Immune System and Cat Scratches

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Birchbark26
Birchbark26 Member Posts: 26
edited October 2018 in Stage IV/Metastatic Breast Cancer ONLY

would like your thoughts on having a kitten that playfully scratches and bites while on chem

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  • FosterKittenMum
    FosterKittenMum Member Posts: 16
    edited October 2018

    I have a lot of kittens at home and whilst on chemo I was very careful to try and avoid scratches. I wore long sleeves and jeans when playing with them. Even so I had a little foster kitten who treated me like a tree and would climb up my legs if I was not careful.

    I did end up with a long deep scratch on my leg from one of these climbing episodes that did heal, but took a long time. Try to use toys on the end of a long stick if you are playing with kitty and only have kitty on your lap when it is ready for quiet cuddles and sleep. A laser / torch pointer is a really good way to tire out active kittens.

    Best of luck. Kittens can be frustrating, all claws and teeth but nothing beats a warm furry purring body in your lap or on your chest. And they make you laugh.🙂

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  • blainejennifer
    blainejennifer Member Posts: 1,848
    edited October 2018

    I keep Purell and antibiotic ointment handy, and whenever Fred, my boy cat, decides to get too rough, he loses lap privileges, and I get some germ killing stuff on the scratch right away. I'm seriously neutropenic on Navelbine, so I have about 5 locations around the house with either Neosporin or Purell handy.

    I also keep his nails trimmed. Luckily, he's very cool about that process. He even purrs while I'm doing it. He's just that chill.

    Fred is important for my psychological well being. That trumps any fear about bad bacteria, as long as I take precautions. In addition to the antibacterial topical treatments, it's also important to keep the litter box as clean as possible, so that when the cats dig in it they are dealing with as little fecal material as possible. Now, I can't clean the box (really low whites), so Spouse has taken that over. But when I was still doing it, I used a N95 mask, safety goggles, hair cover, disposable gloves, and a big ol' mumu for covering my clothing, so that none of the litter box dust contaminated me. It looked weird, but did the job.

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