I never knew that a tiny little house cat could attack you! I was walking through my kitchen a few mornings back in a bathrobe and no shoes. I was trying to fix myself a little breakfast and I stepped back onto my male cat (Beau)'s foot. He screamed and ran off of course and I didn't want him to be hurt so I ran after him to see if he was ok. His tiny little sister Belle decided I must be going after him to really do some damage because she laid into me!!!! She jumped up and latched on to my knee with her teeth and managed to get three good bites in before I got her off of the aforementioned knee! Then she got ahold of my bathrobe and tried to keep me in one spot with her teeth! Now, both of my little furballs are de-clawed. (Please don't tell me how bad this is, now I know what they really do to the poor dears and wouldn't do it again if given the choice.) So since they're declawed all the scratches and marks on my leg were from her teeth. She was really trying to protect her brother. Which is funny if you could see them. She's half his size even though they are litter mates. I was upset that I'd potentially hurt Beau, a bit aggitated by Belle attacking me, but at the same time it was kind of sweet that she was trying to help her brother out.
Just wanted to share the story with yall. By the way, Beau was completely ok. I got out some canned food (a special treat around here) to calm the situation down a bit and he was miraculously recovered and chowing down instantly and she decided that since I was good mom again with the food she wouldn't need to attack anymore and settled into her bowl of food. THEN I went back to breakfast and was almost late for work between that ordeal and the train that caught me on my way.
No kitties were harmed in the making of this story, but one human mommy was seriously scratched and would have gone to the doctor if I didn't know they were free of health problems and I wasn't going to get rabies.
Be careful not to step on kitty toes if they have backup! It can end badly for you.

Those little furballs should come with a warning. Cat bites can be horrible, you should see a Dr. We have a member who's Mom was in the hospital for a couple of months after being bitten by a cat.

my Son, Jeff (RIP) was attacked by our outside cat one time. Jeff was just minding his own business and the cat came up to him and attacked him. He had quite a few scars. My daughter later on was attacked by the same cat and it was her cat. My daughter almost lost her hand.....she ended up in the hospital for a few days. The cat was put to sleep and they did an autopsy, or whatever you call it for animals and found the cats brain was too big.....enlarged..

That's funny that your little kitty thought she had to protect her brother from you. Cats definitely have minds of their own.

And even though people do sometimes have really bad reactions from cat bites or scratches, it's actually rare. Keep it clean and put some peroxide on it and it'll probably be fine. Goodness knows I used to get scratched and bitten by my cat Gracie all the time -- you could stroke her three times, no more, no less, or get punished -- and I never had a problem.

It is a funny story but please make sure you keep an eye on the wounds. Bacteria from even a healthy cat can cause some pretty severe reactions. So if it shows much redness around any of the puncture wounds get to the doctor for some antibiotics and make sure you tell them it was from a cat bite.

Cute story about the kitties

I agree as others mentioned, if you have any puncture wound from a cat bite, seek immediate treatment from a doctor for antibiotics. I have worked in human health care as well and veterinary and I can tell you from both work knowledge and experience that cat bites are nothing to mess around with. A scratch is one thing, a bite is quite another. I had to see a doctor on worker's comp for a dog bite several months ago and was discussing this very topic with the doctor who treated me. He said the risk of severe infection for cat bites is over 70% as opposed to dog bites which are closer to 30%. Many cat bites left untreated can lead to a serious health risk that is easily preventable with swift treatment after a bite. Please keep it clean and see a doctor asap!! Better safe than sorry. I have cats too, and they are probably more up to date on health checks, vaccines, etc than I am, but I would definitely not take a chance. whew! ok, stepping down now.

Thanks for the advice and concern y'all. It wasn't deep at all and healed completely within the next day. It barely broke skin, but it's good to know for future reference just in case I ever get a bad bite.

Cat grooming is the reason I get my rabies shot every so many years. *blech* And it's a NASTY one too.... =) Most groomers, it seems, won't touch cats so I get a fair amount of them. I'd like to say I don't get bit or scratched often but the truth is I keep a fully stocked med-kit a few feet from my grooming table and the disinfectants are always stocked. I think most of the scarring on my hands is from cats. Even little teeth scores seem to scar, unlike a lot of dog tooth scrapes.

I took my cats to the groomer ONCE to get their nails cut before they got their from paws declawed. But they charged me $20 a cat so I decided to do it at home from then on. When I notice their back claws getting a little long I get the cat nail trimmers out and leave them on the coffee table or somewhere else near by. Then when one of them is laid up on the couch with me and falls asleep I gently pick up the nearest paw and start clipping away. They usually either don't notice or are enjoying their nap so much they don't bother reacting even if they do figure out whats going on. And with just 8 nails per cat now I can be done before they decide to get offended. They really are sweeties, and never bite even when I'm trimming their nails awake. This was a one time incident that she was just really worried about her brother.

Being owned by a biter - (I honestly think he was a vampire in his former life), this was a normal occurence. My little demon would purr and lull you into believing he was nice kitty & mid purr - he'd chomp down & draw blood. (sometimes he'd go back to purring & other times he'd hiss as an after though).

As for the bite wounds - wash the area good & give it time to breath. Here's a more natural approach...and a path that works well for me. Tea Tree Oil is a good antiseptic (1 part tea tree oil to 10 parts calendula oil which helps with swelling). You can also use wet black tea bags directly on the wound after you steep in boiling water & let cool. L-Lysine (amino acid) can be taken to help reduce risk of infection & speed healing. Adding Vitamin C & E can help too, as can Omega 3 & 6 fatty acids. Then again - do consult the doctor - especially if your immune system is compromised, the wound looks infected or you are a diabetic.