I have just had my kitty on my lap. While I was typing, she reached up to paw my arm (“Hey! Pet me some more!”). She just barely tapped me, but her claws left two tiny marks that are now swelling up slightly. One was a dot that now looks like a mosquito bite, and the other is a welt with a line down the center. They itch. Does anyone know what causes that?
Bacteria and other gunk accumulated under a cat’s claws. If it infects, it could cause cat scratch fever.
I would suppose kitty feet are pretty filthy. Further you may be developing an allergy.
I don’t know if it makes much difference, but this is an indoor cat. I’m not sure how filthy her feet could be, never having stepped in anything dirtier than cat litter. Anything’s possible, I guess. She only grazed my arm in the lightest way, yet I have marks now.
I found a Staff Report about whether cats have poison in their claws. It says no. I surmise that cats are just not very sanitary creatures. Every time I’ve been scratched by a cat, the scratch has always become infected. Indoor, outdoor, it didn’t matter. I’m pretty sure that I’m not allergic to cats, though.
Sounds like you’re just sensitive. You might be slightly allergic and breaking the skin cause you problems that you won’t normally see.
Also - try this: Use your thumb or fingernail to make a line on your arm. Use enough pressure to feel it but not enough to hurt yourself. Does it make a welt? If it does, you have a sensitivity that is sometimes associated with Raynaud’s disease and some other skin oddities.
Poison? No, but cat’s claws are dirty. They can be vectors for Bartonella (cat scratch fever). They dig around their poop in the litter box. They walk on dirt outside.
If they did, I’d have been dead long ago. Our cats play enthusiastically, and even Lotta, who is always careful to keep her claws retracted, can still give me scratches that draw blood if her claws have gotten too long.
You mean that stuff kept in a box with urine and feces?
I’m allergic to cats. When the allergy first started developing, that welt and itch upon being scratched were the only noticeable symptoms. It’s gotten worse – now their general presence causes me breathing issues.
For the record, I do not have sensitive skin.
My vet aide said it’s better to use lumping litter, and to scoop the nasties out completely with a shovel-type scoop and not strain the lump. What I’m trying to say is, pick up the lump and the surrounding litter and toss it all. Every day. Takes 2 minutes.
A well used scratch post should help keep the claws cleaner, I’d think.
Please don’t ask me what I think about declawing, aka toe amputation.
Peace,
mangeorge
I’d just like to thank you all a hell of a lot for “The Nuge’” earworm. :mad:
Kitties must accumulate dander under the claws during grooming rituals.
You yourself could be bringing in the icky stuff from the outside.
You track in small amounts of whatever you stepped in the parking lot, and your cat now has minute amounts on her paws. You get someone sneezing nearby and a few germs end up sitting on your skin.
Cat breaks skin, that icky stuff now has an easier access to your insides.
You wouldn’t think of rubbing an open wound or even a small scratch agiainst the floor, even if just scrubbed, would you? Treat any wound as if it were inflicted by a dirty agent. Wash it thoroughl with antiseptic soap, treat with peroxide, anti-biotic, etc. etc.per standard first aid procedures!
Why take chances with an infection? :dubious:
Very few mammals are venomous or poisonous, and cats are not among them.
Could and did, in my case. I was…10? 11? Around there. Got a nasty infection in a lymph node near my groin. Eventually, I had to have surgery to have it removed since it swelled to almost the size of a golfball and didn’t respond to antibiotics.
Also, it hurt like hell. :mad:
how quickly did this happen? You make it sound like only a few minutes.
If it was an infection (as suggested in several posts about dirty feet from the litter box), wouldn’t it take a day or more for the bacteria to multiply and affect your body?
It was only a matter of minutes from when she touched my arm to when I noticed the reaction and started the thread. No blood was drawn, so I don’t think I have cause to be alarmed that I may get a fecal-matter-borne infection.
:rolleyes: ::checks cat’s toes; all are present, sans claws::