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Author Topic: Cat scratching?  (Read 27674 times)

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Offline Rabbit

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Cat scratching?
« on: July 28, 2006, 11:22:29 am »
Dear all,

I have a question that you may think i am nuts. I want to keep some cats at home. I love cats but my lover is HIV positive  and we are going to keep some cats in our house next year. However, last night I went to my teacher's house and I saw a group of cats. They were very playful and kept playing never getting tired. They pretented to be tigers and sudently  catched, chewed and scratched my hands, my legs. They also did the same to others in my techer's house. Today, I see many scratchs on my hands and legs. and I wonder wether  we would be infected if a cat sratchs someone with HIV and then scratchs us? This is more serious than pricking with a needle.

I thank you very much and hope to hear from you soon.

Tigercub



Offline Ann

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2006, 11:25:47 am »
Tiger,

I'm going to move this thread over into the Living forum. As I've mentioned to you before, you may post there with your concerns about your hiv positive partner and all that your relationship with him entails.

The only time I would ask that you return to the Am I Infected forum is if you have questions about your own hiv status.

Thanks.

Hiv cannot be transmitted via cat scratches.

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline RapidRod

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2006, 11:26:18 am »
There is no risk. Not by cats,dogs, or mosquitoes.

Offline Matty the Damned

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2006, 11:32:55 am »
Tiger,

Goderator Ann and Roddles are quite right. There is no HIV risk from cat scratches.

MtD

Offline ademas

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #4 on: July 28, 2006, 11:36:49 am »
Are you asking about HIV transmission or threat of an infection, such as Toxioplasmosis?

Offline Rabbit

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2006, 11:44:53 am »
Dear Ann and Rapidrod,

Thank you for your quick help. I am sorry for posting in a wrong place.

I still wonde about cat scratches. A cat is playing with me and my lover (HIV positive) . The cats scratches my lover and then scratches me. (I am sure this happends very often if you have a sweet and playful cat at home with you. ). The claws are sharp and act as the needles. The cats play from me to my lover within  a minute. How come is it not a way to infect?

I agree with you that dog , mosquitos can not transmit HIV virus because dogs never scratches you like cats. biting someone in fammily does not happen often and dogs also have salive to inhibit HIV. Mosquitos suck blood only, and release their salive into our skin only, they do not pum blood sucked from HIV persons into the other's skin.

I think Cats' claws are serious and act like sharing the same needles even faster than people using drug share the needles.

I need your ideas.

Have a good weekend.

Tigercub

Offline ademas

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2006, 11:50:47 am »
I guess that answers my question.

Silly me, thinking it might be concern about your partner catching Toxioplasmosis.

Sounds like an "Am I Infected" topic to me.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2006, 11:52:21 am by ademas »

Offline Rabbit

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #7 on: July 28, 2006, 12:17:46 pm »
Dear Ademas,

You are right. I think It sounds like in AM I INFECTED? here but Ann has moved the topic here because my partner is a positive. I love my lover and also cats... That is the problem.

Best wishes,

Tigercub

Offline kentb

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #8 on: July 28, 2006, 12:35:38 pm »
Tigercub, HIV will not survive outside the body long enough to be transmitted via the cats.  Your partner should take precautions when cleaning the litter box, always use a dust mask and disposable gloves to avoid any infection.

regards,
kent

Offline Matty the Damned

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #9 on: July 28, 2006, 12:39:35 pm »
Tiger,

We've read your case carefully. We know that your partner is positive and we understand the concerns you have. Please be assured that you cannot contract HIV from your cat, even if the brute has previously scratched or bitten your partner and then assaulted you.

Honestly.

Kind regards,

MtD

Offline Rabbit

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #10 on: July 28, 2006, 01:01:02 pm »
Thank you very much. I still worry. I am looking at my hand now. There are 11 scratches from last night at my teacher's house. Smallest scrach is about 0.1 cm, the largest one is about 0.6  cm. I think it is similar to the sittuation in which I use a neddle to scratch my lover with HIV and then I use it to scratch on my skin. Is it safe?

I may force my cats wear sockets or I will declaw them to be sure.

Have a good weekend.

Best wishes,

Tigercub

Offline RapidRod

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #11 on: July 28, 2006, 02:13:13 pm »
Tigercub, you won't even get infected by a scratch, even if the needle contained HIV infected blood.

Offline Eldon

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #12 on: July 28, 2006, 04:02:07 pm »
Hello Tigercub, it is Eldon. Welcome to the forums. As far as your cat scratching your lover then attacking you with it's claws, there is no way that you can be infected.

Just relax and get the kitten some socks.

Offline krakerjm

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #13 on: July 28, 2006, 04:22:05 pm »
There is a "lesson" posted here or was in the old Aidsmeds.  I have 3 cats; only one goes outside and digs in the dirt to do her business.  She brings a protozoa in on her claws and it ends up in the litter box.  She has inadvertantantly scratched or pricked me a couple of times over 15+ yrs.  I have this protozoa in my blood stream as millions of cat owners do; a healthy immune system can kill it, we are ok unless we have low blood counts or an OI and then can cause complications.  I could not imagine my world without my cats, my kids.  If a cat(or any other animal) scrathes U, squeeze the wound, make it bleed  and clean it with an antseptic, may help, but do it immediately.
GWM, 63, PN w/footdrop
"I swear there ain't no heaven, pray ther ain't no hell"

Offline Rabbit

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #14 on: July 28, 2006, 04:29:16 pm »
Thank you Eldon. I am sorry that English is not my fist language. I therefore do not understand totally what you have said. What do you mean by saying: AS FAS AS. Do you mean that unless the cat scraches my lover then scratches me with its claws, I will not be infected with the Virus ?

You know that cats also have FIV, which is similar to HIV and cats fighting and biting also transmit the desease between them.

Tigercub.


Offline jkinatl2

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #15 on: July 28, 2006, 04:34:02 pm »
Quote
Do you mean that unless the cat scraches my lover then scratches me with its claws, I will not be infected with the Virus

That is true. Under no circumstances can you contract HIV through shared cat scratches. HIV is different from FIV in many ways. I urge you to read the welcome thread at the top of the page, and thoroughly educate yourself on the ways that HIV is, and is not, transmitted.


"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

-Kimberly Page-Shafer, PhD, MPH

Welcome Thread

Offline krakerjm

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #16 on: July 28, 2006, 04:47:11 pm »
If the cat has dripping blood on it's claws like vampire's teeth, maybe.  But if a micro protozo can survive from yard to litter box???  I miss read ur concern about cats; yes it is unlikely if the cat scratches ur partner u would be in trouble, unless it scratches U instantantly with blood on it's claws; how unlikely is that? unless it is totally wild?????  Turns out to be an inane question but some good responces....
Love ur animals, and they will love you; and live longer.
GWM, 63, PN w/footdrop
"I swear there ain't no heaven, pray ther ain't no hell"

Offline Rabbit

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #17 on: July 28, 2006, 05:10:00 pm »
Thank you all. I do not mean the cat is wild. Do you keep cats at home? If you do, you may see that you get scratches very often, expecially , with active and playful cats. last night I had 11 scratches, and I am sure the other 2 in my teacher's family also had sratches when we play with them.

I will have to refrain from keeping a cat with me at home, though I love cats very much.

People in this forum are very nice, helpful and friendly. I love you all.

Tigercub

Offline jkinatl2

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #18 on: July 28, 2006, 05:16:42 pm »
Quote
I will have to refrain from keeping a cat with me at home, though I love cats very much.

You will not get HIV from a cat scratch.

It's never, ever happened in the history of the pandemic.

What happens when your boyfriend gets a nosebleed? What happens when he pricks himself on a needle or skins his knee?

If you are actually considering getting rid of (or not getting) a cat because you are afraid of getting HIV from a cat scratch, I submit that your relationship with your boyfriend is already in peril.

Unreasonable fear of HIV is no environment in which people can live, let alone love.

 Again, I urge you to educate yourself about the mechanics of HIV infection.


"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."

-Kimberly Page-Shafer, PhD, MPH

Welcome Thread

Offline Rabbit

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #19 on: July 28, 2006, 05:31:39 pm »
Nooooooooooooo. I love my lover much. I just do not want to be infected to be strong and work mor to take care of my lover. How can I take care of my lover if I am ill.

Forget about the cats. I will keep dogs instead.

Tigercub.

Offline lydgate

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #20 on: July 28, 2006, 06:35:32 pm »
Why not just clip your cats' nails regularly? You've been told, repeatedly and correctly, that you're not going to get HIV from any of the scenarios you're worried about. But clipping your cats' nails once every week or fortnight just makes sense for totally different reasons (I've had six cats in my life) -- fewer scratches, and less damage to your carpets and furniture.
Her finely-touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

George Eliot, Middlemarch, final paragraph

Offline Rabbit

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #21 on: July 28, 2006, 06:44:13 pm »
Merci. I will cut my cats nails every week. If it is not better, I will cut its pawns. Hihiihi. Thank you very much. Your advice is helpful.

Have the best weekend.

Tigercub

Offline libvet

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #22 on: July 28, 2006, 09:29:38 pm »
Don't worry about it so much.  I've been HIV positive for 20 years and I have had cats all that time and a boyfriend of 16 years who is negative.   The risk of catching HIV due a cat scratching you after scratching an HIV positive person is about as likely as being struck by a meteor. 

Don't deprive yourself of pets because of HIV.   

Offline Eldon

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #23 on: July 28, 2006, 10:08:48 pm »
Tigercub, it is Eldon. I live in a home where I am the only positive and the rest of my family is negative. We have a cat (actually mine) that loves to play and scratch. We've never ran into a problem where the cat is in-dangering them.

If you are that concerned, I don;t think you should be. Get the kitten some mittens! The sell them at a pet store.

Offline Ann

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #24 on: July 29, 2006, 07:16:41 am »
Tiger,

You don't need to get kitten mittens and you don't need to clip your cat's claws. There is absolutely NO WAY that hiv could be transmitted via a cat scratch.

I have three cats and a daughter living with me. There have been several times when we were playing with the cats and we both got scratched - and my daughter is hiv negative.

Keep all the cats you want. There is no danger of hiv transmission via cats. Never has been and there never will be.

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline aphaun

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #25 on: August 26, 2006, 12:15:23 pm »
In 1995, I developed a swelling on the upper side of my hand. It looked like a tortoise shell was embedded under the skin. I went to my dermatologist who sent my directly to the emergency department.

He said, “Go directly—now”. The hospital admitted me. I was suffering from a serious case of bacillary angiomatosis. It was one of many OI’s I was plagued with before HAART.

You can read about bacillary angiomatosis here.

http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic44.htm

I developed numerous nodules on my arms, legs and torso. Some were cut out but they returned. If they were cauterized they did not return.

I was treated with erythromycin. The large growths and the infection eventually dissipated with the antibiotic.

I’m healthy now, but I bear scars. Over the years some faded but some look angry. I think some people may assume I had KS.

aphaun

At the time I did not have a cat. Several years later a beautiful cat adopted me.


Offline RapidRod

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #26 on: August 26, 2006, 01:18:41 pm »
Cat scratch fever is common around this area. My sister had it two years ago and had to have the lymph nodes underneath her arm removed. Does she still have cats? Oh yes..

Offline Rabbit

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #27 on: August 26, 2006, 01:55:28 pm »
Dear All,

By the way, a friend of mine told me that CMV, which could make HIV+ persons blind, can be transmitted from cats. Is it right?

Best wishes,

Offline ndrew

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #28 on: August 26, 2006, 09:12:38 pm »
I keep my cats claws trimmed and trained them since they were little not to play rough around my arms, etc. or to bite.  I did this before I was +, because they need to learn hot to hurt people- good manners.  My Siamese mix even knows when I am wearing a shirt or not and is gentle accordingly.  They are smart and I don't think they should scratch people or play rough.  I am gently with them and they are gentle with me.  They LOVE my massages!

Andrew

Offline Eldon

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #29 on: August 26, 2006, 09:59:04 pm »
Hi Tigercub, it is Eldon. I see you have a thing for Cats. CMV? You may want to read up on this link on how it is transmitted: http://www.cdc.gov/cmv/faqs.htm#spread

And for your Kitten's Paws you can get: http://www.softpaws.com/.

Have the Best Day.

Offline Mouse

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #30 on: August 26, 2006, 10:07:23 pm »
All else aside as the resident animal nut I'll have to insist not to get your cat declawed for any reason. It's dangerous and harmful to the animal and a lot of vets don't even do the procedure because of that reason (or at least try to give them alternatives before they agree to do it.)

Unlike humans, cats walk on their toes instead of flat on their feet. Can you imagine if someone chopped the first section of your toes off and then told you to walk on them? Ouch.

Offline Rabbit

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #31 on: August 27, 2006, 11:33:45 am »
Thank you NDewt, Delton and Mouse.

I agree with you mouse. At least the cats without claws can not catch a MOUSE. hihiihi

Wish you best wishes,

Tigercub

Offline Boo Radley

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Re: Cat scratching?
« Reply #32 on: August 27, 2006, 05:02:03 pm »
1)  If you're thinking of declawing a cat chop off the first knuckle of each of your fingers to get an idea of how declawing works/feels like for a cat.

2) Cats don't transmit HIV by scratches or bites.  In over 25 years since HIV infections began occurring there has not been one case of cat-transmitted HIV. 

3) If you clean the litter box daily the risk of getting an infection from cat excrement is very minimal UNLESS your cat is noticeably ill with toxoplasmosis or another pathogenic ailment.  IOW, your cat would be noticeably sick if it were passing large amounts of toxoplasm in its stool.  Even if your cat is carrying toxoplasm its stool would have to sit around for a few days in order for the number of toxoplasm to increase to a dangerous level (so clean your litterbox regularly).  It's not that unusual for cats or cat owners to test positive for toxo but our healthy immune systems keep it in check.   

4) Kittens are most likely to transmit cat scratch fever.  The reason is not known but the majority of human infections are caused by kittens.  Anyone can contract cat scratch fever, HIV+ or HIV-.  I caught it in December 2003 before I was on HIV meds and it was a nasty experience but I survived, swollen lymph node and all (my HIV doc suggested removing the node but the surgeon nixed the idea since the node is in the groin and would have been difficult to remove -- the node remained swollen for almost 1 year).

5) Neuter your kitten or adult cat.  Neutered males are less likely to spray, be as territorial, or want to travel the neighborhood in search of a mate.  Spayed females won't go into heat (a cat in heat is not a pretty sight or sound) nor will they want to wander around looking for a mate.

6) Most cats can be trained not to scratch while they're playing with you but it happens nonetheless.  Several of my cats "kneed dough" on my stomach or sides and 2 of them use their claws while doing it (I usually cover myself with a quilt before either of them gets too far gone).  My adult cats still catch my hands with their claws but are so gentle it rarely makes a scratch.  My cats like to bite my fingers but they never draw blood (I usually let them chew on my right thumb or index finger which are both permanently numb, but you might not have that choice...).

7) If you're going to get one kitten, get two at the same time!  Cats usually bond with each other when they are raised together and are twice as much fun as one.

 ??? In 1990 when I paid my first HIV doctor the first visit she advised me to get rid of my cats or wear protective eye and nose masks, long sleeves, and gloves while cleaning litter.  I took her advice and devised a home-made hazmat outfit and used it for about 2 months.  After getting tired of being blinded by the condensation on the eye mask and sick of dripping with sweat every time I cleaned the litter boxes I put the paraphernalia away and have survived so far. 
String up every aristocrat!
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