Cat attack in Florida results in serious injury to service technician
Below is correspondence Dr. Polsky received in April 2007 regarding a cat attack in Florida. The circumstances described and the injuries which resulted are frequently seen in cat attacks. The potential seriousness of cat attacks should not be underestimated.
Dr. Polsky,
My husband owns a service business, which requires him to enter many homes. During one of his visits to an account, the accounts' cat lunged and bit him on the right wrist. My husband had to pry the cat off his wrist in order to release the cat's grip. The cat left puncture wounds therefore the bite did not bleed much. The owner was home so she was aware of the incident. She did mention she might have given the cat too much catnip.
After leaving the residence, his arm started to swell. He sought medical attention shortly after the bite at the emergency room. They gave him antibiotics and rabies shot and sent him home. It took about 3-4 weeks for the swelling to diminish but he kept having problems and pain with the hand. His doctor referred him to a neurologist, which referred him to a specialist. He suffered nerve damage from the bite and has been diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), which has no cure. He tried nerve blocks that could help with the pain but the nerve block did not work.
He has had other problems, which may or not be from the bite. He started getting headaches so the doctors ran some tests. The doctors thought he might have Muscular Sclerosis (MS) or Vascular disease because an MRI indicated he had liaisons on the right side of his brain. Other tests were done and came back negative to Muscular Sclerosis (MS) or Vascular disease. We still don't know what the liaisons are from. He also frequently gets blisters/sores that appear on the inner part of his arm. They last between minutes to hours. They burn inside as they start to appear. He has seen a dermatologist. Dermatologist indicated that it could possibly be toxoplasmosis.
We did not know much about cats at the time so we did not know how severe a cat bite could become. I have done some research on the internet. All I could find is that cat bites can cause severe problems in some cases but nothing goes into detail on how severe or what deceases can develop. We currently have a lawyer and are in litigation. We have not gone to mediation or trial yet. My husband no longer has the owner's of the cat as a client. Surprisingly they fired him a couple of weeks after the cat bit him. He had had them as an account for about 8 years.
The reason I am writing you is because from my research you are well informed on cat bites and could possibly testify on our behalf. I also read an article on the web that was written by Deseret News in Utah this past December which mention your name. It has been difficult to prove that cats could cause any damage like this because cats are considered so docile compared to dogs. After seeing so many doctors, we still have many questions about cat bites.
Sonia Tubiolo
Cocoa, FL.
Contact Info:
Animal Behavior Counseling Services, Inc.
2288 Manning Ave.
Los Angeles, California 90064
Telephone: (310) 474-3776
Nationwide: (800) 605-2227
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