TOWN OF OSWEGATCHIE, New York (WWNY) – Sam Charlton was attacked by a cat outside his home near Heuvelton. The cat later tested positive for rabies, and Charlton had to undergo treatment.
Charlton and his wife first saw the cat when it rounded the corner near their home as they were watching the sunset.
“Just a stray cat at that time. It looked so normal, ran right by. We didn’t think nothing of it,” said Samuel Charlton.
The attack
Two days later, the cat returned and attacked Charlton as he was going to feed his chickens.
“This is where it jumped me. I was just going to the chickens and just as I got to the chickens, I felt the claws,” he said.
Charlton felt the claws in his leg as the cat attacked from behind. The cat hung on with its claws for what he said seemed an eternity and appeared to be trying to bite him.
“I kicked and flipped the cat away. It spun backwards like this and ran this way, and at that time I knew it was running away weird and lethargic and something was wrong with it,” Charlton said.
Trapping the cat
Charlton called St. Lawrence County Public Health after the attack.
“With the description I gave ‘em, has a very good chance it has rabies, so they wanted me to keep an eye out for the cat and trap it if I could with a live trap,” Charlton said.
A net eventually did the trick a few days later. The captured cat, described as very weak, was taken for testing.
“Monday I got the call that it tested positive for rabies and to start my treatments right then,” Charlton said.
Undergoing treatment
Charlton received a series of shots, one for every quarter inch of two long scratches, to stop the virus from spreading, plus vaccination shots in his thighs and arms.
“I would assume were probably poked with a needle a good 20 times, 25 times,” Charlton said.
Confirmed rabies cases in the north country have been climbing over the past two years.
“My message is, I would be careful because you never know what could happen. Life will throw you a curveball,” Charlton said.
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