Yesterday, I received a stern letter from the Health Department. It told me that I could not “euthanize, get rid of, or otherwise discard said cat: “Bently!” I had to quarantine Bentley for a period of ten days. After that they would be in touch with me regarding how he was doing.

This letter was generated, because I let my guard down. I got careless and for that carlessness, Bently bit me. He did not do it intentionally. He did not mean to cause me any harm. He did it because I was petting him while I was on the phone. He is pet- aggressive in a big way. When you start to pet him, he loves it. However, it over-stimulates him, and he will attack.

The bite ended up with me at Urgent Care the next morning. This was odd, because he did not break my skin. The bites did not bleed. It hurt like the devil when he attached to my arm, but when he finally released me, I could only see red spots where his teeth and claws had been. I just put cold water on it and went on with my day,

The next morning, my hand was swollen and quite painful. Again, no blood- it just hurt more than I thought it should. I also needed to update my tetanus. I knew before I left, that even though he wasn’t rabid, I would be required to quarantine him (Oregon has strict laws about this).

It ended up, that according to the doctor, Bently had punctured my knuckle. They gave me an updated tetanus shot that was fairly new on the market and stronger than the other pre-existing shot. They also gave me a new type of antibiotic to take. Ironically, afterward. I was sicker than a dog, not from his bite but from the injection and the antibiotic. I stopped the antibiotic the second day of taking it and just had to ride out the side effects of the Tdap injection. I still am unable to lift my left arm this morning past my waist. Bent bit me on the right hand/arm.

This is what happened because I didn’t follow my own rules with him that day. He jumps on my lap all the time to get petted. Long ago, I learned a painful lesson that I needed to let him decide it was time to jump down, and not encourage him to do so. The doctor at Urgent Care laughed when he first walked into the room and saw me.He said “So, you are here for another cat bite I bet?” This is the fourth time this year that he has treated me for cat bites. None of those bites were from Ben until now. I told the Dr. It’s an occupational hazard.

Here is Bently snoozing on my lap. Looks so peaceful, but looks can be deceiving! 🙂