Did you know that cat bites or scratches can be deadly?

In short: Being bitten or struck by a cat is a common reason for hospitalisation in Australia. A GP says anyone bitten or scratched by a feline should immediately wash the wound with soap and cold water, and seek treatment if it has broken the skin. Cat bites and scratches can lead to sepsis and even death. Nicky Stewart wasn't expecting to need surgery and a three-day hospital stay when she chose to rescue her beloved cat Frankie from a stray dog in the backyard nine years ago. During the commotion of carrying Frankie inside, her cat became scared and sank its teeth into her hands and scratched them multiple times. She thought everything was fine initially, but something seemed off afterwards. "I thought I'd just lie down for a minute, then I got quite light-headed pretty instantly, and my wrist where the tooth went in swelled up straight away. So I thought that it might be a bit more serious," Ms Stewart said. She eventually made it to the hospital on a friend's advice. "I just thought they'd give me a tetanus shot and send me on my way, but they admitted me straight away and just basically said to my friend, 'You can go now, she's not going anywhere for a few days,' which was a massive shock," she said. But Ms Stewart is not the only one to experience a bad injury caused by a cat. During the 2024–25 financial year, being bitten or struck by a cat was the third-most common reason for hospitalisation due to contact with a person, plant or animal in Australia, according to the government's Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Cat-related hospitalisations have almost tripled in the past decade, rising from 1,219 cases in 2015–16 to 3,459 in 2024–25. It's even more common than venomous snake bites, and for many Australians those statistics come with a story of their own, as commenters on ABC Hobart's Facebook page have shared. "I was helping to release a feral cat that had its head caught by the door on a trap crate when it bit my hand. Two trips over two weeks for antibiotics before I got most of the use of my index finger back. The doctor said for the amount and type of antibiotics I was given, the bite would likely have been fatal to a small child. Ten years on, and I still do not have full deflection of my index finger." — Bob "I went straight from the vet to my doctor. He cleaned it up and put me on antibiotics. Next morning my finger was twice its size, with a red line running down from the bite. Two nights in hospital on intravenous antibiotics, very lucky not to lose my finger." — Jenni Treatment needed for bites that break skin Rebecca Hoffman, a GP and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' NSW/ACT faculty chair, said cat bites and scratches can be particularly dangerous because of the way they injure the body. Loading...Cats have extremely sharp, narrow teeth and claws that can penetrate deep into tissue, causing both puncture wounds and crush injuries, she said. "They have the potential to create quite a deep impact," Dr Hoffman said. She said the risk was compounded by bacteria commonly found in cats' saliva and on their claws, which can be introduced into the bloodstream through a bite or scratch. "That increases the risk of developing an infection." Outdoor and stray cats may carry a greater risk because of their exposure to other animals, while people with weakened immune systems or conditions such as diabetes are more vulnerable to severe infections. Dr Hoffman said anyone bitten or scratched by a cat should immediately wash the wound thoroughly with soap and cold water. If the bite or scratch breaks the skin, she advised seeking treatment from a GP or urgent care clinic. Left untreated, serious infections can progress to sepsis, a life-threatening condition marked by symptoms such as fever and discoloured skin. "They're all signs that an acute infection or a peripheral infection is becoming more serious and we'd ask anyone with those symptoms to make sure they presented not only to a GP but to the emergency department because sepsis is something that does kill." For Ms Stewart, her infection luckily didn't progress to that level, although she did require surgery to drain the bacteria from her wounds, and had to navigate living with both her hands bandaged for months afterwards. Before the ordeal, she never knew how dangerous cat bites and scratches could be, describing the risks as "a huge surprise" to her, although it was not to the hospital's nursing staff. "They told me they had heaps of other people going in there with the same injuries," Ms Stewart said. "They said a guy didn't want to go into the hospital because he thought it was just a cat scratch and he ended up passing away." Nine years later, several scars — including a two-centimetre one across her wrist — are reminders of the incident. "My days as a hand model may be over, but I've learnt to love my scars and I still love the cat."