How to relieve swelling after a cat bite

To improve the condition of the patient it is necessary to put a bandage on the damaged area previously washed with laundry soap and liberally soaked in ointment with antibiotic levomecol and alcohol, in the extreme case with vodka. During the day the bandage should be regularly moistened with alcohol again. It promotes the opening of pores and, as a consequence, faster penetration of the ointment into the tissues. The bandage also reduces the fever in the place of swelling. The painful hand should be rested and fixed on a bandage.

How to relieve swelling of the hand after a cat bite

The dangers of cat bites should not be underestimated. They often cause complications and you need to know what to do if a cat bites and your hand, foot or finger swells. Most often cat bites affect the hands. A cat bite is much less common than a dog bite, but its consequences are much more serious because of the characteristics of the teeth, which can bite deep enough; and also because of the presence in the mouth of a special microflora, provoking severe inflammation. Swelling at the bite site must be treated, since it is a complication and a sign of the development of a violent purulent process.

In some cases, if swelling develops, it is necessary to consult a doctor, as self-treatment of trauma from the teeth of a cat is impossible at home. If the bite was caused by an unknown cat or a domestic cat, but not vaccinated against rabies, the help of a doctor is required even before the appearance of swelling. If the cat definitely cannot be a carrier of rabies, a visit to a medical facility is necessary if a bite on the arm causes swelling in the following cases:

• pain in the joint and rapid increase in swelling – occurs if the cat has traumatized the joint capsule by biting the fingers (most often) and inflammation began not only in the joint itself, but also in the periosteum. On your own, you will not be able to cope with the problem. The injured area is very painful and reddened. Swelling of the hand grows quickly – on the 2nd or 3rd day after receiving the wound;
• an increase in temperature, starting at 37.2 – this is an indicator that the inflammatory process is extensive, going beyond a limited area, causing intoxication of the body. The swelling quickly spreads over a large distance from the bite that the cat inflicted, and without treatment leads to serious consequences, up to and including death;
• palpation of liquid contents – usually observed in large localized swelling, which appears more often if the cat bite between the hand and elbow. The thin wounds from the teeth begin to heal vigorously, but because an infection of the hand has occurred, the inflammation inside causes a large amount of pus to form, which has no way out. Without surgical opening of the abscess, there is a high risk of sepsis (blood infection);
• Children under the age of 3 years – because of the imperfection of children's immune system, the inflammation should not be left unattended or self-treated. The deterioration of the condition by the penetration of bacteria into the bloodstream can develop rapidly, and saving the child in such a situation will not be possible.

Drugs to relieve swelling

If the hand has swollen significantly and over a large area extending far beyond the place where the cat bit, it is necessary to use antibiotic therapy. Such treatment after a cat bite will stop the progression of inflammation and destroy pathogenic bacteria. If the tissue swelling is severe, external remedies are not enough and oral antibiotics are indicated. If it is possible to visit a doctor, the place of inflammation is injected with antibiotics. In this case, the effect of the drugs will be noted in the maximum concentration directly in the affected tissues.

For internal use, if bitten by a cat, more often prescribed broad-spectrum antibiotics, which are sensitive to all the bacteria that entered the wound from the cat's oral cavity with its saliva. The following medications are preferred:

Take the medicine for at least 5 days and no more than 10 days. In most cases, a week of therapy to relieve inflammation and eliminate swelling of the hand after a cat bite is enough. In severe cases, when the hand is swollen and hurts badly, the introduction of antibiotics can be carried out with injections, but in this situation, the patient is usually hospitalized, because there is a serious threat to his health and life.

What are the dangers of a bite

Do not exaggerate the effects of a wasp or bee sting, even if the local reaction has spread to a fairly large area. It will soon go away without a trace. But you should not underestimate allergies, especially acute ones, which in the worst case can develop into anaphylactic shock. Without adequate first aid, it leads to the most tragic consequences.

If you have already had an allergy to an insect bite, the next time you become its victim, the probability of a more violent reaction is 60%.

Today, there is immunotherapy, which consists of injecting poison into a person, gradually increasing the dose and developing immunity of the body. The effectiveness of this method is about 97%.

Local and normal reaction: how to eliminate itching and other symptoms

• If a wasp or other hymenopteran insect sting occurs in the hand area, the first thing to do is to remove rings from your fingers, bracelets or watches from your wrist-anything that cannot be easily removed if it starts to swell.
• If a sting is left where a bee stung, it should be removed carefully, without squeezing, taking care not to damage it, so that as little of the dangerous venom as possible enters the body.
• The sting site should be washed with a soapy solution, just water or make a baking soda bath.
• A cold compress or ice will help relieve swelling and burning.
• Children over two years of age and adults (except pregnant women) should take an antihistamine to relieve itching and prevent histamine release. Consult with your family or doctor about which histamine blocker is best for you to avoid unwanted side effects, incompatibility with other medications, etc.
• To relieve pain and prevent inflammation, take ibuprofen, paracetamol or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (this recommendation is not suitable for pregnant women).
• During pregnancy, qualified medical help is necessary, any self-treatment is excluded.

Acute allergy, which is accompanied by angioedema, anaphylactic shock, requires immediate administration of adrenaline, and in severe cases – resuscitation measures.

If the patient has previously encountered an acute reaction, when bitten, he should inject himself with epinephrine (you should always have the drug with you).

The doctor should be called in any case, as a second injection and other manipulations may be required.

Feline diseases: prevention and treatment

There is no specific prevention. The only way not to get sick is to never come into contact with cats and other animals.

The answer is positive. About 5% of people in Russia have immune to cat scratch disease. And a quarter of them are owners of domestic cats, who often did not even feel any symptoms, nevertheless suffered from the disease in a mild form.

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Folk remedies

Calendula tincture

Folk medicine remedies in the treatment of cat bites have antiseptic, anti-inflammatory and wound-healing effects. If bitten by a cat, to treat the scratch and bite, you can use:

To accelerate healing of wounds and relieve inflammation if serious bites are received, the following prescriptions are used:

1. Mix crushed nuts and honey (2 parts) and table salt and onions (1 part each), keep in refrigerator, take 1 tbsp. once a day.
2. Pour dried red wine rhizomes Snake Hill (20 g of raw materials 1 liter of wine), insist at least 8 hours, take 1 tbsp. once a day.

Prevention of bites.

There are simple preventive measures to avoid being bitten by a cat:

• Do not pet, do not pick up street animals;
• Visit the veterinarian regularly with your pet;
• vaccinate your cat against rabies and tetanus;
• get a scratching post and toys;
• Do not allow your cat to bite;
• not let the cat outside if there is a threat (such as stray animals);
• Do not deliberately provoke aggression so that the cat does not bite.

You should be careful not only with stray cats, but also protect the health of domestic cats by timely visits to the veterinary clinic and vaccinations.

cat bite

I'm sorry, I'm probably asking the wrong question.
What to do if a cat bites?! The cat is domestic, vaccinated, and does not get sick (except for pest).
Immediately after the bite was treated with peroxide and levomecol.
But 24 hours after the bite the hand swelled up.

I generously massaged around the wound with green, and on the wound I put a compress of plantain leaves, and even with vodka.
In winter you take dried plantain leaves, steaming them with very little water and after 20 minutes you put the wet leaves on the wound (not hot) and make a warm compress according to all the rules – with waxed (or any other waterproof) paper, absorbent cotton.

Wow, plantain leaves will have to look for that, it's a great remedy! Thanks for the tip! I'm already thinking about antibiotics in general. The bite near my knuckle, the entire surface of my hand is swollen and pink. And by late afternoon it felt like it went up my hand. It wasn't me, it was my husband. And it wasn't our cat that took a bite.
I'm going through my medicine cabinet: Ibuprofen? Suprastin? Vishnevsky ointment? They say cat bites are dangerous. I'm afraid of something.

I also had a bad bite in my cat's hand. Went to the surgeon. I applied ichthyol and bandaged my hand. If you have vishnevsky ointment, you can apply it and make a compress. A few days.

Ichthyolka and Vishnevsky ointment are good, but ibuprofen and suprastin are "not from that line".
What else I do (but many people scold this method): around the wound I abundantly smear iodine, all the swollen "territory". And so several times a day. Yes, the skin then flecked, but the suppuration can completely stop. Does your husband tolerate iodine?
These bites are dangerous with festering and inflammation. Fangs bite into the most inopportune places, a joint or a tendon. Twice went to the doctor – such a pain, I was afraid that he had gnawed the joint (in the first case) and that he had broken some small bone in the hand. It turned out all right.
I remember being told not to get my hand wet. But in those days there were no automatic washing machines and I had 24 hours of soaked laundry floating in the bathtub. What to do? I rinsed it off with my hands (and the sick one, too) – and into a regular machine. And the hand immediately went better.

Tips

If you get scratched by a cat, it's a sign of obvious aggression and your misunderstanding of how the animal is feeling toward you. Almost any injury is realistic to avoid if you know a little bit about the behavior of these animals. You can tell aggression in this way:

• The simplest rhythmic tapping of the tail. Pressing it against the body can also mean fear (but the animal will not stop defending itself from this, rather the opposite),
• grin,
• Narrowed pupils, a gleam in the eye,
• A hissing or long meow (which differs from the usual one with a long, uninterrupted sound),
• Hair stood on end,

You should avoid contact with strangers and street cats, the former do not know you and will consider you a threat, and the latter are often negatively disposed against people in general.

If after a cat bite your hand (or finger) is swollen, it's not a reason to run to the doctor and find out how to treat this injury. However, you should also not overlook it, and if there are signs of any complications head to the doctor. Don't forget that cats are not mindless animals, they have a mind and memory, so injuries in general can be avoided if you understand when they are aggressive towards you.

Homeopathy for cat bites

Homeopathic remedies have long been popular with many people – primarily because of their safety and effectiveness. However, we would not advise using such remedies as first aid: there is too much risk of missing time and letting the infection develop in the place of the bite.

However, in combination with further medical treatment, the use of homeopathy is quite appropriate. Many patients manage to speed up recovery and tissue repair with this technique.

• Calendula 6 – speeds up healing, eliminates pain, prevents the development of purulent infection.
• Gammamelis 6 – helps with bleeding wounds.
• Hypericum 6 – facilitates healing in places rich in nerve endings (fingers, inner surface of the wrist, etc.).
• Ledum 6 – prevents the development of inflammation, soothes the skin.
• Symphytum 6 – used in case of tendon and periosteum injuries.
• Arnica 6 – relieves pain, promotes the resorption of hematoma.

In order to decide on a specific drug and its dosage, you need to contact an experienced homeopathic doctor. The consultation should be personal, with the presence of the victim. The "absentee" prescription of remedies in homeopathy is not welcomed.

Surgical treatment for cat bites

Deep puncture wounds can easily fester due to infectious pathogens entering the tissue. Festering is the first indication for surgical treatment.

Already at the first consultation, the surgeon will conclude whether the patient needs surgical treatment. However, at the first stage primary surgical wound care may be sufficient: it is carried out in the manipulation room of the trauma center or surgical department. The doctor removes dead tissue and foreign objects, cleans the wound and disinfects it. If necessary, a drainage is placed or stitches are applied.

If nerves and blood vessels are damaged, the injured person may be admitted for inpatient treatment.

If infection develops in the wound (the main signs are swelling, redness, pain, local increase in temperature) the doctor performs surgical treatment repeatedly. He removes inflamed tissues, cleans the wound, washes it with antiseptics and medical solutions, installs drainage. If such treatment has been performed correctly, the effectiveness of the treatment increases considerably.

In some cases, the help of a surgeon may be required if the cat bite landed on the face: in such a situation, an aesthetic and plastic surgery is performed in the planned mode.

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