[radojota]

Friend bitten on the hand by a stray cat. The cat had an injured paw and was just reacting to him picking him up and bit him. Quite a bit of bleeding at first. Friend is getting rabies shots and antibiotics just in case. Had some swelling and pus but he's ok. The cat is fine and he's still visiting my friend.

[Mr.NoCredit]

Glad everyone is doing okay. Has the cat been tested for rabies? It would save your friend the trouble of being vaccinated.
Cat bites can be very serious as far as infection goes. I know “first hand” what can happen. Been there, done that and got the t-shirt to prove it!

[Guns N' Coffee]

Originally Posted by Mr.NoCredit ↗

Glad everyone is doing okay. Has the cat been tested for rabies? It would save your friend the trouble of being vaccinated.
Cat bites can be very serious as far as infection goes. I know “first hand” what can happen. Been there, done that and got the t-shirt to prove it!

Testing a cat for rabies involves euthanizing it and then examining the brain tissue. There is no approved test for rabies in a living animal

[kellyhound]

Rabies shots are always done just in case as it's very rare a (stray) cat has rabies in the U.S. It will show symptoms within 10 days and die in that period. No drooling etc so the cat is fine.

There are about 70-80 million stray cats living in the united states. vets were only able to find 241 with rabies in 2021. there were 330 million humans in the US that year and 5 died from rabies. comparatively, 500 people win a lottery each year and 20 die from lightning strikes. About 60,000 people die from rabies each year in the world.

hope they become best friends.