What are the first signs of a cat bite infection?

[katkintreats]

My cat was jumped on this morning by a neighbour’s cat. I strongly suspect that she has a minor wound on one of her back legs. I suspect this because I saw her licking one of her legs quite persistently while she was hiding under the bed in the aftermath. I also saw a couple of small blood spots on the floor, so I do know she is injured somewhere.

Since coming out from under the bed though, I can’t see any sign of an injury. I have done a quite detailed visual-only inspection while she has been walking around, and lying down, on both sides. Can’t see a thing, so obviously the bleeding has stopped and was quite minor. If I try to touch her legs she will hiss and move away from me, which is also a sign she is sore, although she also doesn’t like me touching her back legs anyway.

Google is telling me to take her to the vet for a check up, but she HATES the vet, I can’t see the injury and don’t even know which leg it is, and it seems like it might be an over-reaction at this point?

But I want to be alert for any subtle signs to look out for that she is unwell, any advice what I should look out for?

I would be taking her to the vet to get antibiotics. Possibly painkillers as well/ instead depending on what the vet thinks. Surely it'll be worse to take her after an infection takes hold.

I do agree that getting antibiotics as a precaution would be best, but she has got quite long fur, and pinning her down while the vet tries to find what could be a very small non-bleeding wound in all the fur, will be distressing (last time when I took her in for her annual jabs she was actually shaking with fear) and I don’t want to do it to her unless I have to. I presume the vet will not prescribe antibiotics without having first ascertained that she has been bitten?

Take her in. Cat's mouths can contain an awful lot of bacteria and an infection could be nasty. There's also the concern over FIV; that can be passed on via bites from or to an infected animal so if you do find a bite wound on her then the vet may suggest a blood test to check if she's been infected by FIV. Good luck - I hope she's fine!

If I was to take my cats to the vets every time they came home with a bite, I'd be there every week. We just clean the wound with hibiscrub and let it air - we've never had any issues with infections in over a decade of owning cats. We must have saved ourselves thousands in vets fees.

So personally I would just keep an eye on it and if there are any signs of redness or infection then I'd take her in, otherwise just keep the area clean.

Thanks. I’m going to make up some saline and wet her back legs, so I can look through the fur and hopefully see the issue. Boy is she going to hate me 😬

It may not even be a bite, she could have caught herself on a branch or a fence or something. The state mine come home in sometimes, nothing would surprise me lol.

Yes this is the other thing on my mind, she was just on the patio outside my open french window, the corner of the door could have hurt her if she bashed into it jumping through the door in a panic. There’s also a broken terracotta plant pot she might have hurt herself on if she jumped or rolled onto it fighting the other cat off.

I would try not to worry, most cat bites don't end in infection.

Has your vet not suggested giving you gabapentin to give her before you attempt to take her to the vet?

No, never heard of this. I will ask, thanks.

Our cat was bitten on her head and we kept an eye on it and tried to bathe it. It just looked tiny and she was fine in herself. We took her to the vet because it started to smell.

The vet spotted the small scab on the black fur on her head and immediately ripped it off, removing a plug and exposing a tooth shaped hole in her head. Yuk! It was awful. A round of antibiotics and she was fine. She's since been back three more times with war wounds. She and the cat next door are sworn enemies.

My cat managed to give me a really nasty infection by biting me! Took three lots of antibiotics to shift. First signs were heat and swelling round the bite, but no idea if it's the same for the cat!

Would second asking for gabapentin, our tortie gets it from the vet in advance when she has to have blood tests, it just makes her a bit dopey.