, he’s not a hunter cat so slightly less worry for me).

Might be worth seeing if your vets do the injection. It’s called Program. I do the health plan at my vets - which spreads the cost of flea/worming/booster health checks over 12 months (and works out cheaper than paying for each treatment individually). The plan covers injections as well as spot-on flea treatment.

Result in this household - much happier cat and less stressed slave!

Just to add, I’d definitely say that any cat bite which breaks the skin etc needs to be treated ASAP. A colleague of mine had an awful time from a fairly innocent looking bite. Almost lost her hand. I was blooming shocked and would now never hesitate to seek immediate treatment.

Was bitten last year by my newly arrived feral kitten (into the knuckle joint). That needed antibiotics and a tetanus.

She and her brother are currently curled up between me and DH in bed. She demands to be carried around like a baby. Not so feral now!

My vet doesn't do Program, I have asked. They will do a worming tablet - effortlessly, in seconds, without requiring antibiotics, bandages, or a towel. And the cat doesn't wait two minutes, swagger across the room and spit it out triumphantly. They will eat a pile of dreamies and leave the ones that are actually pill pockets containing the worming tablets, and if given a pile of tuna with a pill hidden in will present an empty bowl containing nothing but a pill. Spot on isn't any easier as one has thick fur and the other is really sensitive to the flea one so gives a similar reaction to anything.