Article: Man Gets Plague From Stray Cat
A Scary Snippet:
Gaylord’s illness began after he saw a stray cat with a dead mouse jammed in the back of his throat. The cat appeared to be choking, so Gaylord and a friend attempted to dislodge the mouse. The distressed cat bit his hand. Unable to remove the mouse, Gaylord shot Charlie to end his suffering and buried him in the yard. Two days later, he awoke with a fever and chills.
He spent nearly a month on life support and only recently left the intensive care unit. At one point, doctors thought he was going to die, said Debbie Gaylord, his wife.
Do Not Put Hand Here
I guess the lesson here is not to stick your hand down the mouth of a stray cat. Probably you shouldn’t stick your hand down the mouth of your pet cat either. Just a hunch, but I don’t think cats like this sort of attention. Just always assume everything is diseased and you will be safe. You might also be paranoid all the time but that’s a small price to pay. And whatever you do, do NOT google pictures of “plague.”
Update: This is a frivolous observation compared to the fact this man will likely lose all his fingers but this is the only article I have found so far that gave the now deceased stray cat a name.