Nothing major, but my daughter’s enthusiastic Labrador mix was so happy to see me, she jumped into my lap and gouged my forearm. It was the night before her wedding so I chucked indulgently. The bandage was covered at the ceremony.
Bitten by dogs twice, got medical attention as precaution.; Otherwise I pretty much stay away from wild animals. Somehow I escaped the brown recluse spiders, living for ten years in Kansas and Missoiri, where most people can show you their scars. I was in the hospital for three days with dengue fever, from a mosquito bite, does that count>
My exwife has bites of both a shark and a copperhead on her dossier.
…I got stung by a bee once.
Dad pointed out the bee actually had it worse: I’d literally scared her into suicide. I know it sounds bad said like that, but it didn’t make me feel bad; it achieved the intended purpose of one, getting me to stop thinking with my bloating thumb and start using my brain again, and two, making me realize that inattention can be a truly bad thing (worse for the bee than for my poor left thumb).
Nothing worse than a gash on my scalp by an oyster, I guess what it lacks in seriousness it makes up in originality.
I need to hear this story! Did it viciously attack you??
The worst animal injury I’ve gotten was minor but extremely painful.
My aunt had gotten a new kitten, which I was playing with one day. It was exploring my face with its paw, as kittens often do. It somehow got a claw hooked INSIDE my nose.
The King of The Killer Elite went paralyzed last month. Can’t move his back legs. Lost control of his bladder and bowels. But still alert and awesome as always.
So, it hurts me deeply, every single day, to have to carry this once strong, solid Warrior out of his box, outside to try to drain his bloated bladder or pinch off a mushy turd, usually on his (for now) worthless hind legs. And he barks (never did before) to let me know he needs me, and I get mad at him, because I’ll be doing something meaningless, like watching stupid Bowl games, or at 2 in the morning, and I get mad or yell at him.
And then I feel real bad, and jump up to take him outside to do his thing. I have to hold him up by the hips so he can piss and shit. But he has earned so much more.
This whole thing has just hurt me mentally, knowing he is but the oldest of four, and the horror of thinking of his pain and discomfort, and the probability of this to happining to the other three.
It’s not been a Merry Christmas. And I don’t predict a Happy New Year.
Makes that nasty dog bite from my neighbor’s horrible dog seem trivial.
The worst I ever had was from a cat bite (not even a bite, really – just a tooth that scratched my finger, and barely bled). But a couple days later I was taking antibiotics prescribed by my doctor, and a few more and I was in the hospital, getting 3 kinds of IV antibiotics, and stayed there for nearly a week.
But that isn’t what hurt the most!
That was one Minnesota winter, when I was opening the sliding bar door (tough, with the snow in the tracks) and I slipped on a patch of melted glare ice in the doorway, and went down hard, right onto the concrete floor on my kneecap. As I lay there groaning in pain and wondering if my knee was broken, the lead mare pushed the partially-opened doors wide enough to get through, sniffed at me lying there, and very carefully stepped over my body to come inside to go into her stall. Followed by the two dozen others in the herd. They each cautiously stepped over me, and most sniffed at me with their frost-covered muzzles. And really, it wasn’t anything the horses had done that directly caused the injury.
After a while, I was able to drag myself upright using the door, closed the barn doors and all their stall doors, and used an old pitchfork as a crutch to hobble back to the house. Took a lot of aspirin that night, and had some swelling the next day, but basically OK. (Though my leg went through various colors for a couple weeks.) But I remember laying in the doorway feeling more pain than I had ever felt before.
Once in Thailand I inadvertently walked too close to a mangy cur’s litter, and she ran out and bit me on the leg. Didn’t hurt much, but since I’d not kept up with my rabies vaccine, I had to get the series of shots.
One of my cats used to gouge my forearms so deeply I thought he was attempting murder; but make it look like suicide. No I was not squeezing him too tight. I was just holding him a few seconds longer than he wanted.
Another case of a massed wild bee kamikaze attack when I was young, probably six or seven. The other boys had found a nest on a church picnic and got them riled up. I happened to be walking by and became the target. Face got swollen up and all that but otherwise survived.
I have been attacked by a Great Horned Owl, an Emu, and a Duck. I was once nipped by a puppy and have had a random assortment of cat bites and scratches. Oh, and a ferret sank his teeth in my thumb and I had to pry him off. The llama spat at me but I made my save throw. That one raccoon lunged at me but I cast Expeditious Retreat. I just bombed that whole encounter, actually.
I was attacked by a senile old donkey. This is only one that was potentially serious. It was winter. I was 16-ish. I was alone in the barn, which was all closed up. I went in the donkey’s stall and cleaned it up. I gave him food and water and scritches. I turned to leave and as I opened the door, the donkey reared up, but his feet on my right shoulder and bit my left shoulder. I elbowed him in the throat and he got down. Then I ran out the door. I was wearing my winter coat, so the bite didn’t leave a mark.
The donkey was old and demented but still strong enough to kill me if he wanted to. Fortunately, he was just confused and lonely and not really serious. Plus I was all alone in the barn at the time.
I’m not sure what the follow up was. I told my supervisor but it was winter and I wasn’t around much again until Spring. I don’t think they took any special precautions. By the spring, the donkey was back out on display and everything was business as usual. He never attacked me again, or anyone that I heard of. There were no special instructions about him, but I was careful to keep an eye on him when I was in their enclosure. I wasn’t nervous around him (or anything else that’s every bitten me). I was just extra patient and careful not to startle him. He was not normally violent or even very active. He was in his late twenties and spent all day dozing or getting pets.
It was a strange event. The whole time I spent working at the zoo was a strange event. Looking back, I can’t believe we were allowed to get into all the trouble that we had. The 70’s were a magical time.
I was giving a filthy white cat a bath when he clamped onto my hand and would not let go. I had to hold him under water for a minute before he loosened up.
Still have five little circular scars from that one.
If your cat is sitting on the window ledge, hissing through the screen at a random cat in the yard, DO NOT walk quietly up behind him and pick him up. He will get startled, dig every claw he owns into your flesh, and hold on for dear life as you shake your hand trying to dislodge him.
Or so I’ve heard.
mmm
I was playing with an ex-girlfriend’s roomate’s dog once, a black lab. I was on my knees and had the dog’s rope toy. I was playing keep away with her, yanking it away at the last second. One time when I pulled it back I brought it too close to my face and she lunged for it and ended up biting open my right nostril.
Man did that ever bleed like crazy! I went to look into the mirror and my nostril was hanging there like a flap, so I knew I needed stitches. Went to the ER, got five stitches, called off work the next day. Until the stitches came out, it looked like I had big, black bristly hairs coming out of my nose.
Mammals: Just flesh wounds. Scratches from cats and dogs while playing with them. Twisted ankle from tripping over a black dog while playing in the dark. Cow stepped on my foot while I was milking it.
Birds, Fish, Reptiles, and Amphibians: Might have got stuck by a fin taking a fish off a hook. Flesh wound.
Insects: Wasp stung me pretty badly in the finger, got infected. Doctor had to dig deep to get the stinger out of my index finger. When I was kid the scar was very visible, I can barely see the scar now, some 50 yrs later.
Nothing real serious.
Is this a thing in horse husbandry? That you have to complete your duties, despite your injuries, unless they’re nearly fatal? That’s harsh.
I had my index finger chewed by a caged rabbit when I was no more than two or three. I do remember going to the hospital and only getting butterfly bandaids. I still have a scar and shortened finger. There is no lasting psycho trauma though.
Wasps put me in the hospital once. And I was bitten by a beagle once but he was instantly sorry about it and all it needed was cleaned and bandaged well.
Many chihuahuas have tried to use me as a chew toy over the ages but with my usual clothing and reaction times they probably got the worse end of the stick. I still dislike the little yippers though.
Sabrina (our black Chow Chow) lay down behind me when I went to get a glass of water without turning on the lights. I turned, tripped over her, FOOSHED and fractured my elbow. (fell on my outstretched hand.)