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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Those two times Christmas bit me...

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He is not as sweet as he looks...


Christmas is the most LOVING cat in the world. I am his mommy, he is my baby, and he knows it. When we look into each other’s eyes, we have a connection. All you animal lovers out there know what I’m talking about. Those of you without animals… you probably think I am crazy. But the point is, he’s a wonderful little boy and I love him as much as a human can love a cat without it being creepy. (Okay, maybe it is a little creepy.)

Would you believe it if I told you he bit me twice? Not just “nipping” bites, but bites that broke the skin and forced me to go to the doctor for treatment. I have scars.

Allow me to tell you about those two times…




It was after school on a Friday. For some reason, I was in the process of cleaning out some old boxes of keepsakes. I came across a birthday card with a cat on it. It was one of those musical cards, and when I opened it up, a cat started meowing Happy Birthday.

Christmas and Jelly immediately came into the room and starting hissing. They were hissing at each other and hissing at me. It got very "National Geographic" in my dining room for a minute. I of course closed the card immediately.

“We have to throw this AWAY!” I told Paul. We laughed that the cats were flipping out. I handed him the card and he threw it away.

At least, he was about to throw it away. I walked into the kitchen (where Paul was) and he opened the card to hear the meowing one more time. He closed it really quickly, but before I knew what happened, Christmas ran up behind me hissing, and then I felt the most horrible pain I ever felt in my life (besides the time I got my wisdom teeth out and ended up with dry socket). It was like someone stabbed me in the back of the thigh.

I screamed bloody murder. I thought Christmas had scratched me. Paul shouted at me to calm down and relax, because my screaming got the cats hissing again. Everything was chaos. I limped out of the kitchen, bawling.

(In Paul’s defense, the only reason he yelled at me to be quiet is because he didn’t know how badly I was hurt and was worried about the cats flipping out.)

I looked at the damage. You could see 5 huge claw marks on the lower part of my leg, and then 4 puncture wounds in the back of my thigh. It was bleeding pretty badly. I still thought I had only been scratched. It wasn’t until the next day that it dawned on me that maybe I was scratched AND bit.

It all made sense. The 4 puncture wounds were from his teeth. I know enough about cat bites to know I had to go to Urgent Care. Cats have SO much bacteria in their mouths. I mean, Christmas licks Jelly’s butt, for crying out loud. The last thing I needed was an infection in my leg from Jelly puhp.

I went to Urgent Care on Saturday morning. When I was there, I had to fill out an animal bite report on Christmas. It was sad. He was officially a criminal. The doctor fixed me up with some antibiotics. He told me the reason it hurt so bad when I got bit is because not only is there the breaking of the skin from the bite, but the squeezing together with the teeth. Oh my gosh it hurts again just thinking about it!

Needless to say, I recovered from my bite, have a pretty awesome scar, and had the pleasure of the Department of Health calling to tell me Christmas had to be quarantined for 10 days to be sure I he didn’t have rabies.

I forgave Christmas, of course. He heard that meowing from the birthday card and thought there was another cat and FLIPPED out. It was his animal instinct. He couldn’t help it. I was a little weary of him for a couple days after that. I was scared he would flip out again, but he didn’t.

UNTIL HE DID AGAIN!



  


This bite was the scariest because I still can’t figure out WHY he bit me. I knew why he bit me the first time, but the second bite still is, and always will be, a mystery.


I was home alone with the cats. Paul had left with his friends to go to a bachelor party. I had just refilled their food bowls in our bedroom. Christmas and Jelly both came into the room, and then suddenly, Christmas turned into a wild animal! He hissed at Jelly. Jelly hissed and got the hell out of there. Then Christmas set his sights on me. He had a HORRIBLE look in his eyes. He chased me and I jumped onto our bed (standing up). He jumped onto the bed too. I was screaming. I was scared to DEATH because he is a HUGE cat with HUGE teeth…



See!? You would have screamed and cried like a baby too!


He stared me down for probably only a split second while we were both on the bed. He was making horrible wild noises and then bit me on the front of my thigh. It hurt like HELL. He ran away. I ran into the bathroom, closed the door, and bawled. I called my mom bawling, called my husband bawling, and then I called my friend who was a vet tech and bawled. I was so distraught because I had no clue why Christmas attacked me! I mean, he CAME AFTER ME. I didn’t want him to suddenly be a dangerous cat and have to put him down because I loved him with all my heart!

I washed the bite as well as I could and went to Urgent Care the next day. I was so embarrassed to have to admit to them that I got bit again but the same cat in less than two months. The doctor was really understanding and told me she has a 90 year old patient whose cat bit her like once every two weeks and she just kept coming back for antibiotics.

Great. That is totally going to be me in 60 years.

I filled out another animal bite report on Christmas (now he’s a criminal x 2) and got the official call from the Department of Health again.

I was of course wary of Christmas for awhile and started keeping him in the bedroom during piano lessons. I couldn’t have a wild cat around the students that come into my home. But after several weeks with no issues, I let him hang out during lessons again.

He has never bit me, or anyone else since. It’s been at least two years now. I hope he never bites me again!

I still don't know why he bit me that second time. I do have two awesome scars. I am glad. It's like I'll always have a piece of Christmas, even when he's gone! I know, it is creepy how much I love my cat. I don't care.

Here are a couple cute pictures of Chrissy!



Bay window beauty.



Demanding food.



Cuuuuuutie!



Bathing in the sunshine!


Have you ever been bitten by an animal?


20 comments:

  1. Ack! That's scary. I've never been bitten by one of mine and I don't think either ever would. Joe got a small one from Slider once though :( I don't think I've been bitten by any animal but both my parents have been bitten by family pets, my dad has an awesome scar from our BUNNY when I was about 8 and my mom got my hamster stuck on her finger for like 30 full seconds as she ran around screaming. Funny mental image, I was about 10.

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    1. A bunny bite??? It sounds cute but I'm sure it hurt!!!

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  2. That's super scary! Please don't take offense to this, but that's the reason why I'm not a cat person. They're super cute but when I was in elementary school, I had a friend whose cat was MEAN and would bite people and scratch them. It used to bite me but not enough to draw blood. And it really hurt! I haven't been a huge fan of cats, ever since. Plus I'm allergic.
    I've had dogs my entire life and have only been bit once, when I was a kid, I startled my dog when he was asleep and he bit me in the arm. Not enough to draw blood, just enough to bruise me. But we are crazy with our dogs just like you are with your cats because I know that even if they did bite me I would still love them!

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    1. No offense taken. I have always had the philosophy that animals are ANIMALS, and no matter how much we want them to be human like, they are still going to have their instincts and that doesn't mean we can't love them. For instance, now that we had our windows open two days in a row, Christmas started peeing in the corner again. He smells the wiiiiiiiiiild and wants to mark his territory. Some people would get rid of their cat for that but not us. He's a CAT. I mean, he's my BABY, but he's also a cat and we can't have unrealistic expectations. Now, biting sure is different, and if Christmas had kept attacking me, obviously that could not have continued. Luckily, it stopped. :)

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  3. You have some scary little monsters on your hands! Yes, i've been bit by a dog twice!

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  4. I completely understand... Cecil is my baby and 90% of the time he is a completely cuddly lap cat. The other 15% of the time he is super aggressive and it usually comes out of no where. He has bitten my face and broken the skin several times and I have scars on my legs and arms ... I'm hyper aware of his body language, but he can take a running leap and reach my head. The vet thinks it's Delayed Aggression. He spends most of his day near a window, and the vet says he may see a bird or squirrel outside and because he can't reach and that the aggression grows inside of him and he takes it out on the next person/thing that walks by that he can attack. He also was taken away from his mother at a super young age and never learned proper play behavior. The 90% of the time that he's my loving cat makes up for the 10% where I have to be wary of his behavior.

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    1. I just pictured the running leap... that is scary. They are so fast!

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  5. My sister's dog bit the cable guy once when he was setting up the cable for my sister. He filed a report and animal control came to get the dog. My sister did not want the dog to leave, however, so she successfully hid the dog from the animal control people for a good two weeks. She was aiding and abetting a criminal! Finally, they caught her off guard and had to take the dog to doggy jail where he stayed for two weeks. He literally is an ex-con.

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    1. Oh my gosh I was so scared you were going to say they took him and put him to sleep!! They told me as long as I quarenteened my cat (he's indoor only, so his whole life is quarenteened!) and let them know whether he died or not (I guess if he had rabies he would die) that it was fine. Obviously he didn't die.

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  6. Glad the bites didn't turn into anything serious and that you are okay!!! My dad always told us even though we train our animals they are still animals and we have to remember that. We had my sweet sweet dog bite my sister once. Animals just attack. It stinks when it is a pet and loves you!!! Again, glad you are okay and that you love your baby!!!!!

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    1. That is definitely a good thing to teach your children! Even though Chrissy is my "baby" I can't pretend he's something he's not... deep down, he's still an animal.

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  7. Oh my gosh how horrible but I can't help at laugh at your story-telling abilities. And it's ok...I don't have a pet but I know the moment I get one I will become OBSESSED.

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    1. It is funny looking back! I will sooooo be that 90 yr old lady!

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  8. I totally get it! I used to have a 30lb cat named Charlie who went (in your words from a previous post) Bat shit Psycho on my cousin who was like 8 at the time. :( To be fair, I'm pretty sure my cousin was pulling on Charlies' ears but still to this day will not admit it. As a teenager we had a shih Tzu, like Lola at my family home named Cuddles, ironically. My little sister had him wrapped like a baby in a blanket and when I told her she was being mean and tried to get him out my lip got nearly chewed off from his bite...ouch! I had to go to my grandmother's funeral looking like a boxer with a fat lip, oh my. lol.

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    1. Owwww I bet that hurt! I can't believe your cat was 30lbs! Our poor Christmas is on a diet because he got up to 19.5! He is down to 17.5 though :)

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  9. Archie is a biter. Sometimes I want to pet him and he's like UGH STOP IT MOM and bites. He can't break skin, but he can leave a little welt. Ouch!

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  10. Wow, she attacks her tail? I hope she is okay! Cats are weird... that's why they are awesome. :) Christmas "fights" with his tail sometimes but he doesn't hurt himself.

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