Joining the rabies anxiety bandwagon- I was bitten by a kitten

[.Poppy.]

My parents have a farm and used to have just two cats, but then they had some that were dumped
and found their way to their house, so while they are working to get everyone spayed and vaccinated they have a couple of litters of kittens. There is one that is about 5 weeks old now; she was out so I brought her some turkey with the hope of taming her. Well, she got excited about the turkey and leapt up and bit my finger. It did draw blood, just for a moment and still stings.

She’s obviously not been vaccinated yet and she’s too young, she lives outside, and her mom’s not done yet either as they haven’t been able to catch her. The Google monster says it’s unlikely for a kitten that young to be rabid, but not impossible.

I just got UTD on tetanus and I’m going to message my doctor to see what she says/suggests but of course I’m very paranoid about this now. If she were an indoor kitty I’d not worry but she’s not.

EDIT:I guess I’ll wait for my doctors response, even if she doesn’t answer until Monday that’s fine right? I can’t even see the spot on my finger (though it stings) so it’s probably silly to go to the ER or urgent care (I don’t think urgent care does post rabies anyway) especially for a low likelihood but idk. I also looked up cost and even though I have insurance it could still be super expensive if recommended, so that’s upsetting too.

[nomorepanic]

If the cat had rabies it would either be very noticeably ill or dead by now.

You are fine and do NOT have rabies.

[.Poppy.]

Thanks. I do think asking my doctor was a good idea just to be sure. The general consensus was that in a kitten that young the virus wouldn’t have been able to activate, and anyway it’s super unlikely for a small kitten to have been bitten by a rabid animal and survived; let alone have no visible injuries. The mom seems fine as well. But there was someone who said they had a 5ish week old kitten that turned up positive, so even though it’s super unlikely I think asking my doc will make me feel better (believing her will be the challenge).

EDIT: well, now I’m concerned about infection. I did clean it well but it seems cat bites, especially deep ones, are super prone to infection. To the point they recommend you see a doctor immediately after the bite? Ive certainly never done so and I’ve been bitten by cats before. Though I remember urgent care telling me once when I went in for a dog bite that cat bites were the real concern.

I guess I’ll watch it tonight and see what it looks like tomorrow.

[WorryRaptor]

It's a good idea to get it checked out, but not for rabies. A kitten with rabies would die very quickly. They're so tiny that it would be quite fast, and an addition to that, would have likely died due to whatever hypothetically attacked them. If you can't get the idea out of your head, your parents could keep an eye on the kitten over the next few days, which would serve as a mini "quarantine" of sorts. That's generally what they do after a dog bite and are unsure of vaccination status.

Cat bites can get infected quite easily, so your doctor will probably want to give it a quick checkover. If progressively gets a lot worse quickly, hot to the touch, swollen, weeping, and discolouration within hours of the bite, not a bad idea to get it seen asap That being said, I've been bitten by plenty of cats and didn't even give it a second thought! Like you said, keep an eye on it and see how it goes

[.Poppy.]

Thanks Worry Raptor. I have also been bitten before and not been worried. I think because I'm worried about some other health related stuff right now, plus the fact that our previous cats have all been friendly and this one (and her mom) are more wild, that it's scaring me a bit more. If she were in the barn I'd probably not worry but they are outside and the mom moves them around a lot so mentally I'm like "what could she have been exposed to?" And of course then when I heard about infection I did a nice little panic.

Hopefully my doctor gets back to me this morning; if not I suppose I could pop into urgent care this evening and see what they say. My logical brain says it looks fine - there's a little spot where she bit and it's sore from time to time, but not swollen or red, I feel fine otherwise, etc. My HA brain said "I just felt my finger tingle, that must be infection spreading!" or even last night "my back is a bit sore, it must be infection spreading!". So that's fun.

I think I may feel better if they can quarantine the kitten, it's just with mom being more wild it's harder to do. But they are old enough that they could start weaning, so it would be possible to put her in a dog kennel with one of her siblings and start feeding them kitten food for a couple of weeks just to be sure.

[.Poppy.]

My doctor did get back to me this evening, but unfortunately wasn’t super reassuring. She suggested I go to urgent care tomorrow (as her office is closed tomorrow) to make sure there is no infection and ask what they think about rabies. She said with wild cats it’s sometimes better to play it safe, so that’s what I’ll do.

I’m kind of frustrated because I told my mom that and she said “hmm, I’m surprised she didn’t just say the kitten was too young”. I also told her it would be good to quarantine the kitten and she just kind of pushed that idea aside and said she wasn’t sure how I expected her to do that. I’m at their house tonight and went out looking and didn’t see the kitten anywhere, so now I’m afraid it passed somewhere and we’ll never know. I suspect if I tell urgent care that I can’t reliably find or monitor the kitten, they’ll have me go for the shots, since I think that’s something they asked me when I went in for a dog bite. But I suppose I’ll have to see what they say.

I’m just really irritated that my mom isn’t more pressed over it. It may come down to nothing but this is scary for me - and potentially will be expensive as well! - and she just seems to think it’s not really her problem to worry about.

[WorryRaptor]

My doctor did get back to me this evening, but unfortunately wasn’t super reassuring. She suggested I go to urgent care tomorrow (as her office is closed tomorrow) to make sure there is no infection and ask what they think about rabies. She said with wild cats it’s sometimes better to play it safe, so that’s what I’ll do.

I’m kind of frustrated because I told my mom that and she said “hmm, I’m surprised she didn’t just say the kitten was too young”. I also told her it would be good to quarantine the kitten and she just kind of pushed that idea aside and said she wasn’t sure how I expected her to do that. I’m at their house tonight and went out looking and didn’t see the kitten anywhere, so now I’m afraid it passed somewhere and we’ll never know. I suspect if I tell urgent care that I can’t reliably find or monitor the kitten, they’ll have me go for the shots, since I think that’s something they asked me when I went in for a dog bite. But I suppose I’ll have to see what they say.

I’m just really irritated that my mom isn’t more pressed over it. It may come down to nothing but this is scary for me - and potentially will be expensive as well! - and she just seems to think it’s not really her problem to worry about.

I can imagine how frightening and frustrating it feels right now, especially when your doctor has suggested you follow up about it. I'd be irritated too if my Mum didn't at least try to help out. It's not like you're panicking about something like a cold or anything. I grew up in a country where there were no risks of certain diseases, but if one of our animals bit us, we would still "keep and eye" on them over the next few days just as a common sense approach.

They'll probably give you the shots just in case, especially if you express a concern over rabies and the fact the kittens aren't easy and check up on. It's still SUPER unlikely to be that though.

[.Poppy.]

Well, I made it to urgent care despite a near panic attack at the door. They were super nice, thankfully. She wrote me a script for an antibiotic just in case, but said it looked fine and she didn’t think I’d need it.

My mom seemed pretty concerned, but then I had to report to a deputy and she wasn’t happy about that. He said since it’s basically a stray they won’t do anything (unlike when it was my dog and he had pictures taken and a report made) but I still don’t think she was pleased as when I called her when I was done she was less than thrilled.

The doctor said the ideal route would be to find the kitty and quarantine. If we can’t, she said I’d need to call the health department and they’d assess the risk and let me know what to do. She did say the risk was really, really low but that was her recommendation to play it safe. I’d feel a lot better of course if we could find the darn thing.

[.Poppy.]

So, unfortunately I’m kind of spiraling. They still aren’t able to find the kitten - in fact, two of the kittens are just gone. They’re outdoors so really anything could have happened but it’s still majorly gotten me on edge. My dad used to work for the health department (different department) and agreed that based on the age it’s super unlikely but with something so serious I just don’t know. I am afraid I’m going to suddenly get sick and that will just be it. I am too afraid to google timelines, so I dont know if this would happen quickly or if it would be like 3 months, 6 months, even years later that I suddenly get sick and that’s the end of the line.

I’m wondering if I should just call the hospital and ask them what they think, if I should come in. I can’t figure out how to contact the health department myself but the doctor yesterday told me the ER usually does that and assesses risk. But I also worry about side effects of the shots, or that it might be too late?

I know statistically I’m probably fine, but I did also read of a kitten they thought was too young until it passed the last day of quarantine. I’m thinking now what if it was sick and I just didn’t realize. I’m kicking myself for not grabbing it and kenneling it immediately. I’m just a mess.

[WorryRaptor]

I'm sorry you're going through this. You must be so stressed.

The chances are insanely low that this is anything. The kittens have likely just wandered off now that they're a bit older, and more curious. That kitten is probably perfectly healthy. Try not to beat yourself up about not kennelling the kitten. It wouldn't even occur to most people, and Im sure there are lots out there who rescue or play with feral kittens and get bitten quite frequently with no ill effects.

It might help to put your mind at ease to call the hospital, explain the situation, and tell them you were advised to follow up.