Re: So, how great is Kromm anyway?
 

"a bad cat bite" ??

Wait, you're not one of those 1d4 HP D&D wizards, are you? If so, stay away from cats!

Re: So, how great is Kromm anyway?
 

What did you do to the kitty?

Re: So, how great is Kromm anyway?
 

I admit I may be out of date on this. But I know several years ago, they generally wouldn't test for rabies (except in the dead animal that bit). They'd simply treat for it. Once symptoms showed up....

Just in the last month, I talked with someone who lost someone else due to them getting rabies from a cat bite.

Re: So, how great is Kromm anyway?
 

Byzantium! (I couldn't help myself.)

I'll look forward to these. Reading the Hot Spots is never wasted time.

Re: So, how great is Kromm anyway?
 

If I turn into a cat at the next full moon, you can rest assured that I'll write about my experience!

The cat in question is a well-cared-for inner-city pet who comes from his back yard to ours, not a feral who plays with raccoons and skunks. He has his shots. Cat-to-human rabies is <0.1 cases/year here due to mandatory pet vaccination; so, they don't ever test at ordinary clinics. You'd have to have known cases in a specific area first, and then you'd be sent to a special clinic.

But in general, it was taken care of. I got a tetanus shot, which left me with a stiff arm on the other side from the bite. I also got ultra-strong, broad-spectrum antibiotics, which caused fun side effects: GI upset, itching, irritability, restlessness, sleeplessness, and more.

Norwegian forest cat, in this case. See the photo.

I think it cost me 1 HP for real (he bit me right to the bone) and the infection cost me 1-2 HP afterward, yet I'm still here.

Nothing. He visits from next door all the time. I was in my kitchen, right next to the door, and he came in to rub all over my calves and purr. When I scritched him on the head, which he likes, he bit me . . . I think he was having a bad day.

It probably happens in some places, especially rural places, but it's such a rare thing here that treating for it prophylactically would be a case of the cure being worse than the disease. The overwhelming risk is of tetanus.

Re: So, how great is Kromm anyway?
 

OK, it would be hard to be angry with that cat.

Re: So, how great is Kromm anyway?
 

My goodness, what a handsome creature. Somehow when I look at him I imagine a hybridization of cat and owl.

A while back, when a couple of mice got into our apartment, our property manager gave us sticky traps for them, which are supposedly more humane (having used them, I don't think that's true at all!). C picked up the first one to see what had happened with it, and the mouse bit her. But the hospital emergency room declined rabies prophylaxis, saying it was never an issue with mice. I'm glad to say they turned out to be right!

Re: So, how great is Kromm anyway?
 

Yeah, that is one gorgeous kitty.

Re: So, how great is Kromm anyway?
 

He is not my cat, so he just spends all his time with me and in my apartment. But he isn't a bad cat. He was just having a bad evening.

Re: So, how great is Kromm anyway?
 

What a pretty cat. My wife was bitten by one of our cats. He had gotten one of his paws trapped in our TV stand. He was afraid and bit her hand to the bone. I was able to get him released but the damage was done. She ended up in the hospital for four days from the infection from that cat bite. Cat bites can be nasty if deep enough. Both my wife and the cat are fine.