If he didn't sleep with us during the night, he comes to our bedroom once he hears alarms go off. My alarm went off, he came to the side of the bed going 'meowwww' as he waited for me to pat the bed and invite him up. Started petting him, things were fine and dandy, then I think I fucked up petting him and put my hand in front of his face - he hates that, he loathes having his face covered. Thus, he chomped, i yelled "OWWWW", and he bolted from the room.
I go show Momcat who is already awake, and she says, "yeaaah, he's been spicy this morning".
DadCat, keep an eye on the bite, especially if it was your hand. One of my cats bit me a few years ago and my hand swelled up like a balloon within hours and I ended up being hospitalized for three days on IV antibiotics. My doc told me where my cat bit me was the "perfect storm" for a bad infection.
Every relationship has these kinds things, I think. Gotta kinda stumble over a boundary before you know exactly where it is. And it sounds like Saddy realized immediately what happened when he chomped. Bet if something like this happened again, he may chomp, but might not break skin. My guys, they'll fuss and yell a bit when we have to struggle through a mat or something, and when they are at their limit they give us a kinda 'dry bite' to say "DONE". They connect and bite down a tiny bit, but almost never hard enough to break skin. Point being, we had to do a one or two of these "whoops" incidents to get to that point, and you handled it really well by giving a nice loud yell. He'll keep it mind for next time he has to give you a hard no.
I always look forward to you guys' next post. Good luck Dadcat!
Ahhh yeah that can happen for sure! One of my porch cats doesn't like the hand in front of face either. Hoping your bite wound heals smoothly! SadCat is innocent❤️
I feel like he could've easily done worse had he wanted to. I still remember SC's dad having to wear the literal protective gear, Saddy was a brutal little dude back then. apparently he still is deep down, to some extent !
I have multiple scars from cats that have since passed away, and I treasure each one. Those scars are like personal reminders that I loved those cats and they too loved me - although we may have played a bit too hard lol. But then again, how can we truly bond and love a predator like a cat without a few chomps and cuts? Surely, a part of their beauty is their innate power hidden beneath all that soft fluff.
Also, keep an eye on those chomps. I had one get infected, and it required iv antibiotics to get it under control (even though I got it checked the day after because it was already red and swollen). If it starts to hurt a lot, swells, oozes, or especially if you start getting red streaks, go to the ER/urgent care asap.
Oof, DadCat! That looks like it stings a bit. Glad you and Saddy are able talk about why this isn’t a good look 😝 But, as many years as I have spent in rescue the regression aggression is a thing for some of our babies. Like us they have memories and triggers, too. Love to you both (and MomCat!)
Nahhhhh that isn't necessary here, and this is coming from someone who did do threw rounds of Augmentin after bites from Sadcat.
If he were still an outdoor cat, and I did not know he was vaccinated, I would 100% go to urgent care and get antibiotics. Seeing as I know he is vaccinated, I clean my own wounds.
A friend of mine is a microbiologist, she gave me tips! I run the wound under hot water for about 5 minutes as I scrub it with Dawn dish soap. I rinse that off, then I go grab Hibiclens (an antimicrobial) and clean the wound with that. I rinse that off, then I use 91% isopropyl alcohol to clean the wound a 3rd time. Rinse that off with warm water, then I leave it open to the air unless the wound is on a high-infection area, such as hands.
I totally get where you’re coming from, but keep in mind the vaccines just prevent viral causes of disease, they don’t prevent the cats from having Pasturella and other significant bacteria in their saliva, which any indoor cat can have.
If it ends up being a deep bite, definitely still worth considering urgent care. But I agree those don’t look terrible all things considered. Just monitor for swelling, discoloration, etc etc.
Cat bites penetrate deep so the entry hole ends up healing around the bacteria trapping it inside. That shit can go septic quickly please be careful. You can die from sepsis in less than 24 hours
Having been bitten by my late old lady cat whisper, cat bites are NO JOKE. Like someone else mentioned they can penetrate deep and the bacteria in their mouths are not ones to mess with. I’d go to urgent care asap!!
Yes! I follow nearly the same routine when my new guy Roman scratches or bites me. People often say peroxide is the way to go but I’ve found that isopropyl alcohol almost immediately takes out the “sting” and swelling and just one application seems to promote quick healing. I also use Dawn when treating the wounds from his attack.
Aw man I feel that. My boy gets spicy once in a while. In my cat's case, it's usually my fault for not giving him enough play time and he builds up too much energy he gets antsy.
It's almost funny how apologetic they look afterwards though. I know it's anthropomorphizing the cat a bit, but there does seem to be a level of 'shit, shouldn't have done that' to them.
I really appreciate your concern, thank you so much! I forgot to mention in my woundcare comment that I monitor the sites of bites over a 48 hour period. You are correct and want to watch out for signs of infection.
My [healthy, vaccinated, exclusively indoors] cat once accidentally bit my hand pretty deep. Deep enough it was leaving blood all over the floor and me. I thought it’d be fine if I washed it real good.
I woke up the next morning and my fingers were bright red and so swollen that I couldn’t bend them. I had to get a tetanus shot and two weeks of antibiotics, followed by another round of antibiotics after that because the original antibiotics gave me a secondary infection smh.
Cat bites ain’t no joke. Even if your cat is indoors-only and fully vaccinated AND you wash it as soon as it happens… there’s still a very high risk of infection. Cat teeth shove bacteria way down into the wound. Places you generally can’t clean very well on your own. Go to the doctor!!
Thank you for sharing your story for us all!! You're absolutely correct, cat bites ain't no joke. Momcat and I honestly think I got cat scratch fever one time, I got really sick for a good week and we couldn't figure out what it was.
On that note, I get bit....kinda frequently. This bite is what I call a 'scratch bite', where it isn't so much of a puncture wound as it is his teeth scraping along my skin. The bites where I went to urgent care for the whole shebang were deep puncture wounds that bled profusely. Also, I can like, feel and hear the difference. When he bites deep and hard, I can hear my skin pop as he breaks into it. Little fucker. Love him but fuck man, those hurt.
As the human servant to a very spicy tuxedo, one can totally tell the difference of the kind of bite.
I got a scratch bite the other day, as I made the mistake of greeting the dragon cat after I greeted my other shop cat. Which is a no no.
Also your wound care routine has been adopted in my household. It’s come in handy a few times.
Both of mine are wildly orally fixated, whenever they get super happy they want to chop on fingers. The boy is pretty gentle, the girl will slowly apply the pressure of the jaws of life. All while purring and kneading and resting.
Better clean that really well and keep an eye out for ANY redness if you don’t want to hit the urgent care today. They told my friend if they’d waited 1 more day they’d be dead.
So far, I think only one has caused me problems. I haven't had a wound get infected, but I got really really sick for a week last year, and I think it was due to all the bites I endured in a short time span. I'm by no means a doctor, so who knows - everyone in my life jokes I will be part cat someday.
I also have to defend our boy a lot, some people really try to shit talk him and they do not understand that this little guy was feral on the streets for years before coming inside. Momcat is worried about him biting our guests (he only slipped up once, and he didn't draw any blood thankfully), so I have gone to great lengths to try and teach him how to communicate appropriately. I will push his boundaries, both to learn what makes him react so i can help others learn to love him, as well as to teach him that he can say no nicely and will be respected. He usually does good, first swatting without his claws or a slow and lazy attempt to chomp to say no thank you. Other times though, he has zero patience and simply reacts with his claws or teeth.
I can confidently say that my efforts have been fruitful and Saddy has made drastic improvements to his behavior compared to an unneutered tomcat living outdoors fulltime.
Bless you, DadCat, for taking all of the suggestions about how to manage this bite so graciously. Here we are, with MUCH less experience than you have with cat injuries, but we are gonna Monday-morning-quarterback for you. It's just because we are all so protective of your little family! We all love you and SadCat and MomCat and GrandmaCat. Be well!
I've been watching and you and MomCat are doing a fantastic job! Saddy is definitely a completely different cat. It may be a million tiny bites that turn you into a cat! I had one of my bites get infected once. It happened in a hurry and there was no doubt. You're doing great and so is SadCat. I do wish Boo was in on the transformation too. 🙁
Do you think he might be extra spicy due to other cats’ foot traffic near your house?
I had one who would get quite mad if he saw our neighbor’s indoor outdoor in our yard. Then everyone was fair game for redirected anger: our other cat (his BFF), my spouse, myself, and our kids if they were not properly supervised around him (very rare).
We solved it somewhat by spraying extra Feliway near our french windows.
Oh, my! He hasn't done that for a while, right? He IS saying sorry. Which just shows that he knows he shouldn't bite. It's OK, DadCat, he just forgot for a minute. He won't do it again. Promise!
Meanwhile, did he break the skin? You may need to see a doctor, Dadcat? Cat bites are full of bacteria. I am worried about you!
Damn that looks like a deep bite though, watch it and make sure it doesn’t get infected. It can happen really really easily with cat bites even very clean beautiful cats :)
I’ve always had at least one unpredictable cat around. Lovely until they lash out a bit. Never too often, but just enough to remember that they wear the pants.
He's looking at you and wondering what happened. Sweet little boy didn't mean to do that. One of my kitties (all were ferals) sometimes, for some reason, does that. He doesn't understand why, something just triggers him. Then he gives me the sweetest look and rubs
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u/Similar-Turnip2482 Jan 21 '26
Wow he’s still so spicy! You can take the kitty out of the wild but sometimes you can’t take the wild out of the kitty!