On Cats and Safety

Cats are animals. I mean, cats are fucking animals. Don’t get me wrong, we have had many a cat in our house and our household over the years, and I’ve loved them all dearly. But don’t kid yourself about their nature. Unlike a dog – a species which chose to align with us humans some forty thousand years ago and who became part of our culture and our wellbeing – cats remain wild, untamed, undomesticated. Or, more to the point, they can play domesticated when they want to, but you shouldn’t be deceived.

This all came into a new kind of clarity for me a week ago, when I was combing dear Edie’s plushy Persian-derived fur, trying to help her with some mats that had formed. I tugged a bit (too much) and she rounded on me in a flash and hit me, snake-style, both fangs deep into the back of my hand. I howled, and staggered off bleeding to wash and bandage what I knew was a bad bite.

What I didn’t know… What the various medical professionals I dealt with over the next four days helped me realize is that a cat bite that breaks the skin is a medical issue, requiring immediate attention and probably antibiotics, cats’ mouths hosting a plethora of nasty bugs that will fuck you up. Not being clued-in to this and waiting thirty-six hours for my hand to swell and turn colours with telltale red streaks extending up my forearm, anibiotics became a priority – intravenously, two days’ worth. And then the urgent-care clinic doctors being unsure what exactly to do next with me, kicked me to the infectious disease specialists at St Paul’s Hospital, who were calm enough to just give me a broad-spectrum (and fairly harsh) drug while culturing the Pasturella they swabbed from the pus still emerging from the wound.

I’m doing better. The redness and swelling have mostly subsided. Last night (seven days after) I slept without painkillers for the first time. I still can’t type, can’t play the guitar, can’t open jars, nor cans. Edie still requires feeding despite it all. She’s been extra nice, actually.

Typing with one hand…