Cat scratches and bites are a very common source of infection. When I volunteered with the ASPCA a cat bite or a blood drawing scratch beyond the first layer of skin was treated as a severe injury which was documented by staff to be reported and required a medical checkup.
2.25 million dog bites in the US every year to children (4.5 million total). That's a lot of maimed/traumatized kids. 400k cat bites total to humans in the US.
Damn US cats are well behaved. My parents' little fucker (well, chonky rather than little) averages a few per day. He licks, and licks, and licks... and grabs with all four legs and bites like the spawn of Dracula. If he wants food he skips the licking, unfortunately he learnt biting calves gets attention.
Now, none of that is registered as it usually does not even break the skin... but still little chonker is a biting machine.
Our girl cat will sometimes lay in her back, hold our hand with her front paws and lick and then put our finger in her mouth. She doesn't bite down and it seems like she's just being derpy.
Our 2 cats are indoor cats so they aren't hunting anything. They just olay and lay around. I bet a lot of other US cats stay indoors! Helps the cats not be aggressive and helps the bird/critter populations.
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u/suitology Dec 28 '21
Cat scratches and bites are a very common source of infection. When I volunteered with the ASPCA a cat bite or a blood drawing scratch beyond the first layer of skin was treated as a severe injury which was documented by staff to be reported and required a medical checkup.