**Important question at end of post!!
I am going to try and make this a regular Weds. post — past notions like this (poetry thursday for example) have lasted for a time and then…gone the way of the Dodo.
Since it is so long between FO’s though, this should help keep up the fibre content on the blog. And we can all use more fibre content!
Kira’s blankie is moving along. Two squares to go and then I can start seaming.
She is having a hard time waiting I think. She keeps digging into the wool while I am working.
Elaine’s mitt is still progressing. I have set aside 4 hrs per week to work on it so…it is going to take awhile, but you can start to see the winds in the pattern’s namesake.
Now onto the feline from the title.
I have 3 cats. All with their unique personalities, attributes and quirks.
Jeeksy – so named for his tendency to be cheeky – is a skitzy type of cat.
We attribute it to his partial Siamese background – goodness knows he has always been treated well!
He is particularly fond of me, follows me about the house when I get home from work. Sleeps with me. Purrs when I talk to him.
And….bites me. Usually he gets a look on his face not unlike the one in the picture and tenses his body. Notice I said usually.
Yesterday morning I was laying in bed, petting him, postponing rising when he suddenly bit me.
HARD! Check out the span of his teeth marks:
I was so shocked by the suddenness and the sheer strength of his jaw.
He managed to crunch my hand in half – my baby finger was touching my thumb! The puncture nearest my thumb actually extended (the redness no longer showed by the time I took the pic) 1 1/4″ sideways beneath the skin.
He was gone before I could say anything. After a few moments of pain, I sucked it up and carried on with my day. In the afternoon I noticed my hand was increasingly stiff and swollen. I thought I would just call the vet to ask what to do about a cat that would bite that hard. The vet interrupted to ask if I had seen a doctor yet.
Apparently cat bites are the most infectious of all domesticated pets. They have a bacteria in their mouths that causes 90% of all bites to become infected. Seriously infected. She told me that if ignored people end up on IV antibiotics and I’d better get to a Walk In Clinic.
So…I drove up to the clinic after work – but it was packed in the waiting area and I kept driving. I crocheted while watching Lost – thinking I needed to just get on with things. It’s just a catbite. By bedtime I couldn’t see 2 of my knuckles anymore. I decided to go to the clinic 1st thing in the morning.
In the morning it looked and felt much better. I nearly didn’t go – but the wait area was empty so I went in. I was worried about being a bother, wasting the doctor’s time and resources for a silly bite.
Uh I was so wrong! The doctor was very concerned about my hand and the amount of time I’d already waited. I am on a 2 week course of super strength antibiotics. I have to check my lymph nodes 3x a day for the next 48 hrs. If the redness extends in any direction I have to go right to the hospital for IV antibiotics. It’s crazy! I need to keep my hand elevated above my heart as much as possible (which blogging doesn’t quite allow come to think of it – oops) Oh. And I’m not supposed to use my hand – it will speed the spread of infection. No crochet/knit for me!
She told me if I hadn’t come in she would have been seeing me tonight or tomorrow at the Emergency Room and that I could expect to get sicker before I got better.
She was so right! Around 2 this afternoon I started to have more pain and to feel fatigued and ill. By 5 I had a raging fever and the swelling had increased.
This was taken around lunchtime. Right now I am fevered, clammy, exhausted and my hand is super red.
If I hadn’t gone to the clinic I would have totally thought I was getting the flu from these symptoms and maybe iced my hand. Sheesh.
I’m sharing this story since I am a person who has had cats all my life and I had no idea catbites could be so serious.
Also I’m putting this out there because I think I don’t have a clear perspective: What would you do about a cat that bites like this? Jeeksy has never bitten this hard before but he does bite me (just me for some reason). The vet said there is no need to have him put down but I have had a few people say I should. I think he has no way of knowing how bad this bite is and he is generally a purry happy guy. Should a pet really die for making a mistake?
Please know I will accept answers of all kinds – but still make my own decision in the end. I’m not asking for a poll to decide the outcome. Just wondering where other people would stand on this issue.
Read Full Post »
Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do! Shawl
Jaywalking Vampires
Transitions Yoke Cardigan
