Cat Bites

The majority of attention regarding animal injuries is paid to those involving dogs, but cats also pose a significant threat to any individual. Cats, in addition to biting, have a tendency to unsheathe their claws and use them on a person’s skin. Due to the shape of the claws, they can dig in quite deeply and cause serious problems with very little effort on behalf of the cat.

While cats have smaller mouths than most dogs, they have many more bacterium present in their saliva than do dogs. Dogs are known to have among the cleanest mouths of any species due to their tendency to pant, eliminating the darkness for bacteria. This means that when a cat bites a person, any saliva transmitted to the person who has been attacked by the cat is exposed to many more forms of bacteria than if he or she had been bitten by a dog. Many of the bacteria found in the mouth of a cat are very hazardous to one’s health.

The same bacteria problem comes up in the event that the cat unsheathes its claws for use against a human. The feet are not clean in any event. This is made worse when the same feet used to claw a person also dig through dirt and bury excrement.

A third problem with cat injuries is that a cat that bites is much more likely to be rabid than a dog. This is due more to humans controlling their dogs much more than their cats and having them vaccinated. Many people keep “outside” cats, which means they put out food for feral cats. These cats have not been vaccinated, for the most part, and have the ability to transmit rabies to anyone or thing they bite.

While dog bites may do more damage to the flesh, cats pose just as great a risk due to the bacteria found in their saliva as well as the potential for the transmission of rabies.

Contact a Philadelphia Cat Bite Lawyer

If you have been attacked by someone’s pet cat, regardless of whether it lives outside or inside, contact the Philadelphia personal injury lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams at 215-238-1130.