Cat Bites May Lead To Serious Infections

When cats bite, their sharp teeth can inject hard-to-treat bacteria deeply into the skin and joints, increasing the risk of serious infection

Cat Bites May Lead To Serious Infections - Cat bites may look less serious than dog bites, but beware: They can cause dangerous infections, particularly when they involve the hand, new research indicates.

Although cats have no more germs in their mouths than dogs or people, researchers at the Mayo Clinic found that when cats bite, their sharp teeth can inject hard-to-treat bacteria deeply into the skin and joints, increasing the risk for serious infection.

Cats' teeth are sharp

"Dogs' teeth are blunter, so they don't tend to penetrate as deeply and they tend to leave a larger wound after they bite," study senior author Dr. Brian Carlsen, a Mayo Clinic plastic surgeon and orthopaedic hand surgeon, said in a clinic news release. "Cats' teeth are sharp and can penetrate very deeply. They can seed bacteria in the joint and tendon sheaths."

"It can be just a pinpoint bite mark that can cause a real problem," he said, "because the bacteria get into the tendon sheath or into the joint where they can grow with relative protection from the blood and immune system."

The researchers studied nearly 200 cat bite cases that occurred between 2009 and 2011. The patients involved in the study were all bitten on the hand. The average of the participants was 49 years old, and 69% were women.

About half the patients visited an emergency room, while the rest went to their primary-care physician. The average time people waited between getting bitten and seeking treatment was 27 hours.

Reconstructive surgery

The researchers said 57 of the patients who were bitten needed to be hospitalised, but only 36 had been admitted immediately after seeking medical treatment.

Of those admitted to the hospital, 38 patients needed surgery to clean the wound or remove infected tissue. The study, published in the Journal of Hand Surgery, also revealed that eight patients needed more than one surgical procedure, and some needed reconstructive surgery.

Meanwhile, 80% of the patients were initially prescribed oral antibiotics, the researchers said. For 14% of these patients, outpatient treatment with antibiotics didn't work and they needed to be hospitalised.

In most cases, bites that were positioned directly over the wrist or another joint were more likely to result in hospitalisation than bites to soft tissue, the researchers said.

Cat bites need to be taken seriously

Cat bites need to be taken seriously and carefully evaluated by doctors, the study authors said. This is particularly true when patients develop inflamed skin and swelling. In these cases, the researchers said, the wound should be treated aggressively.

"Cat bites look very benign, but – as we know and as the study shows – they are not," Carlsen said. "They can be very serious."

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Animal And Human Bites

Dogs are the most likely pets to cause animal bites. However, cat and human bites are far more dangerous

Animal And Human Bites - Dogs are the most likely domestic pets to cause animal bites. Most cases involve children. Cat and human bites, however, carry a higher risk of infection. Apart from causing injury and septic wounds, there is a chance that animal bites may transmit tetanus and, in rare cases, rabies.

Home treatment:

If the wound barely breaks the skin, treat it as a minor wound. Scrub the bite thoroughly with soap and running water. Apply antibiotic cream and a loose sterile bandage.

If the bite creates a deep puncture of the skin or the skin is badly torn, allow for some bleeding to cleanse the wound and see your doctor.

If the animal has an identifiable owner, enquire whether it is currently vaccinated against rabies. Even if that is the case, it should be observed and quarantined by a veterinarian for the next 10 days to see if it develops symptoms of rabies.

If the animal is stray, wild or there is no documented proof of vaccination, contact the local health department. The animal should be assumed as being positive for rabies and you should start receiving treatment for rabies within 48 hours (see below). If the animal is caught, it should be euthanised to test for rabies. Only if the test is negative, can treatment be stopped.

See a doctor if :

The wound is deep, especially if it is a puncture wound. Cat and human bites (even cuts on knuckles caused by a fight) should always be seen by a doctor.

You have been bitten on the face, hand, foot or neck, or over a joint.

You suspect that the animal may be rabid or the bite is from a wild or stray animal, or if definite proof cannot be found of current vaccination of the animal.

You haven't had a tetanus injection within the past five years.

There are signs of infection.

Prevention of dog bites

Most dog bites can be prevented. Teach children not to disturb dogs while they eat, sleep or care for puppies. Children should never be left alone with a dog. Neuter your dog.

If a dog approaches, stay calm. Teach your children to stand still – "like a tree". Never pet a dog without letting it sniff you.

If a dog threatens to attack, stay calm, talk in a firm voice and avoid eye contact. Don't scream. Back away slowly and don't turn and run – a dog will always outrun you.

If a dog attacks, curl up into a ball to protect your face, neck and head.

Read More : How Your Dog Can Tell What You're Feeling

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How Your Dog Can Tell What You're Feeling

Researchers have found a specific area in a dog's brain that recognises human faces

How Your Dog Can Tell What You're Feeling - Dogs process human faces in a specific region of their brains, researchers report.

"Our findings show that dogs have an innate way to process faces in their brains, a quality that has previously only been well-documented in humans and other primates," study senior author Gregory Berns, a neuroscientist at Emory University in Atlanta, said in a university news release.

The discovery of this face-processing area in the temporal cortex may help explain why dogs are so sensitive to human social cues, according to the authors of the study published Aug. 4 in the journal PeerJ.

"Dogs are obviously highly social animals, so it makes sense that they would respond to faces. We wanted to know whether that response is learned or innate," said Berns, who leads the Dog Project in the university's psychology department.

The six dogs in the study were trained to voluntarily enter a functional MRI machine and remain motionless during scanning without the need for restraints or sedation. Their brains were scanned while they were shown videos of faces and everyday objects.

A region in the dogs' temporal lobe showed much more activity when they saw human and dog faces than everyday objects. The researchers have named this region the dog face area.

The findings show that dogs are born with this innate response to faces. If it was learned -- for example, by associating a human face with food -- then faces would trigger a response in the reward region of their brains, Berns explained.

People have at least three face-processing regions in the brain. Being able to identify faces is important for any social animal, the researchers suggested.

"Dogs have been cohabitating with humans for longer than any other animal," study first author Daniel Dilks, an assistant professor of psychology at Emory, said in the news release.

"They are incredibly social, not just with other members of their pack, but across species. Understanding more about canine cognition and perception may tell us more about social cognition and perception in general," he explained.

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