What do you get when you mix an anti-social cat with an ever so eager, very busy 9 month old? You get a 9 month old with a 2 inch scratch on her forearm. Damn cat! In his defense....should I even go there? Danica had been petting Punkin, with us monitoring just a few minutes prior, and Punkin got up from the couch when he was tired of it and moved across the room to the chair. Little did he know that wouldn't be quite far enough. Danica found Punkin just a few short minutes later, let our her excited squel to have spotted "ki ka" and proceeded to pluck at his tail, Daddy warned and pulled her away but she went back just one too many times and no one was quick enough for the wrath of our black panthers teeth. Danica wailed, Punkin ran off, and I scurried to get a cold wash rag to put on the "gash." After getting a cold compress on it to take the sting away, I did what any mom in this decade does, googled cat bites on the internet, only to find the recommendation, take your child to the ER immediately.....really? After much discussion and contemplation we settled for a phone call to our pedetrician's office--thank heaven for the 24/7 nurses line. The nurse, Rae, did recommend urgent care or the ER but said if we felt comfortable with the circumstances to clean it good, put neosporin on it and reassess in the morning and follow up with the office. So into the bath Danica went, we felt that was the easiest way to get it clean without focusing too much on the injury itself, more natural. Just let me tell you by this time, she was not phased by the events at all, you never would have known she had just been attacked by our family pet, I can't say the same for myself. I was worried about infection and how this was going to affect their interactions from here on out. By the way, it didn't she was back after Punkin later that day. Arm looks much better today, even better tonight than this morning and follow up with the doctor was, if it was a kitten they would want to see her and possibly handle things differenty, but since Punkin is "old" they were not concerned if it was not abnormally red or she didn't have a fever. YEAH! I guess this is just the first of many first aid sagas, but for the very first I have to tell you.....I think we were all champs!
