Srinagar: It’s ‘raining cats and dogs’ is a popular adage to describe heavy rainfall. The way dog and cat bites are recording a meteoric rise in Kashmir, linguists may perhaps have to revisit and redefine the phrase!
Official numbers say that 10,000 dog bites were reported in the smart cities of Srinagar and Jammu in 2021.
Cats also were involved in biting and injuring 1200 people during the year 2022 in the Kashmir Valley alone. The number of people at the receiving end of such feline terror in Jammu region could not be ascertained by this scribe.
The graph of cat bites experienced an upward curve with the onset of prolonged lockdowns starting with abolition of Article 370 in August 2019, and during the subsequent COVID pandemic of 2020-21.
“With the onset of restrictions on the people’s movement, a culture of petting the cats emerged in Kashmir. In 2022, we have treated 1178 persons at our Anti Rabies Clinic in the SMHS Hospital,” said Dr Mohammad Saleem Khan, HoD Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Srinagar.
Figures reveal that Srinagar recorded the highest number of cat bite registrations with 1107, followed by Budgam, Baramulla and other districts. Most of the registrations at the Anti-Rabies Clinic are that of the females, maybe because of the mostly in-house nature of their work.
People of all age groups were exposed to cat bites, said Dr Khan.
Like dogs, this animal also carries the lethal rabies virus which leads to a horrible fatality. Whosoever intends to be in the companionship of cats should get them vaccinated for various diseases including rabies to avoid an adversity. The families opting for pets should strictly get their families vaccinated for rabies, advised the expert.
Veterinarian, Dr Tawheed Ahmad, at the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), while confirming the increased graph of dogs and cat bites in Kashmir said that hundreds of people have been bitten in the city by their pet cats. Almost four percent of the patients seeking anti-rabies treatment in the city were cat-bitten, he informed.
The vet made it clear that it is mandatory for registration of pets with the SMC. Non-registration will invite penalty under law and that the people shall pet trained animals and that too after a required regimen of antidotes, he said.
Although cats usually scratch with their claws when irritated or annoyed, they also bite with their teeth, he said.
Rabid cats can transmit rabies through their saliva which is the source of the rabies virus. Law mandates that the pets should be vaccinated and also sterilised to avoid exponential growth in their population, he said further.
The officer said that feline biters were largely domesticated rather than stray as is the case with dogs which have emerged as a major public health concern.
