One of the downsides of owning pets

[womzilla]

Occasionally you get bitten.

After our terrific success of introducing the Rattsevelt brothers into the tower with Dr. Butch and Wilbur and Orville Whately, we decided that we had figured out this whole "getting rats to get along" thing. So, crusing for nemesis, on Tuesday, nellorat and I indulged in a long experiment in which we tried to get Felix and Pluto to peacefully co-exist.



Eventually, we had to reach in and break up a fight which wasn't ending on its own before one of them got badly hurt. That's not when I got bit; that was later, when I tried to pick up a still-very-stressed Felix to move him back to his own cage. He chomped down, hard, on my left index finger. His upper incisors merely scraped my knuckle--no problem. However, his lower incisors really sank into the front of the middle segment of the finger. Initially, I couldn't even tell that he'd broken the skin, but after a minute or so, the blood started pouring out. I got a band-aid on to it, after a few failed attempts; then, peeled it back off, washed with antibacterial soap and applied antibiotic cream. A bad bite, but not, I thought, a noteworthy one.

Alas, I was wrong. Wednesday, my finger still hurt and was somewhat stiff. I thought that I might have a bad subdermal bruise. This is because, appearances to the contrary, I am an optimist.

When I awoke on Thursday, my finger hurt significantly more than it had on Tuesday, to the point where any attempt to move my finger brought searing pain. By mid-day, any attempt to do anything with my left hand caused me active pain. When I finally went to the doctor, she confirmed that it was a significant infection in all three segments of my finger and just starting to move into my palm. She gave me a powerful antibiotic and sent me home. (I had to walk because we're currently monovehicular again, which should clear up later today.) I had to type up a reader report for Tor using my right hand and my left pinky and ring fingers exclusively.

The antibiotics and the soakings in epsom salt are helping a lot. My hand now feels better than it did on Wednesday evening--still uncomfortable, and I can't yet really bend the finger. Still, it looks like I'll get to keep it.



(If my typing has seemed slower today, that's why.)

I don't blame Felix in any way. He was under a lot of stress. But I've been embarrassed to tell people how I hurt myself, because I don't want to make people think, "Rats bite you so hard your hand falls off." I've gotten worse bites from cats, with less provocation. When I found myself on the phone with a friend elaborately lying about how I'd come to injure my hand, I realized I had to come clean. Occasional bites are just a part of life with pets, and now that I know exactly how bad they can get, I will exercise more appropriate caution.

Comments

[sarah-ovenall.livejournal.com]

owie! so sorry you got bit, but it truly is part and parcel of having pets. Well, I've never been bitten by my dogs, but Sean was once when he got in the middle of a fight. And I have been bitten by pet rodents, because when I had them I was a kid who didn't always know how to treat pets despite my best intentions.

I guess in a way it's lucky that it was your left hand and not your right, so at least you can still write and drive and so forth. Are the antibiotics working?

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

Yes, the antibiotic seems to be helping--the finger is still quite swollen and stiff, but not actively painful. The swelling in the ball of my palm is already receding and less tender.

Considering how quickly my finger got bad, I'm not surprised at the fast response to the drugs, but considering how bad it got, I don't expect a full recovery for several days.

And I almost never hand-write things, because my handwriting is so bad. But I'm gald to have my main mousing finger available...

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

I made a comment a few months ago to nellorat pointing out that the nature of a rat's teeth is to produce a deep wound that, frequently will not clean itself out (even with copious bleeding).
I'm sorry you had to have first-hand confirmation of this, and I hope you feel better soon.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

I've gotten superficial bites before--even a fairly long one across the back of a finger--but this is the first one that's gone deep. I guess I just underestimated how opportunistic bacteria can be.

[nigelpuggle.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry about your bite, especially one on the hand. Several years ago I tried to take something away from Katie the dachshund and ended up with puncture marks from her sharp back teeth. Luckily, I was saved from your fate because I had an appointment with the rheumatologist, who spotted the bites and said that all dog bites need antibiotics. Even with the antibiotic, the wounds were pussy and swollen the next day and took a few days to clear up. And the antibiotic he gave me was doxycycline, which must be especially suited to doxy bites.
Hope your hand clears up soon.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

Shame there's no ratocycline.

[wouldyoueva.livejournal.com]

I am phobic about mice, and anything that looks like mice. When you and nellorat talk about your rats, I sort of avert my eyes from the pictures. Getting a horrible bite from a rat is the stuff of my nightmares.

FWIW, I've been bitten by cats but I've had three dogs over the last 25 years, and have never been bitten by one of my dogs. But I try to avoid them when they're stressed, and this is a good reminder of that.