Cat Bite

For the first time in my life I was scratched and maybe bitten by a cat.

DH picked me up from the train station and he said, "I parked next to this cat, he is so friendly, maybe he will still be there and you can pet him".

So we get back to the car and there was the cat. He was so friendly. I saw it was a male cat, so it wasn't as if the cat was pregnant, b/c that I could understand. So we pet the cat for maybe about 10 minutes and he wouldn't leave us alone. Meowing and rubbing against our legs, etc. Cats just love me. DH and I were hungry and wanted to go out to eat, so we had to get going. The cat would roll over and it didn't like his belly touched. I am sure it was a male. I backed off his belly. I was naturally drawn to the belly, b/c my cat loves her belly rubbed.

Problem was every time we tried to leave the cat would follow us and try to get in the car with us. So I said to DH "OK you go and start up the car, and I will stay with the cat and then run and we will go". Well I was petting him and when the car started up he got nervous and jumped on my arm and scratched me and I am not sure but maybe bit me. One mark looks like a bite, but I am not sure.

What do I do? In all my life I have never been bitten by a cat. When I got home I washed it with anti-bacterial soap and put some Neosporin on it. Peroxide doesn't exist in this country (Australia).

At first my immediate though was rabies, but b/c Australia is so isolated, quarantine is quite strict and rabies does not exist here, which I am 100% sure of.

Should I just watch it and see what happens, or does this warrant a trip to the doctor. I haven't had a tetanus shot in forever, so I am not sure if that makes a difference. I am also sure this cat is someone's cat, as I felt a microchip in it. Cat owners must have microchips in this country by law. You can feel where they put it in between the shoulder blades.

Re: Cat Bite

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I would definitely go to the doctor. Cats can carry other things like cat scratch fever, etc. Hope you are ok