# Saltwater Cats Venomous ?



## CCC (Sep 3, 2008)

I have always been careful when trying to remove a cat from a hook, but I don't have much experience with saltater anything. that being said I have heard they are venomous, never placed much stock in that till last weekend and my step son caught one and as I was trying to remove it, it just lightly pricked my hand and it IMMEDIATELY felt like I had been stung by a red wasp, swole up and hurt for an hour or so. Do they actually have venom, or just a bad @ss fin to get stuck with ?


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## roofordie (Sep 24, 2008)

Yes, they are. I had a scare when I was vacationing here before I moved down. I was fishing on Navarre pier and had a caught a hard head catfish. While I was cutting it up for some cut bait my other pole went off. I jumped to grab it and somehow eended up with a cat fish barb about an inch deep into my palm. I tried, but I couldnt ge it out. It was in there. Ofcourse, everyone around came up offering to yank it out, and offering up the way to do it. I told them Id be alright, and I would justget it out atthe hotel. Everyone told me I better get it out quick because they are poisonous. I walked off the pier and a lady in uniform (maybe FWC) saw it. She asked what happenedand when I told her what kind of fish it was, she told me they are poisonous. I got scared. On the drive to the room, I muscled up, grabbed it, and yanked it out (and started shouting a slough of words not appropriate in mixed company). 

When I got to the hotel, I called poison control. The operator informed me they ARE poisonous, but no more than a bees venom.He told me to make sure most of the skin from around the barb was out of the wound, and said I needed to soak it in warm fresh water to counteract it. 

So the answer is yes, they are poisonous. Should you worry? Not unless you are allergic.


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## jim t (Sep 30, 2007)

<LI><DIV align=left>*Salt Water Catfish*</DIV></LI><DIV align=left>* The fins of the saltwater catfish have a complex toxin made up of a mix of high molecular weight proteins and low molecular weight compounds. Like many marine toxins, this venom is believed to be denatured at temperatures above 105 F.

*</DIV><DIV align=left>* Besides intense pain that appears to be out of proportion for the physical injury, systemic symptoms can occur but are rare. They include muscle cramps, tremor, fatigue, syncope and even CV collapse. Treatment in the ER consists of immersion of the body part in hot water at approx. 110 F, debridement (cleansing) of the wound completely and liberal irrigation with hot water. Tetanus coverage is provided. It's a good idea to treat with antibiotics that cover Vibrio vulnificus, usually a 3rd gen cephalosporin.* <UL>[/list]</DIV><DIV align=left>* Severe allergic reactions can occur. If you are in a boat and cannot get to hot water, a good preparation to use is a paste of baking soda and meat tenderizer. This paste is also said to be effective for jelly fish stings.* </DIV><DIV align=left></DIV><DIV align=left>Jim
</DIV>


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## roofordie (Sep 24, 2008)

I have been stuck by freshwater cats as well, and it will also swell up. There is a lot of parasites and bacteria in the water, and when that gets in a wound your immune system fights it, causing the surrounding area to swell.

Sorry for the long and double post


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## ScullsMcNasty (Oct 4, 2007)

BE CAREFUL!! dont do what i did! many moons ago i caught one, grabbed the hook with some pliers and tried to shake it off:banghead ended up with a barb in one of my finger joints OUCH!

also, iHEARD that you can lick the underside of the catfishes belly and get messed up off of it. like eating hallucinagenic mushrooms or something.. though ive never done them to know how to compare:angel


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## Sailing_Faith (Mar 11, 2009)

About 10 years old, riding my bicycle back from the local canal in LA. Nice size cat laying across the bar of my BMX bicycle (stinger in one hand, looped around tail in and held in other hand.



Hit a curb, his dorsal fin barb went deep in my stomach. Man did that smart. Had about a silver dollar size purple spot that took FOREVER to heal.



That said, I regularly handle them to remove hooks. If you are careful you have not got much to worry about.


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## hotshot (Jun 5, 2009)

one time , i was running down the beach and i got a flat. some arsehole had buried about 20 of them in the sand and i ran across them and by the time i got stopped i had 2 of them hanging off my foot....my foot swelled up and i had to go to the dr.


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## Charlie2 (Oct 2, 2007)

If you fool around with catfish long enough, you're going to get stung.



I use a hook disgorger so I can merely shake them off my hook.



When and if I do get stung, I soak the wound in hot water.



RE: Licking their belly to get high: I once saw a guy actually licking one. I asked what he was doing and he said that he was getting high. I think that he was already drunk on ignorance.



I've always been told by the old fishheads that rubbing the wound with slime off the same catfish will help heal it. I've done it but really can't say that it cured anything. I think the wound healed itself. I soaked it in hot water to be sure. C2


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## feelin' wright (Oct 7, 2007)

Please be careful when handling these fish. 

Two weeks ago I was on vacation and go stuck in the pointer finger knuckle. I did not think much of it then due to it being a pec fin and not the dorsal which I was told was venomous. 24 hours later I was in the most horendous pain in my life. My teeth were chattering it hurt so bad. Ended up in the ER that day and they dosed me up with IV Dilota (sp) and antibiotics. After spending 200 hundred for presciption antibiotics and 3700 on the ER visist I still cannot put any pressure on my finger. Dont know what the problem is but cannot go to the doctor for a while. I know typically they do not get this bad but just wanted to give a everyone a warning what can happen if you leave this wound untreated.


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

> *feelin' wright (8/10/2009)*Please be careful when handling these fish.
> 
> Two weeks ago I was on vacation and go stuck in the pointer finger knuckle. I did not think much of it then due to it being a pec fin and not the dorsal which I was told was venomous. 24 hours later I was in the most horendous pain in my life. My teeth were chattering it hurt so bad. Ended up in the ER that day and they dosed me up with IV Dilota (sp) and antibiotics. After spending 200 hundred for presciption antibiotics and 3700 on the ER visist I still cannot put any pressure on my finger. Dont know what the problem is but cannot go to the doctor for a while. I know typically they do not get this bad but just wanted to give a everyone a warning what can happen if you leave this wound untreated.


A lot of times, if left untreated, it gets infected. Many times as well, a piece can break off in you and cause even more infection. 

If you get poked with a catfish, please dis-infect it as soon as possible. There is always a first aid kit on my boat with alcohol (not the drinkable kind):letsdrinkon board. On a related note, I put my hand on the railing on the Oriskany the other week. Well, I didn't look and there was a sea urchin and poked right through the soft spot on my glove. I didn't think much of it till 2 days later when my finger started to swell. Luckily my body was doing the correct thing and it started pushing a piece of the barb out to where I could see it. I got it out of there quickly and started soaking it in peroxide. Luckily the swelling started going down and no infection had started yet.

Moral of the story: If you get poked with any sea life, take care of that wound like you would a severe laceration. Many times, the infection that can occur from a small poke could cause you to loose a digit or full limb. :banghead


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