"Mommy, Cats Are Psychotic!"

My poor baby is now scared of cats thanks to a run in with one on Monday.

We went to our meeting at SpiralScouts and were having a nice time as usual. The kids had gone outside to learn how to safely use sparklers and there happened to be a stray cat out there that I told my two to leave alone. I was outside with them by the way.

So I kept watching and keeping an eye on where the cat was compared to where my youngest son was. Several other children were petting the cat and playing around it. Soon I noticed a couple kids and their parents left but didn't think much of it. Lil Man is squatting down by a stump that is in the shadows when I hear this horrible scream coming from him. I run over and right as I'm about to trip over the damn thing I see the cat! It was a dark gray cat so it blended in perfectly with the shadows.

I grabbed A and started running towards the porchlights (we were on a back playground). As soon as I got there I saw the blood coming from his hand and moved even faster. I finally got him inside and as I go through the door another mother looks at me and says "Did he get bit too?". Too? It seems her little one was bit/scratched by said damn cat as well. I walked towards the bathroom and again a mother says "Oh did he get bit too?". Again? Yes, this poor little girl's arm was torn up by that little furry bastard! I got into the bathroom, washed A's hand, and started pushing it so it would bleed out some more. Other parents were looking at me wondering what the hell I was doing so I explained to them that I'm bleeding it to clean it out more bacteria plus there is less risk of tetanus in a cut/wound that bleeds well. I also explained that this was told to me when A cut his chin a couple months ago and we had to go for stitches.

In the meantime I'm wondering WHY if two other children had been bitten weren't the rest of us told about this? Someone could have come out and warned the rest of the parents. I think maybe one of the ladies was coming out to let everyone know as I was going in (especially since everyone seemed to come in a few minutes after us) but that honestly was no help to us at that point.

Anyway- finally the wound was cleaned out and I could see there there were four little puncture wounds. I was about ready to go rushing to the hospital thinking this cat MUST be rabid when someone starts telling us that some of the other boys had been kicking the cat and throwing sand at her. The cat is also either pregnant or recently gave birth. Meaning more than likely the cat isn't rabid but pissed and trying to protect herself. Lil Man was only petting her but he was also trying to pet her after all this other crap and he IS only three years old so I wouldn't be surprised if he might have pulled a little on her in his excitement.

So I brought him home, cleaned the wound more, found out that I needed to watch for infection or swelling and fever, used some triple antibiotic I had left over from my surgery, and wrapped it up. The next morning it was fine and no signs of anything. Obviously I will keep watching but I think he got really lucky this time.

Hubby (who can't be bothered to ever even go to SpiralScouts with me) raged on about how HE would have taken him to the emergency room and HE would have killed the damn cat first then asked questions later. Well, HE wasn't there so HE can just bite ME. ;)

Lil Man and I had a long talk about how we don't touch animals we don't know or any animal unless someone says "Would you like to pet my dog/cat?" and Mommy says it's alright. We had discussed this some before and he had me telling him not to touch the cat throughout the evening but obviously it wasn't enough. As for the title of this post, this morning Lil Man informed me that kitties are mean and that "Mommy, cats are just psychotic!". I can't say I blame the poor kid one bit.