My first feral, Shorty, got me 2 times, both my fault. My father had built a house for my strays complete with lapped siding, a small porch with columns and I got leftovers from a client's new carpet ($50.00 a yard, wool) to line the walls and floor. Of course, we put in 2" styrofoam insulation everywhere. And then we stuffed a lot of straw in there for him to arrange however he wanted. Shorty showed up in March and the weather was rainy, snowy, etc so I leaned a piece of plexiglass against it to keep his fod dry. Everything was great if I knocked on the door so he could see me coming and get away. Couple of times I forgot and surprised him. Since he could not flee, he fought. Wraped his legs around my leg and bit me. I did what I usually do, let it bleed to wash out bacteria, put peroxide on it and bandaged it. Applied pressure for a bit and it was good as new. After 8 months, he got used to me and finally allowed me to pick him up and from there went to sleeping on the foot of my bed. I have been very lucky with all my bites and scratches and only 1 time had to go to the ER. A stray came to court my girls and Harley (then 4 months) got out and came flying around the corner of the garage. Moses thought he was attacking so he jumped at him. I grabbed Harley to save him and Moses got me on the back of the hand and hit a large vein. Bled like crazy all over the garage and house. Finally got a couple of 4x4's folded and made a pressure bandage, tied it on with gauze and went to the ER. They gave me a prescription for antibiotics, said I did a real good job of fixing it and told me to find the cat or take rabies shots. I remembered which direction he ran and found him the next day sitting on his ower's porch and very sweetly came to greet me. We had to confine him for 14 days and that was that. He looked so heathy, I was sure he did not have rabies, but the doctor siad was best to be safe. Just remember when dealing with ferals, they feel they have 2 choices, flee or fight so always give them the opportunity to flee.
---- Lorrie <[email protected]> wrote: > On 03-24, MaiMaiPG wrote: > > I deal with ferals too and all of my house cats have been ferals. One > > cost me two surgeries thanks to biting through a finger...my fault not > > hers. A lot of older people are on blood thinners, have extremely > > "thin skin" etc. I've been scratched more times than I can count. > > Obviously, you have been blessed. I'm in my 50's and recover fairly > > easily. I know of too many older people without sufficient support > > who can't recover quickly. I suspect it has to do with the overall > > health of the individual and the personality of the cat. Personally, > > I have seen my mother bleed for hours from various (for me) > > insignificant cuts. As I said, declawing should be the last resort > > but there are times I feel it is justified. > > My husband is 89 and on coumadin. He bleeds easily when one of our > cats scratches him, but we use a styptic pencil to make the bleeding > stop and then bind up the scratches if necessary. We'd NEVER declaw > one of our 15 rescued cats.......... > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > [email protected] > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list [email protected] http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
