cat scratch fever

i have always had pets, mostly dogs. when i was a kid, for a very short time after much begging and pleading for cats despite already having 2 dogs that lived in the yard, we had 2 cats. the cats were nice, but we got rid of them because my doberman wanted to eat them and once went through the closed screen door to eat them. when given the choice as to which pets to keep, even at 7 it was easy for me to say bye to those cats but not to the dogs. i have a dog now, and she's totally spoiled. she was the tester child before we had the little... we figured if the dog did not need to see a psychologist regularly after a year of being with us that maybe it would be ok to have spawn of our own. but that's another story entirely.

my mom has a cat - a feral cat. it was wild and living on the streets when she started feeding it. (ok ok, living in the alleys of beverly hills, but the cat still would not let anyone get close to it) when mom and dad downsized by selling their house, the new owners were not cat lovers and did not appreciate this black feline in their yard. so mom and dad went back almost daily to feed this damn cat in the alley behind the old house. they even got another neighbor involved to help out if they couldn't make it. after six months of this arrangement with the cat, somehow the cat is injured, and my folks take it to the vet where it is sedated and they're told the cat has a hairline fracture in its leg and needs to rest to have it heal. without thinking twice, they take the cat home with them to live indoors in their very downsized living space which also is inhabited by their older than old shitzu pup. eventually the cat learns to cohabitate with humans in this small space, and the pup and the cat make nice from a distance, then from a closer range, then the pup passes on of old age and now the cat has the run of the home. in the past six months, the cat has grown a lil cozy with me by allowing me to get close enough to pet it (head and back only, not tummy). lately, as soon as i walk in the door it's meowing all loud and giving me looks like "don't even think of leaving this home without manhandling me a bit first"... so, i obliged. all was fine, she was meowing and rolling around on the floor and then WHAM that fucking kitty biatch swatted at me with her paws/claws!! but instead of a scratch, she kinda poked my hand in the fleshy part between my pinky and wrist... and i can feel a raised bump that is kinda itchy, and now i wanna punt the cat.