'It felt like my hand would explode': Melbourne 'cat lady' hospitalised for five days after feline mauling
A Melbourne “cat lady” has spent five days in hospital on IV antibiotics after she was mauled while breaking up a fight between her beloved feline and a foster cat.
The woman was savaged by her usually “gentle” kitty Smoochie while trying to keep her from running away after being “bopped” on the head by new cat Ralph.
Kacey-Karen Mahon, of Mount Eliza, told the Mornington Peninsula Leader, that Smoochie bit down on her hand “like a chipmunk chowing down on a nice length of corn cob.”
“I should have listened to Smoochie. She was growling and crying, trying to get away,” Mrs Mahon told Daily Mail Australia.
Following the bite last month, the woman’s hand began to bleed badly and throb, so she went to the Frankston Hospital for a tetanus shot, antibiotics and pain relief.
But it wasn’t until hours later when the infection began to take hold. Overnight the 52-year-old’s hand ballooned and she felt dizzy, so she was back in hospital for surgery to remove the infected tissue.
“My hand was blowing up, it felt like it was going to explode,” she said.
Mrs Mahon spent the next five days recovering in hospital.
Infections from cat bites can occur if skin is broken, allowing bacteria from the animal’s saliva to pass into the bloodstream.
Mrs Mahon called the mauling an “accident” as a result to the cat being afraid, telling the Leader that Smoochie had never shown her aggression before.
“When I came home from hospital and walked in the door, she ran up to me and was truly happy to see me.”
The woman, who called herself a “cat lady” and also had two other cats in her household, as well as a dog and some cockatoos.
Mrs Mahon said she planned on making Ralph a permanent member of the family but would heed more caution in future in understanding when her pets were trying to communicate.
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