Don’t Bathe Your Cat

There are dozens of microbes you can catch from your cat. I want to tell you about just two, because they are the most common. One you will get from a bite and the other from a scratch, and since animals are more rambunctious in the springtime, now is the time you should be paying attention. Your normal, healthy cat can give you both cat bite cellulitis and cat scratch disease.

Cat bite cellulitis is abrupt in onset. It will get your attention. Your hand may turn red, swollen and painful in a matter of hours after a cat bite, and only a tiny break in the skin is required. Half the time this infection needs surgery, in addition to antibiotics, for full recovery.

Pasteurella multocida is the bacterium that causes cat bite cellulitis. Pasteurella is part of the natural oral flora of domestic cats; 90% of healthy cats will have this bacteria in their mouth at some time.

Cat scratch disease or cat scratch fever is an infection with Bartonella henslae, a bacterium most common in the mouths of kittens. Cat scratch disease can go systemic in immune-compromised persons, but usually it causes some local inflammation at the scratch or bite site, fever for a few days, and an enlarged lymph node in your arm (commonly in the armpit) that may take months to go away. Antibiotics can help speed recovery, but often their effect is underwhelming.

In my practice, people tell me that injuries often occur from cats during the grooming process, for example when attempting to bathe your cat. Cats usually keep clean very well all on their own, but for the times when they get into a mess and need some help, let me pass on some advice from the ASPCA: “ There are some cats who do not tolerate being groomed. If your cat fights the grooming process, and there is some potential that injury could occur to your cat or yourself, please make an appointment with a professional groomer or a veterinarian to have your cat groomed.”

Winkler G. Weinberg, MD

I have been an Infectious Disease physician for over 3 decades. I am the author of No Germs Allowed!. If you liked this article, check out the book on Amazon.