to tack onto this:

if you are bitten by a cat you know not to be rabid, and the wound becomes infected, there’s a good chance the infection will grow via the pathways of blood.

I was told to use the hottest water I could stand to ‘draw the infection out’. Either submerging the wound in the water or using a clean (nothing in your home is sterile, but closer to that the better) rag that’s been soaked in the hot water will do.

This worked very well for a friend who was waiting overnight in a hospital for the labs to be done in the AM- we were all there watching the infection slowly grow when we asked the nurse for hot water to give this a shot. It worked before the labs were ready, which was rather memorable for me.

Please don’t take medical advice from reddit, i’m not medically trained at all