Being bitten or struck by a cat is a common reason for hospitalisation in Australia.
A GP says anyone bitten or scratched by a feline should at once wash the wound with soap and cold water, and seek treatment if it has broken the skin.
Cat bites and scratches can lead to sepsis and even death.
Nicky Stewart wasn't expecting to need surgery and a three-day hospital stay when she chose to rescue her cat Frankie from a stray dog in the backyard nine years ago.
During the commotion of carrying Frankie inside, her cat became scared and sank its teeth into her hands and scratched them multiple times.
Cat-related hospitalisations have almost tripled in the past decade, rising from 1,219 cases in 2015–16 to 3,459 in 2024–25.
Rebecca Hoffman, a GP and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' NSW/ACT faculty chair, said cat bites and scratches can be dangerous because of the way they injure the body.
Cats have narrow teeth and claws that can penetrate deep into tissue, causing both puncture wounds and crush injuries, she said.
For Ms Stewart, her infection luckily didn't progress to that level, although she did need surgery to drain the bacteria from her wounds, and had to navigate living with both her hands bandaged for months afterwards.
Before the experience, she never knew how cat bites and scratches could be, describing the risks as "a huge surprise" to her, although it was not to the hospital's nursing staff.