It never hurts you to go get checked. Depending on the situation, it might hurt the cat.
See, animal bites have legal reporting requirements, depending on your jurisdiction. In Oklahoma, for instance, if the cat is feral or stray, or its owner lets it out and doesn't have vaccination records, then the cat has to be held at a vet for 10 days to be quarantined in case it might be rabid. The alternative, if they for some reason can't hold it for 10 days, is to kill it and do a rabies test.
Ah, the more you know! I live in England and the last time I got checked for it they just told me to make sure anyone who should know about it does know.
Terrestrial rabies is fully eradicated in places like Britain and Ireland so they're not particularly stressed about it. Now if you were bitten by a bat that'd be a different story because bats can carry it.
Pardon my ignorance but could you explain abt this not breaking the skin? It looks red enough to be blood to me. If I press a paper towel on it, and come back with something, is that not broken skin?
How is that verified or enforced? âI was on a hike and there was a cat in the forest that came up and bit me and ran away. Nope, not that one. Not that one either. Guess yall couldnât find the right cat. Bummer.â
In South America there is an extremely low likelihood of a cat having rabies (As in almost not seen anymore).
As long as it is a normal cat, without any symptoms and/or behavior changes, you'll be fine, in fact they will not even give you a rabies shot, unless a dog had bit you.
From an emergency room worker, going to the ER for a consult on such minimal lesion might hurt him
At least emotionally with all the side eye (Only joking)
youâre getting downvoted for literally being right. this sub is more concerned with the catâs health than the personâs đ both rabies and tetanus are awful ways to go, and pretty much zero people survive rabies. you also donât need it to be deep, either. scratches from bats, invisible to the naked eye, can infect you with rabies. famously, thatâs how one of the few surviving rabies victims got infected, and it completely destroyed her motor function for years of her life. this shit is serious, we all love cats but come on.
It broke a little but id say soak it in warm anti bacterial soap water for a bit and should be fine. If it start looking infected then maybe hit the doc up
you should not be giving medical advice. if they arenât up to date on their tetanus shot then they need to go and get one. you can get a tetanus infection from what doesnât appear to be a deep wound, and you can certainly get rabies this way as well, a disease that is nearly always fatal.
Depends on whether your countryâs healthcare system bills the patient or the government. Unless the cat was acting strange or showing signs of rabies, I wouldnât pay an American doctor when rubbing alcohol, soap, and water will probably clear it up for cheaper than the fuel to drive to the clinic.
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u/Senor_Lemonthumbs Jun 19 '26
Doesn't look like it broke the skin, you should be fine but if you're worried it never hurts to go get checked