Not any serious attacks, no. Just the occaisiopnal scratch and bite from my sister’s cat growing up because, being a small child, I would torment it on occaision. Nothing serious, just enough for it to give me a small cut. hewould usually then lick the area after scratching or biting me…I think he was tasting me in the event he ever had to kill and eat me. :eek:
Interesting story, though, I am probably one of the few (if only) here to actually have required surgery (two of them, actually) because of a cat scratch.
Oh, I agree that it was a bad situation. Though I do find it rather humorous that this “pet of the week” was called “a very loving cat” seconds before it went berserk.
Just about the same thing happened to an acquaintance of mine and her aging pet cat. He was sitting on a windowsill and viciously attacked her leg as she walked by. Vet thought it was a one-time thing, that the cat had been frightened by something outside and displaced onto her as she passed. After weeks of anti-biotics treating the infection – kitty tore her up – it happened again. She still tears up when she talks about it.
I am a ridiculously devoted pet owner, but I don’t forget for one moment that those little buggers have very sharp teeth and claws. I am overly cautious when we have visitors, even if I know they are cat owners themselves, because every cat seems to have their own tolerance for people, and it varies from person to person and situation to situation. I’m on the verge of OCD-cautious when we have children visiting.
I don’t know if this counts as an “attack” but:
We had a mama Siamese who incorrectly believed I was trying to feed her kitten to the dog. I was really trying to close the door to keep them apart. Mama chomped down real hard on my hand. I screamed, natch. The door was now closed, no one was in danger, and Mama Cat was immediately acting very apologetic. I took a trip to the ER and got a tetanus shot anyway.
Almost any animal will attack if it believes, however incorrectly, that it is being threatened. In the case of many, this extends to its babies being threatened. One should never touch, especially from behind, any animal that is already upset by something. It makes them terrified that they are surrounded by danger. If it’s really, really necessary, it behooves you to have thick gloves and a blanket.
I’ve been really attacked by a cat. It was utterly horrifying. I was more overwhelmed by a six pound cat than by a sixty pound pit bull (by which I’ve also been attacked).
Just one very solid bite from out of nowhere (a friend’s cat came flying from behind a chair, bit me, and then fled). So it wasn’t a claws-flying, sustained attack, but the bite looked like a snakebite and bruised up like something awful. Furthermore, I had to go to the emergency room (doctors office was closed on weekend) to get antibiotics and a tetanus shot. Apparently cat bites can get very nasty very quickly, and they don’t mess around.
I’ve heard this as well. Ditto (maybe even more so) scratches.
Although a wound that bleeds freely and copiously is probably less likely to get infected.
Regardless, when I was bitten, although it was a cat that I knew was perfectly healthy, I got medical treatment right away. My hand still swelled up like a balloon.
I had a feral cat bite through a pair of heavy leather falconers gloves. Cats don’t mess around when they are scared. The last time I got bit, I put off going to the doctor and it got badly infected. After several people yelled at me, I went to the doctor, who also yelled at me and told me I knew better. He also told me there is an antibiotic specifically indicated for cat bites.
Hit “Post” too soon. The bite through the glove just barely broke the skin - I guess her mouth was too full of leather to get any more fang in - but it developed a huge bruise from the amount of pressure she had to use to puncture the glove.
Back in college one of my friends had a couple kittens, this was back when I actually still liked and could tolerate cats. I was in the kitchen when one of the kittens came in and started making that growling, gutteral sound that others have described.
I didn’t recognize the sound for what it was…basically the cat was saying “Get the $#%^ out of here!”, but I didn’t listen.
I instead instinctively shoo-ed the cat away with my foot, wherein the wrath of the kitty cat broke loose! It was like a feline tornado swirled around and up my leg, but it was a tornado that had very sharp and biting teeth!! Kitty bit me right above the knee deeply, and my leg was covered in blood. You wouldn’t think a little kitty could cause that much damage but my leg had huge claw gashes and such. Plus, it hurt!
At the emergency room I came ** this ** close to having to get those bad rabies shots. I wasn’t scared until the doctors kept leaving the room to “consult” then would come back in and say “how old did you say the cat was?” That freaked me out. The kitty was probly 6 mos old, which I guess is unusual to have it attack randomly like that.
Unfortunately (or fortunately…depends on how you feel about cats) the kitty had to be put down. They quarantined him for several days and he had several outbursts…evidently he had some sort of neurological problem. Luckily, no rabies surfaced!
I had to pimp slap a cat once that was getting aggressive. We gave each other a wide berth after that incident. Fine by me, he was a mean cat anyways and totally ignored my attempts to play ball-in-a-sock.
The “wat” in minlokwat is for Watson, the third of our cats who was a rescued dumpster kitty who always maintained a bit of wild streak in him.
When we took Watson to get his first shots, the veterinarian aid grabbed Watson by the scruff of his neck while the doctor administered the shots.
When they were almost finished, the aid bent her face real close to Watson and said something like, “See, it’s not so bad,” at which point the cat lurched up and broke free.
Watson then ran under the aquarium display (this took place at a shot clinic at the local pet store) and the aid had to get down on her stomach to pull Watson out.
There was a bit of a struggle –during this time, everyone in the store was watching and my SO and I were mortified and ready to die of embarrassment- and when the aid emerged again with Watson by the scruff of the neck, she had a large, long gash running the length of the underside of her forearm.
The last shot was administered, Watson was stuffed back into the carrier and we left with the other patrons giving us a wider-than-usual berth.
My evil sister’s cat would attack any stranger in her house. Not a big kamikazi thing, but a nasty strike from ambush. He would hide under a desk or table or curtains, and go for your ankle with a swipe of his front claws. If you were sockless and pantless, you ended up with 2 or 3 long bloody furrows. Then he would hiss at you and come at you to take another swipe, and he’d get you again if you didn’t back away. But he didn’t race after you – so long as you kept moving away there was time to call on the evil sister to come and stop him.
Not me, but my husband and his mother were both attacked, totally unprovoked, by a SIL’s cat. The cat would let you pet him, purring happily, and then suddenly snap. My (elderly) MIL had a chunk of flesh torn out of her forearm by the cat. My husband was holding the cat and when it sunk its teeth and claws deep into his arm unexpectedly, he reflexively pushed the cat away, hard; it bounced off the wall with a solid impact and fled from him. No one outside of the cat’s owners/family were terribly sad when the cat died recently.
It was an older apartment building. I think they had changed the pipes or removed a dishwasher or something and never covered the hole in the back of the cabinets that led down to the crawlspace. My own cats liked having a ‘cat door’ very much, but I fixed it myself not long after this event, thinking maybe I was going to wind up feeding all the cats in the neighborhood.
I’ve volunteered for the SPCA, but, thankfully, have always managed to get the kitty restrained before becoming the victim of a fight-to-the-death attack. Although, I have seen one.
The worst I’ve had is a bite. Actually, the worst I’ve had is a really deep set of clawmarks. I had a cat who had the tendency to jump on peoples’ shoulders. Once, he tried it when all I was wearing was a towel, my skin still soaked from a shower. He slipped, tumbled forward and dug all four feet of claws into my back to stop himself. And he stopped. Ow.
When we were ready to give Cassy’s kittens away, a lady came to see them. They were in our spare bedroom. The lady, for some reason decided to sit on the bed, but it moved, pinning a kitten bewteen the leg of the bed and the wall. The kitten was screaming. I dived under the bed to get it, and Cassy attacked my face.
The strangest thing was, Maxx dived between us and fended her off until I got the kitten out.
I had scratches on my face and hands, but no bites.
Once I had the kitten in hand, Cassy calmed down, but stayed at my side, like any worried mom. She’s the gentlest kitty I know, now. Maxx was my good boy and I miss him.
The kitten was injured, but made a complete recovery, and found a good home, NOT with the lady.
I got bitten only last month by a stray cat that turned up in my garden. It was around for a few days, very friendly, always came running up to say hello and for me to stroke it when I went out in the morning. Then one evening it was there in the back garden, came running up again, rubbed round my legs, I stroked it - and it turned round and sank its teeth into my wrist and scratched all down my arm.
I spent most of the following morning in A&E waiting to get a tetanus shot and antibiotics. Cat is still around but it hasn’t come near me again!