How to Care for a Cat Scratch

Cat scratches can be painful. Whether your house cat meant to do it or not it needs to be cleaned right away. Follow these steps to clean a cat scratch and avoid infection.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• hydrogen peroxide
• cotton balls
• clean cloth

1. Pour a small amount of hydrogen peroxide over the area where the cat scratched you. Let it bubble to get the bacteria out of the wound. This is a very important step. Even though your cat is a house cat their claws have been in the litter box and are full of bacteria.

2. Use a clean cotton cloth to dab at the wound until all the blood and peroxide are gone. Press gently on the wound, careful not to rub back and forth on the scratched area. You don't want to rub the germs deeper into the wound.

3. Pour another dose of hydrogen peroxide over the wound again and repeat step two. Keep repeating steps 2 and 3 until the peroxide does not bubble any longer.

4. Apply Neosporin liberally on the cat scratch.

5. Place a bandage over the entire wound. Change the bandage daily and apply Neosporin each time before you reapply a bandage. Check for infection.

Tips & Warnings

• These steps are for a minor cat scratch. For severe scratches see a health care professional.
• If you get an infection see a health care professional. Cat scratches are painful but a dull aching pain may be a sign of infection.

[motherNN]

on 11/19/2008 Great info!!

[kaseysviewblog]

on 11/7/2008 Very good tips!

[amylaine]

on 11/6/2008 Very cool, thanks for the tip.